Most "nul points" at the Eurovision Song Contest

Norway (1963, 1978, 1981, 1997) and Austria (1962, 1988, 1991, 2015) have both been tarnished with the dreaded “nul points” four times in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) – most recently when the Austrian trio The Makemakes failed to make a mark with “I Am Yours” at the 60th edition in Vienna, Austria.

Four other countries – Finland, Spain, Switzerland and Germany – have each received no points on three occasions. Thankfully for the performers and songwriters, the 21st century has witnessed just four zeros in the Eurovision final to date – two of them for the United Kingdom, in 2003 (Jemini) and 2021 (James Newman).

Eleonore Schwarz (1962), Wilfried (1988), Thomas Forstner (1991) and The Makemakes (2015) all drew blanks for Austria, while Anita Thallaug (1963), Jahn Teigen (1978), Finn Kalvik (1981) and Tor Endresen (1997) had nights to forget for Norway.

Consecutively, in 1962-65, four countries scored “nul points” at each contest, but no more than two have done so in a single year since then. Belgium (2), Netherlands (2), Turkey (2), Portugal (2), Sweden (1), Yugoslavia (1), Monaco (1), Italy (1), Luxembourg (1), Iceland (1) and Lithuania (1) have also entered the ESC record books for all the wrong reasons, but it’s the taking part that counts…

Additionally, Norway lead the way with 12 last-place finishes in the final (1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2012, 2024 – most recently with Gåte’s much- underrated “Ulveham”), three more than both Finland and Germany. Austria came last seven times between 1957 and 1991.

In 2015, The Makemakes finished 26th out of the record 27 finalists, despite receiving “nul points” along with last-placed Germany.