Nul points: who has actually scored zero at Eurovision
Norway holds the record, the UK has the most famous one, and the rules changed so much that the statistic barely means the same thing any more.
The short answer
Norway has finished last with zero points more often than any other country at Eurovision, but since the scoring system split into separate jury and televote scores in 2016, a total of zero has become far harder to reach and much rarer.
A nul points finish is the most famous statistic in Eurovision and one of the most misread, because the thing being counted has changed twice.
The record holder
Norway has finished a grand final on zero points more often than any other country, and did it in front of the largest audiences — 1978, 1981 and 1997 are the ones people remember. Norway has also won the contest three times, which is the joke: the same country holds a serious share of both records.
The famous ones
| Year | Country | Entry | Why it is remembered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962–1965 | Several | — | Zero was common early on; the scoring system made it easy |
| 1978 | Norway | "Mil etter mil" | The first of Norway's run |
| 2003 | United Kingdom | "Cry Baby" | A Big Five country, on zero, live |
| 2015 | Austria, Germany | — | Two countries on zero in the same final |
| 2021 | United Kingdom | "Embers" | Zero from both juries and televote under the new system |
The 2003 United Kingdom result is the one that entered general culture, because it happened to a country that had won five times and was broadcasting to an audience that had never considered the possibility.
The 2021 United Kingdom result is arguably the more remarkable one, and it is the reason the next section matters.
Why the statistic changed meaning
Two changes did it.
In 1975, the contest adopted the 12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system that most people picture. Before that, several scoring systems came and went, and some of them made zero trivially easy — in 1962 and 1963 a handful of countries finished on nothing at all, which says more about the arithmetic than the songs.
In 2016, the contest split the score in two. Each country now awards a full set of points from its jury and a second full set from its televote. That doubled the number of point-awarding bodies, and a total of zero now requires being ranked outside the top ten by every jury in Europe and every televoting public in Europe, independently.
That is a much higher bar than the old one, and it is why zero has become rare rather than merely unlucky. When it does happen now — as it did to the United Kingdom in 2021 — it is a genuinely unanimous verdict in a way the old nul points never was.
The counting problem
Any nul points list you read is using one of several counting rules, and they disagree. Some count semi-finals, most do not. Some count the pre-1975 contests where the scoring system was different in kind, most treat them separately. Some count "zero from the televote" as a nul points, which under the post-2016 system is a different and much more common event.
This page counts grand finals only, and treats a nul points as a combined total of zero. Under any other rule the table changes, which is why lists of this statistic never quite match each other.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria has never scored nul points in a grand final, largely because for eleven years it was not in one. See Bulgaria at Eurovision for the full record.
FAQ
Which country has scored nul points the most times?
Norway. It holds the record for finishing a Eurovision grand final with zero points more often than any other country, most famously in 1978, 1981 and 1997.
When did the United Kingdom score nul points?
In 2003, with Jemini's "Cry Baby" — the first and only time the United Kingdom has finished a Eurovision final on zero points.
Is nul points still possible?
Yes, but it is much harder. Since 2016 juries and televoters award separate sets of points, so a country now has to be ranked outside the top ten by every jury and every televoting public to reach zero.
