200 Days until Eurovision 2021 - What we know so far

With 200 days to go, we are nearly passed the halfway mark until the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in 2021.

Over the last few weeks and months there have been many announcements made on the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

We will provide a regular update on the artists who will be returning next year and any other news on the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest here at aussievision.net and our social channels.

Here is what we know so far:

General Contest News

Eurovision will take place on 18, 20 and 22 May 2021 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Last week the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed the 41 countries competing in next year's Contest.

There will be no debut, returning or withdrawing countries with Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Österdahl, said “We have the exact same line up of countries that would have competed in 2020 and we are thrilled that they will all return next year.”

Of the 41 nations taking part, 35 will compete in two Semi-Finals with 10 successful acts from each Semi-Final joining the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) and hosts the Netherlands in the Grand Final.

Back in September the Eurovision 2021 organisers revealed that in response to the coronavirus pandemic, they are working on four different scenarios with hosting the Contest to ensure that it goes ahead. It includes a socially distant event and ones with travel restrictions on all or some of the participants.

You can read the scenarios here, but no matter what Eurovision 2021 will happen.

A decision on what the 65th Eurovision Song Contest will look like will be made early next year.

Also the stage, slogan and hosts for Eurovision 2020 will be the same for 2021.

Artists confirmed to participate in Eurovision 2021:

• Australia - Montaigne

• Austria - Vincent Bueno

• Azerbaijan - Efendi

• Belgium - Hooverphonic

• Bulgaria - Victoria

• Czech Republic - Benny Christo

• Georgia - Tornike Kipiani

• Greece - Stefania

• Iceland - Daði og Gagnamagnið

• Israel - Eden Alene

• Latvia - Samanta Tīna

• Malta - Destiny

• Moldova - Natalia Gordienko

• Netherlands - Jeangu Macrooy

• Romania - Roxen

• San Marino - Senhit

• Slovenia - Ana Soklič

• Spain - Blas Cantó

• Switzerland - Gjon's Tears

• Ukraine - Go_A

Other news on artist selections and national finals:

Albania - Public broadcaster RTSH confirmed that Festivali i Këngës 59 will go on, with the winner going to Eurovision 2021. RTSH published a list with 26 participating songs and artists for the 59th edition of their national selection for Eurovision 2021.

Australia - Last month Montaigne revealed her possible Eurovision 2021 entry, 'JC Ultra’ on a live stream on Twitch. She shared some very interesting details about the potential song for Eurovision 2021 that she put forward to her manager. You can find out more details here.

Belarus - Following changes to staff at BTRC the Belarussian broadcaster confirmed that VAL will unfortunately not be competing in Eurovision 2021.

Croatia - Public broadcaster HRT has confirmed that the final of Dora 2021, its national selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest, will be held on 13 February 2021. Their Eurovision 2020 artist Damir Kedzo will have to compete at Dora again if he wants to go to Eurovision next year. He has not yet decided if he will compete.

Cyprus - confirmed that they will internally select a new artist for 2021 together with a record company. Sandro will not be representing Cyprus in 2021.

Denmark - Danish national selection, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, will take place on March 6 2021, where there will be 8 participants taking part in the show. Unfortunately 2020 winners Ben & Tan will not be granted a wildcard to the DMGP final and will not enter the 2021 contest.

Estonia - The search for the Estonian entry has begun, where entrants have until November 6 to submit their song and a vision of the stage performance for their entry. A their national final, Eesti Laul, there will be 24 songs in the semi-finals which will take place on February 18 and 20. The final will take place on March 6 2021. The organisers have invited Uku Suviste to participate and he intends to compete.

Finland - Finnish broadcaster Yle announced a decision on their finalists for 2021. The broadcaster received 278 submissions and chose just 7 finalists who will compete during ‘Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu’, the Finnish national selection. The Finnish finalists will be revealed on January 19 2021. Their 2020 entrant Aksel will not be given a spot in the national final, but he will still be entering a song. Finland's next Eurovision representative will be announced on February 20 in the UMK final to be held in Tampere. The winner will be jointly chosen by the public vote and the international UMK jury.

France - Tom Leeb has announced that he won’t go to Eurovision next year due to a busy schedule. The broadcaster has confirmed they will use a national final, ‘Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez’ to select their Eurovision 2021 song

Germany - confirmed that they will have a new artist next year. The 2021 entry and act will be selected in the same way that they did in 2020, which is via two juries: a selected jury and a jury of music experts.

Iceland - In big news for fans of Daði, who was one of the favourites to win the Eurovision 2020 Contest, he finally put an end to the rumours and announced that Daði og Gagnamagnið will compete in Eurovision 2021 for Iceland. He made the announcement on Twitter.

Ireland - RTE have confirmed that they will be participating in 2021, and Lesley Roy is able to return given she has the right song.

Israel - KAN confirmed that Eden Alene’s song will be selected through a national final with 16 songs

Italy - Sanremo Music Festival will go ahead next year, with the winner of Sanremo 2021 will have first refusal at going to Rotterdam. If the winner decides not to go to Eurovision then the Italian broadcaster RAI will internally select Italy’s Eurovision representative. Sanremo Music Festival 2021 will take place from March 2 - 6 2021.

Lithuania - LRT announced that they will once again be running their national final ‘Pabandom Iš Naujo ‘next year, and have invited The Roop to once again participate in the contest directly in the national Grand Final.

Norway - Norway will select their Eurovision 2021 participant during the final of Melodi Grand Prix on 20 February. The 5 semi-finals will take place between 16 January and 13 February 2021 with a spectacular final on 20 February. Ulrikke was given the opportunity to be a direct finalist next year but declined the offer.

Portugal - Portuguese broadcaster RTP has confirmed that the 2021 edition of Festival da Canção will take place. A total of 20 songs will compete in the competition (4 more than in previous years). RTP invites 18 authors to present a song to compete in Festival da Canção and opens a public submission to choose 2 more authors, to complete the 20 authors in the competition. The free submission of songs will be open until 25 November. Authors that are either Portuguese or live in Portugal can enter.

Russia - Broadcaster Channel One has confirmed that they will be in charge of Russia’s 2021 Eurovision entrant. There has been no word yet if Little Big will return.

San Marino - San Marino’s Eurovision 2021 representative, Senhit, has been busy releasing chapters of her #FreakyTripToRotterdam as she prepares for Eurovision 2021. So far she has released interesting covers of Eurovision songs including some big winning songs ‘Everyway That I Can’, ‘Ding-a-Dong’ and her latest creative piece ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’. It’s extremely creative check it out!

Sweden - Early in October, Swedish broadcaster SVT confirmed the dates of Melodifestivalen 2021 and announced that all shows will be held in Stockholm without an audience. The semi-finals will take place on 6, 13, 20 and 27 February, the second chance round on 6 March and the final on 13 March.