The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1986 at in Bergen, Norway, and presented by Åse Kleveland. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NRK), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks!. Kleveland had also represented .
Broadcasters from twenty countries participated in the contest, with and deciding not to enter, and returning, and competing for the first time. Turkey achieved their best result in the contest up to this point.
The winner was with the song "" by Sandra Kim. Belgium was the last of the original 7 countries that had competed in the first contest to win. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner. Current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kim's record will never be broken. The lyrics of her song implied that Kim was 15 years of age, but after the contest, it was revealed that she was actually 13. , who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but was not successful.
The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests—Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise, and Prince Haakon Magnus were all in attendance.
Background
250px|thumb|, Bergen – host venue of the 1986 contest.
By 1985, Norway had received the unwanted distinction of being "the nul points country", receiving 0 points three times and coming in last six times. When they finally won the 1985 contest, it was a source of pride among the Norwegian population, and (NRK) took full advantage of being able to showcase Norway and its achievements in front of over 500 million television viewers. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the next year's contest at the in Bergen, turning down other bids from capital Oslo, and main cities of Stavanger, Sandnes, and Trondheim. Bergen is the northernmost city to have ever hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. About 450 journalists have covered the event.
The contest featured one artist who had previously competed at Eurovision: Elpida representing had previously represented .
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1986 participants
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Language
! scope="col" | Songwriter(s)
! scope="col" | Conductor
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| Timna Brauer
| ""
| German
|
| Richard Oesterreicher
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTBF
| Sandra Kim
| ""
| French
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| CyBC
| Elpida
| "" <small>()</small>
| Greek
|
| Martyn Ford
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| Lise Haavik
| ""
| Danish
|
| Egil Monn-Iversen
|-
! scope="row" |
| YLE
| Kari
| "Never the End"
| Finnish
| Kari Kuivalainen
| Ossi Runne
|-
! scope="row" |
|
| Cocktail Chic
| ""
| French
|
| Jean-Claude Petit
|-
! scope="row" |
| BR
| Ingrid Peters
| ""
| German
| Hans Blum
| Hans Blum
|-
! scope="row" |
| RÚV
| ICY
| ""
| Icelandic
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTÉ
| Luv Bug
| "You Can Count On Me"
| English
| Kevin Sheerin
| Noel Kelehan
|-
! scope="row" |
| IBA
| Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel
| "" <small>()</small>
| Hebrew
|
| Yoram Tzadok
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| Sherisse Laurence
| ""
| French
|
| Rolf Soja
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
| Frizzle Sizzle
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Harry van Hoof
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Ketil Stokkan
| "Romeo"
| Norwegian
| Ketil Stokkan
| Egil Monn-Iversen
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Dora
| ""
| Portuguese
|
| Colin Frechter
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Cadillac
| ""
| Spanish
| José María Guzmán
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| SVT
| Lasse Holm and Monica Törnell
| ""
| Swedish
| Lasse Holm
| Anders Berglund
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
| Daniela Simons
| ""
| French
|
| Atilla Şereftuğ
|-
! scope="row" |
| TRT
|
| "Halley"
| Turkish
|
| Melih Kibar
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Ryder
| "Runner in the Night"
| English
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Doris Dragović
| "" <small>()</small>
| Serbo-Croatian
|
|
|}
Production and format
About 450 journalists have covered the event.
Contest overview<span class="anchor" id="Results"></span><span class="anchor" id="Participants and results"></span>
The contest took place at 21:00 CEST,
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Points
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
|
| ""
| 117
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
|
| ""
| 49
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
| Cocktail Chic
| ""
| 13
| 17
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| "Romeo"
| 44
| 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
| Ryder
| "Runner in the Night"
| 72
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
| ICY
| ""
| 19
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
| Frizzle Sizzle
| ""
| 40
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| "Halley"
| 53
| 9
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
| Cadillac
| ""
| 51
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
|
| ""
| 140
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
| and Sarai Tzuriel
| ""
| 7
| 19
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
| Luv Bug
| "You Can Count On Me"
| 96
| 4
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
|
| ""
| 176
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
|
| ""
| 62
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
| Elpida
| ""
| 4
| 20
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| ""
| 12
| 18
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
| and Monica Törnell
| ""
| 78
| 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18
|
|
| ""
| 77
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 19
|
| Kari
| "Never the End"
| 22
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 20
|
| Dora
| ""
| 28
| 14
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1986 contest are listed below.
- Solveig Herlin
- Guðrún Skúladóttir
- Agneta Bolme Börjefors
- Colin Berry
Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
The winning song, Belgium's "", received points from every jury (Belgium received five sets of 12 points; every country awarded Belgium at least five points except for Germany, which gave them just one point). Belgium was the leader in the voting from the results of the second jury out of twenty, in the longest winning stretch during voting since 1974. Switzerland was behind Belgium in nearly every part of the voting, but Belgium had a commanding lead from the very beginning. Traditionally some juries give high points to the host country's entrant, but this did not happen this year; no jury gave Norway's song "Romeo" more than six points out of a possible 12.
Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before number of 176 points (that record remained seven years until the 1993 contest, with Ireland scoring 187 points), an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2023, still ranks 8th among all Eurovision winners.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Detailed voting results
|-
! colspan="2" |
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="20"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 117 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 5 || 8 || 12 || 8 || 1 || 8 || || || 2 || 4 || 7 || 10 || 12 || 8 || 10 || 10 || 2 || 4 || 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 49 || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 7 || 5 || 7 || 3 || 3 || || 1 || 3 || 4 || || 12 || 1 || 1 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 13 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 3 || || || || || || 7 || || || || || || || 3 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 44 || || || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 4 || 2 || || || 6 || || 6 || 5 || 6 || 6 || || || 5 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 72 || 4 || || 10 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 6 || 2 || 4 || 2 || || || 5 || 2 || 3 || 8 || 8 || 10 || 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Iceland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 19 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 5 || 2 || 6 || || || || || || 4 || || 2 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 40 || 1 || 2 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 7 || 1 || || 8 || || || 10 || 1 || || || || 3 || 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Turkey
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 53 || 6 || 12 || || || 2 || || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 8 || 3 || || 6 || 8 || || 2 || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 51 || 7 || 4 || 6 || || 1 || 2 || || 8 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || || 5 || 3 || || || 7 || || 3 || 1 || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 140 || 12 || 6 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 3 || 12 || 10 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 12 || 10 || 12 || || 5 || 4 || 12 || 4 || 7 || 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Israel
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || || || 1 || 1 || || || || || || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 96 || 3 || 8 || 3 || 2 || || 8 || || 5 || 12 || || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 2 || || || 12 || 7 || 12 || 8 || 8
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 176 || 10 || 10 || 12 || 8 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 12 || 10 || 10 || 5 || 12 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || 10 || 6 || 6 || 10 || 12 || 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 62 || 8 || 1 || || || 12 || || || || || || || 8 || 7 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 8 || 5 || 7 || 2 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Cyprus
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 4 || || 3 || || || || || || || || || || 1 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 12 || || || || || || || || || || || || 2 || 1 || 2 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 6 || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 78 || 5 || 7 || 2 || 7 || 3 || 12 || 3 || || 7 || 12 || || || || 4 || || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 6 || 5 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Denmark
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 77 || || || 5 || 10 || 6 || 7 || 4 || || 5 || 3 || 10 || 4 || || 7 || 7 || || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 22 || || || || || || 6 || 1 || 1 || || || || || 8 || 3 || 3 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 28 || || || || 4 || 4 || || || 4 || 8 || || 7 || || || || || || || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" |
|}
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | N.
! scope="col" | Contestant
! scope="col" | Nation(s) giving 12 points
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 5
| || , , , ,
|-
| || , , , ,
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| || , ,
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2
| || ,
|-
| || ,
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3" | 1
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|}
Broadcasts<span class="anchor" id="Broadcasters and commentators"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.
The contest was reportedly broadcast in Greece and Jordan; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Australia, Gibraltar, and South Korea, with an estimated maximum audience of 600 million viewers and listeners. 44 television and radio stations have reportedly broadcast the contest. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| FS1
| Ernst Grissemann
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| RTBF
| RTBF1,
|
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="3" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| DR TV
| Jørgen de Mylius
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | YLE
| TV1
|
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
|
|
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| Patrice Laffont
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| RFO
|