Portugal

Portugal made its debut in 1964 and of all the ‘traditional countries’ for a long time it was the one that performed the worst. The country never won or even reached the top five.

But then everything changed, because in 2017 the Portuguese sent Salvador Sobral. His song Amor pelos dois, a very atypical contest number, was crowned number one by both the expert jurors and the voting public alike, winning the competition by a landslide. And with a song in Portuguese – because Portugal is the only country in the contest never to have sung in English.

Translation: Jodie May