The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the eighteenth Eurovision Song Contest and held in Luxembourg. The language rule that only allowed countries to enter songs that were sung in any of their national languages was dropped, thus leading some countries to sing in English.

The event was marked by a scandal, with the Spanish song, "Eres tú", being accused of plagiarism following suggestions that it was merely a rewrite of the Yugoslav entry from the 1966 contest ("Brez besed" sung by Berta Ambrož). "Eres tú" was not disqualified; it has been suggested that this may have been for political reasons, as Francisco Franco's Spain was seen as more part of the European mainstream than Tito's Yugoslavia. The song went on from its second place in the contest to become a huge international hit.

The somewhat elliptical lyrics to Portugal's entry "Tourada" provided sufficient cover for a song that was clearly understood as a blistering assault on the country's decaying dictatorship.

In the light of events at the previous year's Munich Olympics, there were fears of a terrorist threat, particularly directed against Israel's first-ever entrant, leading to unusually tight security for the contest. This gave rise to one of the best-known Eurovision anecdotes, frequently recounted by the UK's long-serving commentator Terry Wogan. He recalled that the floor manager strongly advised the audience to remain seated while applauding the performances, otherwise they risked being shot by security forces.

Luxembourg's win was their fourth.

Results

Score sheet

Map

• Green = Participating countries
• Yellow = Countries who have participated in the past but don't this year

1973 in music

Eurovision Song Contest 1973 | Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión 1973 | Eŭrovido-Kantokonkurso 1973 | Concours Eurovision de la chanson 1973 | Eurofestival 1973 | אירוויזיון 1973 | Eurovisiesongfestival 1973 | Festival Eurovisão da Canção (1973) | Eurovision 1973 | Eurovision laulukilpailu 1973 | Eurovisionsschlagerfestivalen 1973