The Netherlands won the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv Saturday, with Duncan Laurence’s piano ballad “Arcade” crowned champion. Due to Geo blocking, the live show version of the song is not available to US audiences. Here’s Laurence’s official music video for “Arcade”:
Laurence was only ranked third in Europe’s annual song contest after the vote of professional juries from the 41 participating countries, trailing Sweden and North Macedonia. But he overcame the competition due to the fan vote. It’s Netherland’s fifth win ever in the competition and it’s first since 1975, when the group Teach-In won with “Ding-a-Dong.”. Italy finished second, followed by Russia, Switzerland and Norway.
North Macedonia maintained the lead for most while most of the points from the national juries, made of of professional juries were tallied. However, when the final country, Israel, announced its result, Sweden moved ahead by two points, with a score of 239 to North Macedonia’s 237. The Netherlands was in third place with 231 points. But when the public vote was factored in, North Macedonia fell out of the running, ultimately coming in 8th place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5nfveHoP6c
“This is to dreaming big. This is to music first, always,” Laurence said, as he was handed the trophy from last year’s winner, Israel’s Netta Barzilai. Twenty-six nations battled in the Grand Final of the 64th Eurovision. American pop star Madonna performed her classic single “Like a Prayer” marking 30 years since it’s release and a new song “Future” from her upcoming album Madame X.
The top 10 countries in 2019 and their respective combined points from the juries and the public are:
The Netherlands – 492
Italy – 465
Russia – 369
Switzerland – 360
Norway – 338
Sweden – 332
Azerbaijan – 297
North Macedonia – 295
Australia – 285
Iceland – 234
Watch highlights of the Grand Finale
Watch Madonna perform
https://youtu.be/UHIbjuZ22ck
