The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Birmingham, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the 1997 contest with the song "Love Shine A Light" by Katrina and the Waves. It was a record eighth time that the United Kingdom had hosted the contest - a record that remains to date. The previous hosting record was seven, set by Ireland the previous year. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the National Indoor Arena on 9 May 1998. The live show was presented by the BBC's Eurovision commentator Terry Wogan and Swedish-born presenter and model Ulrika Jonsson.
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest,[1] equalling the record of the 1993, 1994 and 1997 editions. Macedonia made their debut this year, even though they had submitted an entry in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, which failed to qualify into the televised final of that contest.[2] Belgium, Finland, and Slovakia returned to the contest after 1996. Despite having also taken part in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, in which they failed to qualify, Romania and Israel returned officially after their last participations in 1994 and 1995 respectively.[3][4] Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland, and Russia were relegated, while Italy decided not to participate. Italy would not return to the contest until 2011.[5]
The winner was Israel with the song "Diva", performed by Dana International, written by Yoav Ginai, and composed by Tzvika Pick. The United Kingdom, Malta, the Netherlands and Croatia rounded out the top five. Malta achieved their best placing in the contest thus far. This was a record fifteenth time that the United Kingdom finished in second place. Incidentally, it was the third year in a row that the entry of the host country had finished in second place, following Norway in 1996 and Ireland in 1997.
After the broadcast it was announced that there had been a mistake during the voting sequence; the votes from the Spanish televote were wrongly tallied. The mistake was corrected after the contest and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast. Originally Estonia, Cyprus and Portugal tied for 11th place with 37 points but because Portugal and Estonia received one point less than indicated during the broadcast, Cyprus was placed 11th over Estonia and Portugal, now sharing 12th place.
The United Kingdom, along with their national broadcaster the BBC, hosted the contest at the National Indoor Arena in the city of Birmingham having beaten venues in Belfast, London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow to stage the event.[6] It was the first time since 1982 that the Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the United Kingdom,[7] and the last to date. This was a record-breaking eighth time that the United Kingdom staged the contest, having done so for the 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, and 1982 contests.[8] The announcement of the host city and venue took place on 8 August 1997.[9]
The National Indoor Arena had been used for several major events in the past, including counting no less than eight constituencies in the hall for the 1992 general election.[10] The week after the Eurovision Song Contest, the city was to host the 24th G8 summit, with Wogan vacating his hotel room to make way for Bill Clinton.[11][12] Opened in October 1991, the arena was best known in the UK for hosting the 1990s British television series Gladiators, also presented by Jonsson, on ITV.