EUROVISION RECORDS · WINNING GAPS

Longest gaps between Eurovision wins

Some countries returned to the top quickly; others waited decades. This ranking calculates every completed gap between two consecutive victories for the same country from the verified 1956–2026 winners archive.

LONGEST COMPLETED WAIT

🇦🇹 Austria — 48 years

Austria won in 1966 and then next won in 2014, creating the longest completed calendar-year gap between victories in the archive.

Austria at Eurovision →

Eurovision win-gap leaderboard

Rank	Country	Gap	Earlier win	Next win
1	🇦🇹 Austria	48 years	1966	2014
2	🇳🇱 Netherlands	44 years	1975	2019
3	🇩🇰 Denmark	37 years	1963	2000
4	🇨🇭 Switzerland	36 years	1988	2024
5	🇨🇭 Switzerland	32 years	1956	1988
6	🇮🇹 Italy	31 years	1990	2021
7	🇩🇪 Germany	28 years	1982	2010
8	🇮🇹 Italy	26 years	1964	1990
9	🇮🇱 Israel	20 years	1998	2018
10	🇮🇱 Israel	19 years	1979	1998
11	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	16 years	1981	1997
12	🇳🇴 Norway	14 years	1995	2009
13	🇩🇰 Denmark	13 years	2000	2013
13	🇸🇪 Sweden	13 years	1999	2012
15	🇺🇦 Ukraine	12 years	2004	2016
16	🇦🇹 Austria	11 years	2014	2025
17	🇳🇴 Norway	10 years	1985	1995
17	🇸🇪 Sweden	10 years	1974	1984
17	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	10 years	1973	1983
17	🇮🇪 Ireland	10 years	1970	1980
17	🇳🇱 Netherlands	10 years	1959	1969
22	🇸🇪 Sweden	8 years	2015	2023
22	🇸🇪 Sweden	8 years	1991	1999
22	🇫🇷 France	8 years	1969	1977
25	🇸🇪 Sweden	7 years	1984	1991
25	🇮🇪 Ireland	7 years	1980	1987
25	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	7 years	1969	1976
25	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	7 years	1965	1972
25	🇫🇷 France	7 years	1962	1969
30	🇺🇦 Ukraine	6 years	2016	2022
30	🇳🇱 Netherlands	6 years	1969	1975
32	🇮🇪 Ireland	5 years	1987	1992
32	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	5 years	1976	1981
34	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	4 years	1961	1965
35	🇸🇪 Sweden	3 years	2012	2015
36	🇮🇪 Ireland	2 years	1994	1996
36	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	2 years	1967	1969
36	🇫🇷 France	2 years	1960	1962
36	🇫🇷 France	2 years	1958	1960
36	🇳🇱 Netherlands	2 years	1957	1959
41	🇮🇪 Ireland	1 years	1993	1994
41	🇮🇪 Ireland	1 years	1992	1993
41	🇮🇱 Israel	1 years	1978	1979
41	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1 years	1972	1973
41	🇪🇸 Spain	1 years	1968	1969

How the ranking works

For every country with at least two Eurovision victories, the winners database is sorted chronologically. The difference between each pair of consecutive winning years becomes one completed gap. If a country has won three or more times, it can therefore appear more than once.

The metric is deliberately expressed in calendar years. It does not attempt to subtract cancelled editions or years in which a country did not participate, because doing so would answer a different question.

Longest Eurovision win-gap FAQ

What is the longest completed gap between Eurovision wins?

Austria has the longest completed gap in the winners archive: 48 calendar years between 1966 and 2014.

How is the gap calculated?

The gap is the difference between two consecutive winning years for the same country. It measures calendar years between winning editions, not the number of Contests held.

Does Eurovision 2020 change the gap calculation?

No. The 2020 Contest was cancelled, but this page measures the difference between winning calendar years, so no artificial winner or placement is added.

Are countries that have only won once included?

No. A completed gap requires two verified victories for the same country. One-time winners cannot yet have a completed between-wins interval.

Does this show current win droughts?

No. This page ranks completed gaps between two victories. A current wait since a country's latest win is a different metric and is not mixed into this table.