page_title: History of the Eurovision Song Contest
section_title: 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Eurovision Song Contest / 1990s
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Linda Martin framför en cover på Loreens låt "Euphoria" i det direktsända TV-programmet "Live: Studio Eurovision" för SVT, i maj 2013. English: Linda Martin performs a cover of the Loreen song "Euphoria" in the Swedish TV-show "Live: Studio Eurovision" for SVT, in May 2013.
context_page_description: The Eurovision Song Contest was first held in 1956, originally conceived through a desire to unite European countries through cross-border television broadcasts following World War II, and in doing so to test the capabilities of international broadcast technology. Following a series of exchange broadcasts in 1954, the European Broadcasting Union commissioned an international song competition, from an idea developed by Sergio Pugliese and Marcel Bezençon and originally based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival.
  64 contests have been held since its first edition, and over 1,500 songs representing 52 countries have been performed on the Eurovision stage as of 2020. Eurovision has seen many changes since its inauguration, such as the introduction of relegation in the 1990s, and subsequently semi-finals in the 2000s, as a response to growing numbers of interested participants. The rules of the contest have also seem multiple changes over the years, with the voting system and language criteria being modified on several occasions.
context_section_description: The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the thirty-fifth edition of the contest, organised by Jugoslovenska radio-televizija (JRT) and Radiotelevizija Zagreb (RTZ) and held on 5 May 1990 at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. In response to the Israeli and French singers in 1989, the EBU introduced a new age rule, barring anyone below the age of 16 on the day of the contest from competing; this rule means that Sandra Kim, the contest's youngest winner at 13 years old, remains so in perpetuity. Italy's Toto Cutugno became the first winner of the decade, giving Italy its second win with Insieme: 1992, an ode to the planned formation of the European Union in 1992.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the thirty-sixth edition of the contest, organised by RAI and held on 4 May 1991 at Studio 15 di Cinecittà in Rome, Italy. This was the second edition of the contest to be held in Italy, and was compèred by the two previous Italian winners, Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno. The contest was originally planned to be held in Sanremo, the site of the Sanremo Music Festival which was the inspiration for Eurovision, however following the outbreak of the Gulf War, RAI decided to move the contest to the Italian capital to better ensure the security of the foreign delegations. The Netherlands once again withdrew as the contest fell on the Remembrance of the Dead memorial, but Malta made its first appearance in the contest since 1975, keeping the contest participants at 22; Germany also made its first appearance as a unified country following German reunification in October 1990. The closest ever final result was recorded, with Sweden and France both finishing with the same number of points; Sweden was subsequently declared the winner when, in the only ever use of the tie-break rule in contest history, a count-back revealed that Sweden had collected more 10 points than France, after both countries had collected the same number of 12 points. Carola therefore became the third Swedish act to win the contest with "Fångad av en stormvind" in her second participation in the contest, having previously come third in 1983.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the thirty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 9 May 1992 at the Malmömässan in Malmö, Sweden. A new record 23 countries entered the contest, with the Netherlands making its return. This contest would mark the last appearance of Yugoslavia, having already begun the process of breaking up and now representing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Ireland's Linda Martin emerged the winner with the Johnny Logan-penned "Why Me?", giving Ireland its fourth win and Logan his third as both performer and songwriter; it was Martin's second contest appearance, having previously come second for Ireland in 1984. With the United Kingdom and Malta taking second and third, this was the first contest to have solely English-language songs feature in the top 3.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the thirty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 15 May 1993 at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Ireland. It remains the only Irish production of the contest to be held outside of Dublin and, as a small town of only 1,500 people, Millstreet became the smallest Eurovision host to date, although the Green Glens Arena was able to hold up to 8,000 spectators. Changes in Europe in the 1990s were first reflected at this contest, with several new countries formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and breakup of Yugoslavia wishing to compete for the first time. In order to accommodate this growing number, the first Eurovision pre-selection took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 3 April, Kvalifikacija za Millstreet; seven countries competed for three places at the contest, with the former Yugoslav states Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia emerging the winners and joining 22 countries which had taken part in Malmö, with only Yugoslavia absent, banned from competing following UN sanctions. In order to better manage the participating cou
caption: In winning the 1992 contest, Linda Martin was the first of three Irish artists in a row to win Eurovision in the early 1990s.
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