Austria wins Eurovision 2025 – JJ triumphs in Basel with “Wasted Love”! Full Grand final recap

Austria is the winner of the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest! The country’s representative, JJ, took the victory at the grand final held in Basel, Switzerland, with the powerful operatic ballad “Wasted Love”, bringing Austria its third Eurovision title and first since 2014.

Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

In a thrilling finale, the votes were counted and verified, and the audience at St. Jakobshalle, along with millions of viewers around the world, anxiously awaited the winner’s announcement. Hosts Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker, and Sandra Studer declared that Austria had received the highest number of points – a total of 436.

Following the now-standard voting system, jury votes were revealed first. JJ topped that segment with 258 points, followed by the dramatic public vote announcement, where he scored an additional 176 points, securing first place overall.

Second place went to Israel’s Yuval Raphael with the song “New Day Will Rise” and 357 points, while Estonia’s Tommy Cash placed third with “Espresso Macchiato”, finishing just one point behind with 356 points.

Estonia’s representative at Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

Although no former Yugoslav country qualified for the final this year, the Balkans still had reasons to celebrate thanks to the strong results from Greece and Albania.

Greece’s representative, Klavdia, achieved a high sixth place with 231 points, while Albania’s Shkodra Elektronike came eighth with 218 points.

Albania’s result was even more impressive in the public vote, where they ranked fifth, just five points behind the winner – a clear sign of strong audience support.

In the table below you can see how the jury and the audience voted individually, as well as the final ranking of all participants in this year’s competition.

#	COMBINED		JURY		TELEVOTING
	Country	Points	Country	Points	Country	Points
1	Austria	436	Austria	258	Israel	297
2	Israel	357	Switzerland	214	Estonia	258
3	Estonia	356	France	180	Sweden	195
4	Sweden	321	Italy	159	Austria	178
5	Italy	256	Netherlands	175	Albania	173
6	Greece	231	Sweden	126	Ukraine	158
7	France	230	Latvia	116	Poland	139
8	Albania	218	Greece	105	Greece	126
9	Ukraine	218	Estonia	98	Finland	108
10	Switzerland	214	United Kingdom	88	Italy	97
11	Finland	196	Finland	88	Germany	74
12	Netherlands	175	Malta	83	Norway	67
13	Latvia	158	Germany	77	Lithuania	62
14	Poland	156	Ukraine	60	France	50
15	Germany	151	Israel	60	Netherlands	42
16	Lithuania	96	Albania	45	Latvia	42
17	Malta	91	Denmark	45	Iceland	33
18	Norway	89	Armenia	42	Armenia	30
19	United Kingdom	88	Portugal	37	Luxembourg	24
20	Armenia	72	Lithuania	34	San Marino	18
21	Portugal	50	Spain	27	Portugal	13
22	Luxembourg	47	Luxembourg	23	Spain	10
23	Denmark	47	Norway	22	Malta	8
24	Spain	37	Poland	17	Denmark	2
25	Iceland	33	San Marino	9	United Kingdom	0
26	San Marino	27	Iceland	0	Switzerland	0

There were noticeable differences between jury and public votes. The professional juries awarded the most points to Austria, Switzerland, and France, while the public’s top three were Israel, Estonia, and Sweden.

One particularly striking case was Switzerland – while it finished second in the jury vote with 214 points, the public gave it zero points, marking one of the biggest divides in recent Eurovision history. Similarly, the United Kingdom also received no televote points, despite scoring 88 from juries, landing them tenth in that segment.

Iceland, on the other hand, got no jury points at all, a rare occurrence.

A big gap was also seen for Poland, whose act was loved by the audience (7th place in the televote) but heavily underrated by juries (24th). The contrast was even starker with Israel – the public’s clear winner, while the juries only ranked it 15th. These examples highlight the diverse tastes of the public and professionals, adding to the contest’s excitement and unpredictability.

Serbia – worst result to date

Sadly, Serbia failed to qualify for the grand final this year, finishing 14th in the second semi-final – its worst result since entering the contest independently.

Serbian representative Princ, with the song “Mila”, didn’t make it into the top 10 qualifiers. He collected a total of 28 points, receiving votes from only five out of 18 countries in the second semi-final: Montenegro, Austria, Germany, France, and Greece.

This outcome sparked disappointment among Eurovision fans in Serbia and renewed discussions about the country’s future strategy in the contest.

POINTS	TELEVOTING
12	Montenegro
10	Austria
4	France
1	Greece   Germany

Serbian jury and public – different opinions

Although Serbia didn’t perform in the final, it still had voting rights. The Serbian jury for this year included:

• Aleksandar Habić – composer and producer
• Luka Jovanović – music critic
• Bojana Stamenov – representative of Serbia 2015.
• Ivana Peters – singer and songwriter
• Olga Bisera Bišerčić – music teacher

Njihove ocene su se značajno razlikovale od glasova publike, što je još jednom pogazalo da žiri i gledaoci često imaju potpuno različite kriterijume.

Poeni koje je Srbija dodelila u finalu:

POINTS	JURY	PUBLIC
12	France	Estonia
10	Germany	Austria
8	Austria	Greece
7	Switzerland	Sweden
6	Greece	Finland
5	Denmark	Germany
4	Ukraine	Albania
3	Estonia	Norway
2	Armenia	Israel
1	Latvia	Malta

 

Eurovision winner JJ speaks exclusively for OGAE Serbia

Now officially the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, JJ took some time before the grand final to speak exclusively to our portal – OGAE Serbia. In a written interview, prepared in cooperation with his team, JJ shared details about the creation of the winning song “Wasted Love,” revealing the inspiration behind its emotional message, as well as how the collaboration came about with Serbian artist Teya, who was one of the key creative contributors.

Besides the song, JJ also spoke about the months-long preparations, his expectations, and more…

You can read the full exclusive interview by clicking HERE.

A spectacular show full of emotions, surprises and nostalgia

The four-hour grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was a true spectacle, rich in emotion, memorable performances, and surprises that will be remembered for years to come. The evening traditionally began with a parade of all finalists, welcomed by a cheering audience from across Europe. This was followed by a powerful performance of last year’s winning song “The Code” by Swiss artist Nemo. He appeared again later in the evening during the interval act, debuting his new song “Unexplainable,” symbolically closing one chapter and opening another in his career.

However, the moment that drew the most excitement from the arena and viewers across Europe was the joint performance by Baby Lasagna, Croatia’s 2024 representative, and Käärijä, Finland’s fan favorite from 2023. Both were televote winners in their respective years but fell just short of winning. Their energetic mash-up of the hits “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” and “Cha Cha Cha,” along with the premiere of their joint song #eurodab, was named by many fans as the most emotional and unforgettable moment of the night.

Performance of Baby Lasagna and Käärija in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 final.

A special tribute during the evening was dedicated to the host and last year’s winning country – Switzerland. This segment featured legendary Swiss Eurovision representatives who left their mark on the contest’s history:

• Paola del Medico Felix – representative in 1969 and 1980
• Peter Reber from the group Peter, Sue & Marc – participants in 1971, 1976, 1979, and 1981
• Luca Hänni – representative in 2019
• Gjon’s Tears – selected in 2020 and finalist in 2021

Together, they performed a heartfelt medley of Swiss Eurovision songs, reminding us of the country’s rich and diverse Eurovision legacy.

Although fans and media heavily speculated about a surprise appearance by Céline Dion, the legendary 1988 Eurovision winner for Switzerland, her contribution this year was limited to a short but emotional video message of support, broadcast during the show.

While she did not perform live, her message still stirred deep emotions and reaffirmed her iconic status in Eurovision history.

With this victory, Austria now boasts three Eurovision trophies. The first was won back in 1966 by the legendary Udo Jürgens with the song “Merci, Chérie.” The second came in 2014 when Conchita Wurst triumphed with the powerful performance of “Rise Like A Phoenix.”

JJ’s victory in Basel further proves that Austria knows how to make a strong impression on the Eurovision stage, and his performance and song will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most emotional moments of Eurovision 2025.

Austria to host Eurovision 2026 — preparations already underway

Following a convincing win at Eurovision 2025, Austria has officially confirmed it will host next year’s contest. While the host city has yet to be announced, the decision is expected in the coming months. Vienna, Graz, and Innsbruck have already expressed interest in organizing the event.

The Eurovision wheel never stops turning, and several countries have already confirmed their participation in next year’s edition. These include Belgium, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Finland has gone a step further, scheduling its national final – UMK – for February 28, 2026, becoming the first country to announce a specific date for selecting its representative.

As for Serbia, although RTS has not yet officially confirmed participation, there is a strong indication that the country will return to the Eurovision stage.

Namely, in the official rulebook for the national selection Pesma za Evroviziju ’25, it is clearly stated that the winner of PZE 25 will hand over the trophy to their successor – the winner of PZE 26 – who will represent Serbia at Eurovision 2026. This formulation is seen as an indirect confirmation that RTS intends to continue the competition next season, though an official statement is still awaited.

For all those who missed the grand Eurovision final, the organizers have made the full show available for rewatch. The video is available below.

Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Grand Final