The story behind ABBA's Eurovision victory

Watch ABBA perform on Eurovision in 1974

The pop group won the 1974 competition, representing Sweden with the song "Waterloo." It was the first time the country took home the Eurovision title and the start of a long, successful career for ABBA, who'd eventually become one of the world's bestselling musical groups.

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.

A history of Eurovision controversies

The annual song contest spectacle is no stranger to controversy. This list breaks down some of the most scandalous, including claims that 2021 winners Maneskin were snorting cocaine, Georgia's 2009 rejection for submitting a protest song, and Jordan's refusal to recognize Israel in 1978.

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.

Watch Celine Dion perform at Eurovision 1988

By 1988, the 20-year-old singer was already a star in her native Canada but was a relative unknown outside the French-speaking world. That changed when she represented Switzerland at Eurovision, performing "Ne Partez Pas Sans Mo." She'd go on to win the contest that year and soon become one of the bestselling artists in the world.

Watch tATu represent Russia in Eurovision 2003

The duo was already internationally known, thanks to their breakout 2002 hit "All The Things She Said," when they performed on the Eurovision stage in Latvia. Their performance of "Ne Ver, Ne Boysia, Ne Prosi" wasn't enough to propel them to victory, though; they ended up in third place, behind entrants from Turkey and Belgium.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union created a Eurovision competitor

The Soviet Union was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union, so it couldn't compete in Eurovision. In 1977, it turned a preexisting Polish-language singing competition into one that more closely resembled Eurovision and renamed it Intervision. The competition was open to countries from across the globe, regardless of their form of government, though most entrants were from communist countries.

Watch the 'Riverdance' performance from Eurovision 1994

The Irish step dance show didn't compete in Eurovision, but it did perform as an "Interval Act" during the 1994 broadcast while votes were being tallied, earning a standing ovation. The next year, it premiered in Dublin as a stage show and continues touring the globe today.

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.'

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles

Although the quartet was already a sensation in Great Britain, Capitol Records turned down the opportunity to release "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You," licensing them instead to a smaller independent label in Chicago.

The simple melody in 'Auld Lang Syne' has led to the song’s repurposing

In addition to becoming a standard tune to ring in the new year, the song has been reworked as a Dutch soccer anthem, a Japanese standard, and the South Korean national anthem. A significant part of its widespread use is that it has no copyright limitations. It helps, too, that it's simple melody is easy for even the most amateur singers to tackle.

In 1957, the BBC conducted one of the first televised April fool pranks

The reputable broadcaster reported a story about a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from a "spaghetti tree." Some viewers didn't appreciate the joke and felt angry about being misled.

Finland and Sweden joined NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

In response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden abandoned decades of military neutrality to join NATO, marking a major shift in Europe's security landscape and expanding the alliance to Russia's borders.

Read more about the backstory on the 2025 Nobel Prize for immune system work

A trio of scientists won the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine that year, but they performed their award-worthy work beginning about two decades before winning the prize. This announcement includes details about the science and notes that the three scientists will equally share the 11 million Swedish kronor (almost $1.2M).

See Minnelli's iconic performance of 'Maybe This Time' that helped earn her an Oscar

In the film "Cabaret," Minnelli performs the show tune as Sally Bowles, a protagonist embarking on a new love affair in 1930s Berlin. Minnelli's emotive performance and belting vocals helped land her the prestigious acting award.

'The Girl from Ipanema' is one of jazz's most popular songs

The song, written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, had already been recorded in Portuguese in 1962, but the version on "Getz/Gilberto" was sung in English by Astrud Gilberto, then an amateur who'd been chosen because she sang in the language better than her husband, João. The song helped propel the album's sales and is now considered a jazz standard.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

Billie Jean King's victory at the 'Battle of the Sexes' drew over 90 million viewers

After Bobby Riggs trounced No. 2-ranked Margaret Court in the first Battle of the Sexes, he challenged superstar Billie Jean King to a match. King beat Bobby Riggs in a match at the Astrodome, which drew 90 million viewers worldwide, leading to the WTA's first TV deal in 1975. Using historic photos, this Sports Illustrated story dives into the spectacle surrounding the event, why King agreed this time, and the impact the match had on King, as well as the future of women's tennis as a whole.

'Islands in the Stream' was another massive crossover hit for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

The country stars each earned their second pop No. 1 hits with the duet, eventually selling over 3 million units. In 1998, the Fugees’ Pras scored a hit with an interpolation of the song on his track “Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are),” which was eventually certified platinum.

Airbus is a rare European industrial success story that overtook a rival American firm

After World War II, the US dominated aviation, particularly Boeing. To compete, Europe's major industrial nations pooled resources to form Airbus, a customer-centric airplane manufacturer. Its A320 family of planes became the most popular in airliner history, leading to profitability in the 1990s. Amid Boeing's major hurdles in recent years, Airbus remains the industry leader.

After Warner Bros signed him at 18, Prince wrote a song to thank them

The label scooped the young artist in 1977, eager to ink a deal with the promising young savant. In response, Prince wrote a song called "I Hope We Can Work It Out," which suggested together they'd make "Music for the young and old, music bound to be gold." An official recording of the song was never released, but the Minnesota Historical Society acquired the original handwritten lyrics in 2017. You can see them below.

England's sole World Cup win featured a 'ghost goal'

The 1966 match is known for Geoff Hurst's controversial third goal—called a "ghost goal." Watch the original footage, including the legendary call from announcer Kenneth Wolstenholme, and decide for yourself if the ball went in.

Wedding rings can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the ring symbolized eternity

The tradition later spread through Greece and Rome, evolving with precious gems during the medieval period. Diamonds became central after De Beers' 1947 "a diamond is forever" campaign, boosting sales by 50% in three years.

In 2022, Argentina defeated France in a dramatic World Cup final, winning on penalties after a 3-3 draw to claim their third World Cup title.

'Jesus Christ Superstar' was an album before it was a musical

Written in the late '60s by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who were hot on the heels of the successful "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Jesus Christ Superstar" was first recorded as an album in the style of other popular rock operas of the time, like The Who's "Tommy."

Olympic track runner Jesse Owens recounts his win in Hitler's Germany in 1936

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at these Games, but nearly failed to qualify for the long jump event. Despite the polarizing political climate, German athlete Luz Long offered advice and encouragement to Owens—his direct competitor—resulting in a lasting friendship Owens later called his "greatest Olympic prize."

Abigail Adams sailed to Europe to join John during his diplomatic posting in Paris in 1784

This podcast chronicles Abigail's voyage across the Atlantic to join John in Paris during his diplomatic service, then follows the couple's return to America and their rise to the White House.

The origin of the 'barbershop quartet'

Barbershop is subgenre of acapella, limited to four singers who all play highly specific roles. If you see a particularly inspired quartet, you might even see them in old-timey barber dress, a nod to style's origin: the British barbershop. This brief explainer from Mental Floss breaks down the strange story behind the form and how it traveled overseas to become the music we know today.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

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.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

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

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

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

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

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.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

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.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

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