The Song 1

The Song 1 was the first edition of The Song. It took place in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the contest was held at the 3Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 31 May and 3 June, and a final on 11 June 2022. The three live shows were presented by Irish singer Brooke Scullion and Irish singer, songwriter and presenter Nicky Byrne.

The format of the competition consisted of 3 shows: 2 semi-final rounds and a final. The 44 competing countries were divided into two semi-finals, with twenty compositions in each. From each semi-final, the 10 most voted songs qualified to the final. The rest were eliminated from the competition. The host country, Belgium, Italy and Sweden were auto qualifiers, bringing the total number of competing entries in the final to 24.

The winner was The Netherlands with the song "Hard To Say Goodbye", performed by RONDÉ and written by the group's members Yoshi Breen, Armel Paap Cas Oomen, Rikki Borgelt, and Sharon Zarr. Italy, the United Kingdom, Greece, Lebanon and Andorra completed the Top 6.

Location
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Situated on a bay on the east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 census, it had an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the traditional County Dublin as a whole was 1,347,359. The population of the Greater Dublin Area was 1,904,806.

There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where and when Dublin originated, with a settlement established by the Gaels during or before the 7th century CE, and a second, Viking, settlement, following. As the small Kingdom of Dublin, the city grew, and it became Ireland's principal settlement after the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire after the Acts of Union in 1800. Following independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland in 1937.

Dublin is a contemporary and historical center for Irish education, arts and culture, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha minus", which places it as one of the top thirty cities in the world.

Venue
The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 December 2008. It was built on the site of the former Point Theatre, a smaller music venue which operated from 1988 to 2007, retaining only some of the outer facade. The Point Theatre was branded as "The Point Depot", in recognition of its original role as a railway goods handling station. The venue was re-branded on 4 September 2014 due to the takeover of O2 Ireland by Three Ireland.

The furthest seat is 60 metres from the stage, 20 metres closer than in The Point. This was achieved by arranging the seats around the stage in a gigantic "fan" formation which the architects likened to the Colosseum of Rome. There are no corporate boxes inside the venue. The backstage area has a "substantial" loading bay for trucks. Alcohol is available in a high-security area of the venue in an effort to curb under-age drinking. Prior to re-development, the seating capacity was 6,300 or 8,500 standing.

Presenters
The singers Brooke Scullion and Nicky Byrne were the presenters of the first edition. They had already been named as likely hosts by Irish news agencies and TV magazine and were officially confirmed on 17 May.

Pre-Qualification
In the run-up to this contest, the European Broadcasting Union finally started to grapple with the explosion in the number of potential participating countries. For the first time, a pre-qualifying round was introduced, but only for countries that were the eight last countries to confirm their participation. In the meantime, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Monaco, Lebanon, San Marino, Slovakia and Slovenia were left to battle it out in a special competition called Pre-Qualification Round on May for the mere two places available at the semi-finals in Dublin.

Semi-final allocation draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 21 May 2022. The forty countries were divided into six pots, based on their geographical place. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

Participating countries
Forty-four countries participated in the first edition of the contest. The submissions for the first edition opened on 18 May 2022. Every country should choose their broadcaster for the contest. The contest started in May. As the rules say, the country will select internally their entry or by a national selection. The Deadline for the entries submission was on 25 May 2022. Estonia confirmed that the country will participate in the Pre-Qualification Round 1. Later, it was discovered that the country tried to cheat in their national selection. EBU decided to disqualify the country from the first edition.

During the first semi-final Faroe Islands and Kosovo showed a huge interest to participate in the contest's future editions. A decision by the EBU is yet to be made if these two countries are eligible to participate.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 30th May 2022. Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus Ireland and Italy voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 3rd June 2022. Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus Belgium and Sweden voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Final
The final took place on 11th June 2022. Twenty-four countries participated in the final. {{Legend|gold|Winner}}

Scoreboard
Full results including televoting and results from the individual jury members were released shortly after the announcement of the winner.

Semi-final 1
{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the semi-final 1:

Semi-final 2
{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the semi-final 2:

Final
{{Legend|gold|Winner}}

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:

Spokespersons
The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:


 * 1) – Maja Keuc
 * 2) – Andromache
 * 3) – Monika Liu
 * 4) – Gjon's Tears
 * 5) – Grant Denyer
 * 6) – Mika
 * 7) – Eden Alene
 * 8) – Laura Rizzotto

 – Alison Hammond  – Amanda Tenfjord  – Ronela Hajati  – Angèle  – Arjen Lubach  – Kasia Moś  – Tone Sekelius  – Alma </ol>

 – Rigoberta Bandini</li>  – Barbara Moleko</li>  – Jon Ola Sand (The server bot) </li>  – Sara Deop</li>  – Tancredi</li>  – C'est Karma</li>  – Konstrakta</li>  – Niall Horan</li> </ol>

Other countries


Countries that are active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are also eligible to participate in The Song. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

EBU non-members

 * Kosovar media reported that RTK was hopeful that they would debut in The Song in Ireland. In an article published by RTK the Director of Television at the Kosovar broadcaster stated that he had received the support of national broadcasters across the Balkans to participate in the competition. However, both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia had opposed such participation. The EBU then sent a letter to RTK explaining that Kosovo cannot participate in The Song, because it is not a UN member and it is not a fully recognized state.

The Song 1 Awards
The Song Awards, first held in first edition, saw competing acts celebrated across sixteen categories. Shortlists were determined by major The Song fansites and podcasts, with editors and presenters nominating their favourites in each category; the final result was determined by followers of the official The Song Instagram channel, who cast votes for their favourite act.