Which country won the Eurovision 2025? Details explored

Eurovision 2025 aired its finale on May 17, 2025, which saw 26 countries compete in hopes of becoming the winner. This annual televised singing contest is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The finale was preceded by two semi-finals. The first one was broadcast on May 13 and saw 15 countries compete, while the second one saw 16 countries fight on May 15.

Before the finale aired, The New York Times reported on May 16 that the bookies had predicted Sweden's KAJ, Austria's JJ, France's Louane, the Netherlands' Claude, and Finland's Erika Vikman as their five favorites to win the competition. In reality, out of these five, only two were able to finish in the top five.

It was Austria's JJ who won this year's Eurovision with Wasted Love. Israel finished second with Yuval Raphael's song New Day Will Rise. Third spot was occupied by Estonia's Tommy Cash with his song Espresso Macchiato. Sweden managed to finish fourth with KAJ's Bara Bada Bastu. Italy rounded off the top five with Lucio Corsi's Volevo Essere Un Duro.

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Austria's JJ takes Eurovision crown amidst protests and security incident

In the Eurovision final, all 37 participating countries casted their votes, which included both jury and public votes. The order of performance for the host nation, Switzerland, was decided by a random draw held earlier. The final began with Nemo performing their winning song from the previous year. This was followed by the flag parade, which introduced all 26 finalists on stage.

The Basel Police Brass Band and remixes of Swiss hits accompanied the acts. During the interval, several former Swiss participants took the stage to perform their past entries. These included Peter, Sue and Marc, Paola, Luca Hanni, and Gjon's Tears. Additionally, performers from Croatia and Finland, Baby Lasagna and Kaarija, presented a mashup of their respective songs and even debuted a new collaborative single.

Meanwhile, after the results were announced, JJ's younger sister ran through security to hug him after he was declared the winner. JJ's entire family had come to support him at the singing contest, including his 85-year-old grandfather and four-month-old niece. The niece watched the event from outside with JJ's brother. This year's win took Austria's tally to three victories in the contest.

Austria had previously won with Udo Jurgens' song in 1966 and Conchita Wurst's song in 2014. After the show, JJ mentioned that Conchita inspired him to participate in the contest. He expressed his happiness that the audience was able to connect with his song's story of heartbreak. When asked about his plans to celebrate, JJ replied that he was tired and needed to rest.

"What I'm trying to commit to is that there's no wasted love. There's so much love that we can spread around. It's the strongest force on planet Earth," stated Eurovision winner JJ.

Besides the usual celebration, the competition was marred by protests that took place in Basel before the show. As BBC reported on May 18, 2025, demonstrators called for Israel's exclusion due to its military actions in Gaza. During Israel's performance, security prevented a man and a woman from getting on stage. The pair had attempted to disrupt the show, with one of them throwing paint that hit a crew member.

The crew member was not seriously injured, and the two individuals were removed from the venue and handed over to the police. Israel's performance, by singer Yuval Raphael, continued without any interruption. Yuval's song was influenced by her experience surviving the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. The Israeli delegation praised her performance despite the interruption.

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The finale of Eurovision 2025 aired at 3 pm ET on May 17, 2025, on BBC One and can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.