The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the 36th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 4 May 1991 at Stage 15 of the Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Italy. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), and presented by Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno, the contest was held in Italy following the country's victory at the 1990 contest with the song "Insieme: 1992" by Toto Cutugno.
Twenty-two countries participated in the event: Malta made its first Eurovision Song Contest appearance in sixteen years, having last participated in 1975, while the Netherlands decided not to participate due to the date of this year's event coinciding with the country's annual Remembrance of the Dead commemorations. It was also the first time that Germany was represented as a single state following the reunification of East and West Germany.
For the first time since 1969, the contest resulted in a draw for first place, with both France and Sweden being awarded the same number of points. The contest's tie-break procedure was implemented for the first time in its history, which resulted in Sweden being declared the winner due to their entry, "Fångad av en stormvind", written by Stephan Berg and performed by Carola, having received a greater number of top scores from the other competing countries than the French entry; it was Sweden's third contest victory overall. Alongside France, Israel, Spain and Switzerland rounded out the top five countries.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sweden | SVT | Carola | "Fångad av en stormvind" | Anders Berglund | 146 |
| 02 | France | Antenne 2 | Amina | "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison" | Jérôme Pillement | 146 |
| 03 | Israel | IBA | Duo Datz | "Kan" (כאן) | Kobi Oshrat | 139 |
| 04 | Spain | TVE | Sergio Dalma | "Bailar pegados" | Eduardo Leiva | 119 |
| 05 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Sandra Simó | "Canzone per te" | Flaviano Cuffari | 118 |
| 06 | Malta | PBS | Paul Giordimaina and Georgina | "Could It Be" | Paul Abela | 106 |
| 07 | Italy | RAI | Peppino di Capri | "Comme è ddoce 'o mare" | Bruno Canfora | 89 |
| 08 | Portugal | RTP | Dulce | "Lusitana paixão" | Fernando Correia Martins | 62 |
| 09 | Cyprus | CyBC | Elena Patroklou | "S.O.S." | Alexander Kirov Zografov | 60 |
| 10 | Ireland | RTÉ | Kim Jackson | "Could It Be That I'm in Love" | Noel Kelehan | 47 |
| United Kingdom | BBC | Samantha Janus | "A Message to Your Heart" | Ronnie Hazlehurst | 47 | |
| 12 | Turkey | TRT | Can Uğurluer, İzel Çeliköz and Reyhan Karaca | "İki Dakika" | Turhan Yükseler | 44 |
| 13 | Greece | ERT | Sophia Vossou | "Anixi" (Άνοιξη) | Haris Andreadis | 36 |
| 14 | Luxembourg | CLT | Sarah Bray | "Un baiser volé" | Francis Goya | 29 |
| 15 | Iceland | RÚV | Stefán and Eyfi | "Nína" | Jón Ólafsson | 26 |
| 16 | Belgium | BRTN | Clouseau | "Geef het op" | Roland Verlooven | 23 |
| 17 | Norway | NRK | Just 4 Fun | "Mrs. Thompson" | Pete Knutsen | 14 |
| 18 | Germany | ARD/SFB | Atlantis 2000 | "Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben" | Hermann Weindorf | 10 |
| 19 | Denmark | DR | Anders Frandsen | "Lige der hvor hjertet slår" | Henrik Krogsgaard | 8 |
| 20 | Finland | YLE | Kaija | "Hullu yö" | Olli Ahvenlahti | 6 |
| 21 | Yugoslavia | JRT | Baby Doll | "Brazil" (Бразил) | Slobodan Marković | 1 |
| 22 | Austria | ORF | Thomas Forstner | "Venedig im Regen" | Richard Oesterreicher | 0 |
Broadcasts[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | FS1 | Ernst Grissemann | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | TV1, TV2 | André Vermeulen | Unknown |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | ||
| Belgium (French) | RTBF1 | Claude Delacroix | |
| Cyprus | RIK 1, A Programma | Evi Papamichael | Unknown |
| Denmark | DR TV | Camilla Miehe-Renard | Unknown |
| DR P3 | Jesper Bæhrenz, Andrew Jensen | ||
| Finland | TV1 | Erkki Pohjanheimo | Unknown |
| Radiomafia | Kai Ristola | ||
| Riksradion | Johan Finne, Paul Olin, Wille Wilenius | ||
| France | Antenne 2 | Léon Zitrone | Unknown |
| Germany | Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen | Max Schautzer | Unknown |
| Greece | ET1 | Dafni Bokota | Unknown |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið, Rás 2 | Arthúr Björgvin Bollason | Unknown |
| Ireland | RTÉ 1 | Pat Kenny | Eileen Dunne |
| RTÉ Radio 1 | Larry Gogan | ||
| Israel | Israeli Television, Reshet Gimel | No commentator | Unknown |
| Italy | Rai Uno | No commentator | Rosanna Vaudetti |
| Luxembourg | RTL TV, RTL Lorraine | Unknown | Unknown |
| Malta | TVM | Unknown | Dominic Micallef |
| Norway | NRK Fjernsynet, NRK P2 | John Andreassen, Jahn Teigen | Unknown |
| Portugal | RTP Canal 1 | Ana do Carmo | Unknown |
| Spain | TVE 2 | Tomás Fernando Flores | Unknown |
| Sweden | TV2 | Harald Treutiger | Bo Hagström |
| SR P3 | Rune Hallberg, Kalle Oldby | ||
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Bernard Thurnheer | Unknown |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR Chaîne nationale | Lolita Morena | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI Canale nazionale | Emanuela Gaggini | |
| Turkey | TV1 | Unknown | Unknown |
| United Kingdom | BBC1, BBC TV Europe | Terry Wogan | Colin Berry |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce | ||
| Yugoslavia | TV Beograd 1, TV Titograd 1, TV Novi Sad, TV Prishtina | Mladen Popović | Unknown |
| HTV 1, TV Sarajevo 1, TV Slovenija 1, TV Skopje 1 | Ksenija Urličić |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | SBS TV | Unknown |
| Canada | TV5 Québec Canada | Unknown |
| Czechoslovakia | ČTV, S1 | Unknown |
| Estonian SSR | ETV | Unknown |
| Faroe Islands | SVF | Unknown |
| Greenland | KNR | Unknown |
| Hungary | MTV1 | István Vágó |
| Poland | TP1 | Unknown |
| Romania | TVR 1 | Unknown |
| South Korea | KBS2 | Unknown |
| Soviet Union | Programme One | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - The show was broadcast on SBS TV deferred on 5 May 1991 at 14:30 AEST.
- Canada - The show was broadcast on TV5 Québec Canada on a delayed basis and in a shortened format on 14 May 1991 at 19:33 EDT.
- Czechoslovakia - The show was broadcast on ČTV and S1 on a delayed basis on 27 July 1991 at 21:25 CEST.
- Greenland - The show was broadcast on KNR deferred at 21:10 WGST.
- South Korea - The show was broadcast on KBS2 on a delayed basis at 11 May 1991 at 20:00 KST.
- Switzerland - TSR Chaîne nationale and TSI Canale nazionale broadcast the show through a second audio programme on TV DRS.
- Yugoslavia - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on HTV 1 in Yugoslavia's Socialist Republic of Croatia due to nationwide mourning within the region following the deaths of Croatian police officers as part of the wider Croatian War of Independence.