Format
Long-standing rules in place for decades were abolished during this Contest: rules that each country had to sing in one of their national languages was abolished for the first time since 1977. A majority of the participating countries, thirteen out of twenty-three, chose to sing entirely or partly in English and only nine entirely in their respective national languages; Lithuania, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, France, Cyprus, Portugal and Turkey. Furthermore, live music became optional for the first time in the Contest's history. IBA took advantage of this and decided to drop the orchestra from the Contest as a way to conserve money for the show. This meant that for the first time all entries used backing track during their performances. This caused controversy for Eurovision traditionalists, with three-time winner Johnny Logan criticising the move, describing the event now as "karaoke".
In was announced in 1999 that, as of the 2000 Contest, the four biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom – would all be given automatic entry into the Contest, regardless of their average scores over the past five years.
Latvia had attempted to participate in the Contest for the first time, but withdrew at a late stage. This gave Hungary a chance to enter the Contest; however, Magyar Televízió decided not to take part. This allowed Portugal to compete as the 23rd country.
Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark and Iceland returned to the Contest after being relegated from competing in 1998. Lithuania also returned to the Contest for the first time in five years. The Lithuanian delegation had had budget problems to contend with, and so the EBU allowed the Lithuanians to arrive in Israel a day later than everyone else. The first delegation on the other hand to walk the Holy Land were Estonia.
After being relegated from the 1998 Contest, Russia's Channel One had decided not to broadcast that year's contest, in order to allow for a strong comeback in Israel. However, as only countries which had broadcast the previous year's contest were allowed to enter the next year's contest, Russia was forced to miss another year. They were joined by Finland, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland; the countries with the lowest average scores over the previous five years.
The favourites to win the Contest came from Iceland's Selma with "All Out of Luck", and Cyprus's Marlain with "Tha 'Ne Erotas", after an internet poll by fans. But, while Iceland finished second to Sweden (the country's best showing in the contest), Cyprus failed to inspire televotes, finishing second last with only two points, both from the United Kingdom.
Read more about this topic: Eurovision Song Contest 1999