Eurovision 1991

Today the 36th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest was held 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.

Eurovision 1990

Today the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union(EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevizija Zagreb (RTV Zagreb) on behalf of Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), and presented by Oliver Mlakar and Helga Vlahović, the contest was held in Yugoslavia following the country’s victory at the 1989 contest with the song Rock Me by the group Riva. It was the first contest to be held in the Balkans and the first to be held in a socialist state.

Twenty-two countries participated in the contest, with the same countries that had participated in 1989 returning. The 1990 contest was the first to implement an age limit on the competing performers, following criticism of the participation of two child performers in the previous year’s event; all artists were now required to reach the age of sixteen within the year of the contest.

The winner was Italy for the second time in its history, with the song Insieme: 1992, written and performed by Toto Cutugno. France and Ireland shared second place, with Iceland and Spain rounding out the top five countries. France and Spain both placed within the top 5 for the first time in several years, while Iceland recorded their best ever result.