The Eurovision Song Contest, often shortened to ESC, Eurovision, or EuroSong is an annual song competition held among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956.

Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Suriname, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, although these countries do not compete. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Nothing will ever be able to top Epic Sax Guy from a few years back...

Used to watch this every year growing up - awful, just awful music - but compelling drama as the votes were counted as countries called in from across the continent...

Ireland was very successful with the most winners ever, and big wins in the 80's and especially early 90's. If memory serves correctly, Riverdance was first performed to a large audience at one of the Eurovision contests. The deal is that the winning country hosts the next years competition and has to put on a huge show, including some entertainment while juries are coming up with their votes. Riverdance blew everyone's minds when it debuted.