The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and presented by Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson, the contest was held in the United Kingdom following the country's victory at the 1997 contest with the song "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves.
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest. Six participating countries in the 1997 edition were absent, with Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland and Russia relegated due to achieving the lowest average points totals over the previous five contests and Italy actively choosing not to participate. These countries were replaced by Macedonia in its first contest appearance, and previously relegated and absent countries Belgium, Finland, Israel, Romania and Slovakia.
The winner was Israel with the song "Diva", composed by Svika Pick, written by Yoav Ginai and performed by Dana International. The United Kingdom, Malta, the Netherlands and Croatia rounded out the top five. Dana International was the contest's first openly transgender participant and became the contest's first openly LGBTQ+ winning artist; however, her participation for Israel was controversial among sections of Israeli society and resulted in opposition and death threats against her in the run-up to the contest.
It was the first contest in which the results were determined predominantly through televoting, and would become the last contest in which all participants were required to perform in the language of their country and the last to feature an orchestra and live music accompaniment for the competing entries.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Israel | IBA | Dana International | "Diva" (דיווה) | 172 |
| 02 | United Kingdom | BBC | Imaani | "Where Are You?" | 166 |
| 03 | Malta | PBS | Chiara | "The One That I Love" | 165 |
| 04 | Netherlands | NOS | Edsilia | "Hemel en aarde" | 150 |
| 05 | Croatia | HRT | Danijela | "Neka mi ne svane" | 131 |
| 06 | Belgium | RTBF | Mélanie Cohl | "Dis oui" | 122 |
| 07 | Germany | ARD/NDR | Guildo Horn | "Guildo hat euch lieb" | 86 |
| 08 | Norway | NRK | Lars A. Fredriksen | "Alltid sommer" | 79 |
| 09 | Ireland | RTÉ | Dawn Martin | "Is Always Over Now" | 64 |
| 10 | Sweden | SVT | Jill Johnson | "Kärleken är" | 53 |
| 11 | Cyprus | CyBC | Michael Hajiyanni | "Genesis" (Γένεσις) | 37 |
| 12 | Portugal | RTP | Alma Lusa | "Se eu te pudesse abraçar" | 36 |
| Estonia | ETV | Koit Toome | "Mere lapsed" | 36 | |
| 14 | Turkey | TRT | Tüzmen | "Unutamazsın" | 25 |
| 15 | Finland | YLE | Edea | "Aava" | 22 |
| 16 | Spain | TVE | Mikel Herzog | "¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti?" | 21 |
| 17 | Poland | TVP | Sixteen | "To takie proste" | 19 |
| 18 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Vili Resnik | "Naj bogovi slišijo" | 17 |
| 19 | Macedonia | MRT | Vlado Janevski | "Ne zori, zoro" (Не зори, зоро) | 16 |
| 20 | Greece | ERT | Thalassa | "Mia krifi evaisthisia" (Μια κρυφή ευαισθησία) | 12 |
| 21 | Slovakia | STV | Katarína Hasprová | "Modlitba" | 8 |
| 22 | Romania | TVR | Mălina Olinescu | "Eu cred" | 6 |
| 23 | Hungary | MTV | Charlie | "A holnap már nem lesz szomorú" | 4 |
| 24 | France | France Télévision | Marie Line | "Où aller" | 3 |
| 25 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Gunvor | "Lass ihn" | 0 |
Awards[]
Barbara Dex Award[]
| Rank | Country | Artist(s) | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | Guildo Horn | "Guildo hat euch lieb" |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium (French) | La Une | Jean-Pierre Hautier | Marie-Hélène Vanderborght |
| Belgium (Dutch) | TV1 | André Vermeulen, Andrea Croonenberghs | |
| Croatia | HRT 1 | Aleksandar Kostadinov | Davor Meštrović |
| Cyprus | RIK 1 | Evi Papamichael | Marina Maleni |
| Estonia | ETV | Reet Linna | Urve Tiidus |
| Raadio 2 | Marko Reikop | ||
| Finland | TV1 | Maria Guzenina, Sami Aaltonen | Marjo Wilska |
| Radio Suomi | Sanna Kojo | ||
| Radio Vega | Unknown | ||
| France | France 2 | Chris and Laura Mayne | Marie Myriam |
| Germany | Das Erste | Peter Urban | Nena |
| WDR Fernsehen | Unknown | ||
| Greece | ERT | Giorgos Mitropoulos | Alexis Kostalas |
| ERA 1 | Dimitris Konstantaras | ||
| Hungary | MTV 1 | Gábor Gundel Takács | Barna Héder |
| Ireland | RTÉ One | Pat Kenny | Eileen Dunne |
| RTÉ Radio 1 | Larry Gogan | ||
| Israel | Channel 1 | No commentator | Yigal Ravid |
| Macedonia | MTV | Unknown | Evgenija Teodosievska |
| Malta | TVM | Unknown | Stephanie Spiteri |
| Netherlands | TV2 | Willem van Beusekom | Conny Vandenbos |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | ||
| Norway | NRK1 | Jostein Pedersen | Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft |
| NRK P1 | Stein Dag Jensen | ||
| Poland | TVP1 | Artur Orzech | Jan Chojnacki |
| Portugal | RTP1, RTP Internacional | Rui Unas | Lúcia Moniz |
| Romania | TVR1 | Leonard Miron | Anca Țurcașiu |
| Slovakia | STV2 | Unknown | Alena Heribanová |
| Slovenia | SLO 1 | Unknown | Mojca Mavec |
| Val 202 | Andrej Karoli | ||
| Spain | La Primera | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| Sweden | SVT2 | Pernilla Månsson, Christer Björkman | Björn Hedman |
| SR P4 | Anna Hötzel, Claes-Johan Larsson | ||
| Switzerland (German) | SF | Heinz Margot, Roman Kilchsperger | Regula Elsener |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Jean-Marc Richard | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Jonathan Tedesco | |
| Turkey | TRT 1, TRT Int | Bülend Özveren | Osman Erkan |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, BBC Prime, BFBS Television | Terry Wogan | Ken Bruce |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | SBS TV | Unknown |
| Austria | ORF 1 | Ernst Grissemann |
| FM4 | Stermann & Grissemann | |
| Denmark | DR1 | Unknown |
| Faroe Islands | SVF | Unknown |
| Greenland | KNR | Unknown |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið, Rás 2 | Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson |
| Latvia | LTV | Kārlis Streips |
| Lithuania | LTV | Unknown |
| Yugoslavia | RTS 3K | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - SBS TV aired the show deferred on 10 May 1998 at 19:00 ACST.
- Germany - WDR Fernsehen aired the show delayed on 22 May 1998 at 09:00 CEST.
- Yugoslavia - RTS 3K aired the show deferred and in a shortened format on 13 June 1998 at 16:30 CEST.