Eurovision Song Contest 1976
| Eurovision Song Contest 1976 | |
|---|---|
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | Nederlands Congresgebouw The Hague, Netherlands |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Scrutineer | Clifford Brown |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) |
| Director | Theo Ordeman |
| Executive producer | Fred Oster |
| Musical director | Jan Stulen |
| Presenter | Corry Brokken |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 18 |
| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries | |
Participation map
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song | United Kingdom "Save Your Kisses for Me" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 April 1976 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, Netherlands, and presented by Corry Brokken. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), who staged the event after winning the 1975 contest for the Netherlands with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. Brokken had also won the contest for the Netherlands in 1957.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest with Sweden, Malta, and Turkey opting not to return after participating the previous year. Malta would not make their return until 1991. On the other hand, Austria and Greece returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.
The winner was the United Kingdom with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me", written and composed by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee, and performed by the group Brotherhood of Man. This was the country's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1967 and 1969. France, Monaco, Switzerland and Austria rounded out the top five.
The winning song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score and an average of 9.65 out of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.