The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st annual Eurovision Song Contest. held in Oslo, Norway on 18 May following the country's win the previous year with the song "Nocturne" performed by Norwegian-Irish duo Secret Garden.
In a Contest first, an audio pre-qualification round that was never televised was introduced in order to narrow down the number of competitors to 23 for the live televised final. This remains the only Contest not to include Germany in the final and was a precursor to the creation of the "Big Four" (later "Big Five") as well as the semi-final round that would become the norm from the 2004 Contest onward.
It was won by the Irish entry "The Voice" performed by Eimear Quinn, which gave the country its record-breaking seventh win and its fourth in five years. To date, this is the last time the country won the Contest.
Location
Bidding phase
Participants
Returning artists
| Artist | Note |
|---|---|
| Mariana Efstratiou | Represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 in Lausanne with the song "To diko sou asteri", finishing in 9th place with 56 points |
| Elisabeth Andreassen | Represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 in Harrogate as part of the group Chips, finishing in 8th place with 67 points. Won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 in Gothenburg, representing Norway as part of the duo Bobbysocks! with the song "La det swinge". Represented her home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with Jan Werner Danielsen, performing the song "Duett", finishing in 6th place with 76 points |
Pre-Qualifying Round
The audio-only qualification round, which was never televised or broadcast on radio, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. Those that qualified are highlighted below:
| Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Austria
|
George Nussbaumer | "Weil's dr guat got" | Vorarlbergish | 6 | 80 | |
| 02 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Amila Glamočak | "Za našu ljubav" | Bosnian | 21 | 29 | |
| 03 |  Belgium
|
Lisa del Bo | "Liefde is een kaartspel" | Dutch | 12 | 45 | |
| 04 |  Switzerland
|
Kathy Leander | "Mon cœur l'aime" | French | 8 | 67 | |
| 05 |  Cyprus
|
Constantinos | "Mono gia mas" | Greek | 15 | 42 | |
| 06 |  Germany
|
Leon | "Planet of Blue" | German | - | 24 | 24 |
| 07 |  Denmark
|
Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft | "Kun med dig" | Danish | 25 | 22 | |
| 08 |  Estonia
|
Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna | "Kaelakee hääl" | Estonian | 5 | 106 | |
| 09 |  Spain
|
Antonio Carbonell | "¡Ay, qué deseo!" | Spanish | 14 | 43 | |
| 10 |  Finland
|
Jasmine | "Niin kaunis on taivas" | Finnish | 22 | 26 | |
| 11 |  France
|
Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes | "Diwanit bugale" | Breton | 11 | 55 | |
| 12 |  United Kingdom
|
Gina G | "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" | English | - | 3 | 153 |
| 13 |  Greece
|
Marianna Efstratiou | "Emis forame to himona anixiatika" | Greek | 12 | 45 | |
| 14 |  Croatia
|
Maja Blagdan | "Sveta ljubav" | Croatian | 19 | 30 | |
| 15 |  Hungary
|
Gjon Delhusa | "Fortuna" | Hungarian | 23 | 26 | |
| 16 |  Ireland
|
Eimear Quinn | "The Voice" | English | - | 2 | 198 |
| 17 |  Israel
|
Galit Bell | "Shalom Olam" | Hebrew | 28 | 12 | |
| 18 |  Iceland
|
Anna Mjöll | "Sjúbídú" | Icelandic | 10 | 59 | |
| 19 |  F.Y.R. Macedonia
|
Kaliopi | "Samo ti" | Macedonian | 26 | 14 | |
| 20 |  Malta
|
Miriam Christine | "In a Woman's Heart" | English | - | 4 | 138 |
| 21 |  The Netherlands
|
Maxine & Franklin Brown | "De eerste keer" | Dutch | 9 | 63 | |
| 22 |  Poland
|
Kasia Kowalska | "Chcę znać swój grzech..." | Polish | 15 | 42 | |
| 23 |  Portugal
|
Lúcia Moniz | "O meu coração não tem cor" | Portuguese | My heart is colourless | 18 | 32 |
| 24 |  Romania
|
Monica Anghel & Sincron | "Rugă pentru pacea lumii" | Romanian | 29 | 11 | |
| 25 |  Russia
|
Andrey Kosinskiy | "Ya eto ya" | Russian | 26 | 14 | |
| 26 |  Sweden
|
One More Time | "Den vilda" | Swedish | 1 | 227 | |
| 27 |  Slovenia
|
Regina | "Dan najlepših sanj" | Slovene | 19 | 30 | |
| 28 |  Slovakia
|
Marcel Palonder | "Kým nás máš" | Slovak | 17 | 38 | |
| 29 |  Turkey
|
Şebnem Paker | "Beşinci mevsim" | Turkish | The fifth season | 7 | 69 |
Final
| Draw | Country | Performer(s) | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Turkey
|
Şebnem Paker | "Beşinci mevsim" | Turkish | The fifth season | 12 | 57 |
| 02 | United Kingdom
|
Gina G | "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" | English | - | 8 | 77 |
| 03 | Spain
|
Antonio Carbonell | "¡Ay, qué deseo!" | Spanish | 20 | 17 | |
| 04 | Portugal
|
Lúcia Moniz | "O meu coração não tem cor" | Portuguese | 6 | 92 | |
| 05 | Cyprus
|
Constantinos | "Mono gia mas" | Greek | 9 | 72 | |
| 06 | Malta
|
Miriam Christine | "In a Woman's Heart" | English | - | 10 | 68 |
| 07 | Croatia
|
Maja Blagdan | "Sveta ljubav" | Croatian | 4 | 98 | |
| 08 | Austria
|
George Nussbaumer | "Weil's dr guat got" | Vorarlbergish | 10 | 68 | |
| 09 | Switzerland
|
Kathy Leander | "Mon cœur l'aime" | French | 16 | 22 | |
| 10 | Greece
|
Marianna Efstratiou | "Emis forame to himona anixiatika" | Greek | 14 | 36 | |
| 11 | Estonia
|
Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna | "Kaelakee hääl" | Estonian | 5 | 94 | |
| 12 |  Norway
|
Elisabeth Andreassen | "I evighet" | Norwegian | 2 | 114 | |
| 13 | France
|
Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes | "Diwanit Bugale" | Breton | 19 | 18 | |
| 14 | Slovenia
|
Regina | "Dan najlepših sanj" | Slovene | 21 | 16 | |
| 15 | The Netherlands
|
Maxine & Franklin Brown | "De eerste keer" | Dutch | 7 | 78 | |
| 16 | Belgium
|
Lisa del Bo | "Liefde is een kaartspel" | Dutch | 16 | 22 | |
| 17 | Ireland
|
Eimear Quinn | "The Voice" | English | - | 1 | 162 |
| 18 | Finland
|
Jasmine | "Niin kaunis on taivas" | Finnish | 23 | 9 | |
| 19 | Iceland
|
Anna Mjöll | "Sjúbídú" | Icelandic | 13 | 51 | |
| 20 | Poland
|
Kasia Kowalska | "Chcę znać swój grzech..." | Polish | 15 | 31 | |
| 21 | Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Amila Glamočak | "Za našu ljubav" | Bosnian | 22 | 13 | |
| 22 | Slovakia
|
Marcel Palonder | "Kým nás máš" | Slovak | 18 | 19 | |
| 23 | Sweden
|
One More Time | "Den vilda" | Swedish | 3 | 100 |