The money behind Eurovision

How Eurovision mirrors European politics

Although Eurovision claims to be nonpolitical, historian Dean Vuletic argues that it is inherently political and, in many ways, the only election in which most of Europe participates. In this brief explainer, he unpacks how the song contest's politics extend back to its first broadcast in 1956, which featured Walter Andreas Schwarz, a Jewish West German who signaled a rebuke to Germany's Nazi past.

Why most Eurovision acts sing in English

Eurovision is intended to be a celebration of diverse cultures from around Europe—and, in the case of Israel and Australia, beyond Europe. But since 1999, most of its participants have sung in English. This episode of "The Allusionist" features Historian Dean Vuletic, who breaks down why so many countries' competitors avoid their native languages.

How Eurovision selects its winners

Competing acts are judged by a combination of music industry professionals, peers, and viewers, creating a suspenseful on-air tally to reveal the contest's ultimate winner.

Some non-European countries compete in Eurovision

Eurovision includes the non-European competitors Australia and Israel, who were invited to participate in the 2015 and 1973, respectively, due to the countries' affinity for the song contest. Previously, Morocco competed in Eurovision (once, in 1980), though it no longer does.

Eurovision voting largely follows cultural blocs

In 2025, France's AFP analyzed the voting data from every Eurovision Song Contest and found that how countries vote often reflects long-standing cultural associations, with Nordic countries, Baltic states, and former Soviet nations tending to vote in solidarity.

The 10 best Eurovision performances

It's one thing to write a great song for Eurovision, but it's another to execute its performance on one of the world's biggest stages. This list runs through 10 of the most impressive, with memorable entries from a Finnish metal band, a Swedish crooner, and a German comedy troupe.

The complex production machine behind Eurovision

This short Wall Street Journal documentary goes behind the scenes at Eurovision to show how the elaborate stage show—which features a production manager, speedy run crews, and a digital floor outlining the location of every prop for every performance—hums along so smoothly.

Several countries backed out of Eurovision 2026 to protest Israel's inclusion

The public broadcasting organizations of Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands said they will not compete in the 2026 Eurovision in Austria to protest Israel's inclusion, citing the humanitarian crisis from the Israel-Hamas war.

The Italian music contest that inspired Eurovision

Italy's Sanremo Festival began in 1951 as a way to boost tourism in the Italian Riviera during the offseason, with three acts performing original songs on a national radio broadcast. The format would be replicated five years later by Eurovision, though Sanremo is still around.

The most expensive EU countries

Among countries in the European Union, Luxembourg has the highest prices (52% higher than the EU average). Romania seems like it's the cheapest option in the EU at 46% below the EU average. Want to see how other countries such as Italy, France and Germany rank? Explore this color-coded map to learn more.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Poland spends the most on NATO (as a share of GDP) at 4.1%, as of 2024

BBC explores how much each NATO member spends on defense and includes a helpful map displaying the defense spending of European countries as a percentage of GDP.

Attending Davos can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

Access to Davos’ most exclusive events often comes at a steep price: Annual WEF dues can exceed $50K, premium membership can reach $500K, and attendance adds high costs for travel, lodging, security, and credentials.

Affluence largely influences where Michelin stars are awarded

Countries with high GDP are the most highly decorated with Michelin stars. As this 2024 in-depth statistical analysis notes, though, that appears to be changing, with the Guide beginning to recognize other areas of the globe.

A list of the world's top 25 economies by GDP

Gross domestic product estimates the value of goods and services produced in a country, typically through the expenditure method, which adds up spending by consumers, investors and governments with the value of exports. The top five economies are the US, China, Germany, Japan and India.

Over time, the World Cup became a commercial powerhouse

The 1954 World Cup featured the first live black-and-white televised broadcast of the event, and, in 1970, FIFA introduced color broadcasts in primetime. Increasing revenues pushed private networks to aggressively bid for broadcast rights. Today, the event is a commercial powerhouse, with the 2026 World Cup projected to generate around $4B in TV rights revenue.

Opera faces many economic problems today

Opera is a notably expensive art form, and therefore currently struggling to survive economically. Pandemic losses, reduced government funding, and dwindling ticket sales all pose a threat to its continuation. According to a recent survey, about half of the UK wouldn't feel impacted if all opera houses were shut down.

Between 2016 and 2023, PE spent more than $200B buying British companies

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the United Kingdom's official departure from the European Union, the UK's economy struggled to recover. This economic strife led to British companies receiving steadily lower valuations than American companies, prompting a huge increase in PE investment. However, interest rates began increasing in 2022, putting pressure on the numerous leveraged buyout deals that took place between 2020 and 2021.

Reasons the wealthy like to give to universities

Every year, higher education receives the lion’s share of philanthropy for key reasons. Universities have huge budgets and can handle big sums. They also oversee a broad range of initiatives tailored to an individual’s goals, and are particularly credible institutions with long track records and strong brands.

Becoming an Olympic swimmer costs tens of thousands of dollars

When you see Olympic athletes win gold, it's the culmination of years of hard work and discipline. But it isn't all sweat equity. Before ever stepping foot on the world stage, these athletes have to pay or find funding for private coaching and lessons, club memberships, and meet fees, with estimates that it costs $25K to $40K to make it to the Olympics.

Read the 2006 op-ed Venus Williams wrote about equal pay

In 2005 Venus Williams met with French Open officials and the Wimbledon tournament board to advocate for equal prize money between men and women at the prestigious tournaments. The 2007 season marked the first time men and women received equal prize money in every Major.

Some Super Bowl performers make less than $1K for the event

The NFL has a longstanding policy of not compensating Super Bowl Halftime show performers, with the idea that the true compensation for artists is the scale of the exposure to the artist’s music. Previous Super Bowl performers have made the union rate minimum, which is about $1K per day.

Ukraine has received over $300B in Western military and financial aid

Although not a member of NATO, Ukraine has received substantial support from Western nations, primarily the United States and the European Union, totaling more than $300B in military, financial, and humanitarian assistance.

ABBA wore outlandish costumes on stage for tax reasons

Sweden's beloved musical group ABBA wore outrageous costumes designed to take advantage of a tax break for work uniforms. The law stated that people could deduct expenses for work clothing, as long as it couldn't be worn for other purposes.

Money—not land—became Europe’s key economic driver in the Middle Age

During the medieval commercial revolution, money gradually replaced land as the primary economic commodity. Expanding trade, markets, and finance transformed Europe’s economy—laying foundations, historians argue, that were essential for the later Industrial Revolution.

Why aren’t there hurricanes in Europe?

Despite their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the effects of the subtropical jet stream make tropical storms and hurricanes unlikely to reach Europe at full strength. Their remnants, however, can combine with other weather systems to create powerful storms.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease, yet the only approved Ebola vaccine is known to work against just one of them.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'