| Country: | : | Italy |
| City | : | Napels |
| Date | : | Saturday, 20 March, 1965, 20:00 CET |
| Host | : | Renata Mauro |
| Venue & Location | : | Sala di Concerto della RAI, Naples, Italy |
| Host Broadcaster | : |  |
| Executive Producer | : | — |
| Executive Supervisor | : | Miroslav Vilcek |
| Multicamera Director | : | Romolo Siena |
| Interval Act | : | Mario del Monaco |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the tenth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Naples, Italy, following the country’s victory at the 1964 contest with the song „Non ho l’età“ by Gigliola Cinquetti. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), the contest was held at Sala di Concerto della RAI on Saturday 20 March 1965, and was hosted by Italian singer Renata Mauro.
Eighteen countries participated in the contest – setting a new record for the highest number of entrants in the competition until that point. Sweden returned after being absent from the previous edition, while Ireland made its debut.
Luxembourg won for the second time with the highly controversial Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son sung by the french singer France Gall, and written by Serge Gainsbourg, which later went on to be a massive hit in almost all European countries. It was the first winning song since the Netherlands‘ „Een beetje“ in 1959 to not be a ballad, being the first pop song to ever win the competition. For the fourth consecutive year, four countries all scored nul points; Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Spain – all of which finished with no points for the second time in the contest’s history.
Location
The contest took place in Naples, the capital of region Campania in southern Italy and the third-largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. This was Italy’s first hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest. The host venue was the then new Sala di Concerto della RAI (RAI Production Centre of Naples), founded few years prior to the contest, in the late fifties and early sixties. It is located in Viale Marconi in the district of Fuorigrotta. The structure has three TV studios for a total of 1227 m2 and capacity of 370 persons, used for the filming of programs and fiction and an auditorium. The Neapolitan song archives are also housed in it.
Format
Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totalled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points. If only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order.
Ingvar Wixell, the Swedish participant performed his song in English instead of the original Swedish title „Annorstädes vals“. The native languages were used for all of the other participants. This led to a rule being introduced for the next 1966 edition, that meant all participants had to perform their songs using one of their national languages.
Participating countries
18 countries took part, with the Eurovision Song Contest reaching its highest number until then. Sweden returned after a one-year absence, and Ireland entered for the first time. Ireland would later become the most successful country in the competition, scoring seven wins in total.
Returning artists
| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Conchita Bautista |  Spain | 1961 |
| Vice Vukov |  Yugoslavia | 1963 |
| Udo Jürgens |  Austria | 1964 |
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra.
Netherlands – Dolf van der Linden
United Kingdom – Eric Robinson
Spain – Adolfo Ventas Rodríguez
Ireland – Gianni Ferrio
Germany – Alfred Hause - Austria – Gianni Ferrio
Norway – Øivind Bergh
Belgium – Gaston Nuyts 
Monaco – Raymond Bernard
Sweden – William Lind 
France – Franck Pourcel
Portugal – Fernando de Carvalho 
Italy – Gianni Ferrio
Denmark – Arne Lamberth
Luxembourg – Alain Goraguer
Finland – George de Godzinsky- Yugoslavia – Radivoje Spasić
Switzerland – Mario Robbiani
The Participants
| # | Representing country | Performer(s) | Song title, writer(s) and composer(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Netherlands NTS | Conny Van den bos | Het Is Genoeg | 005 | 11 |
| 02 | United Kingdom BBC | Kathy Kirby | I Belong | 026 | 02 |
| 03 | Spain TVE | Conchita Bautista | Qué Bueno, Qué Bueno | 000 | 15 |
| 04 | Ireland RÉ | Butch Moore | I’m Walking The Streets In The Rain | 011 | 06 |
| 05 | Germany ARD | Ulla Wiesner | Paradies, Wo Bist Du? | 000 | 15 |
| 06 | Austria ORF | Udo Jürgens | Sag Ihr, Ich Lass‘ Sie Grüßen | 016 | 04 |
| 07 | Norway NRK | Kirsti Sparboe | Karusell | 001 | 13 |
| 08 | Belgium BRT | Lize Marke | Als Het Weer Lente Is | 000 | 15 |
| 09 | Monaco TMC | Marjorie Noël | Va Dire à L’amour | 007 | 09 |
| 10 | Sweden SR | Ingvar Wixell | Absent Friend | 006 | 10 |
| 11 | France ORTF | Guy Mardel | N’avoue Jamais | 022 | 03 |
| 12 | Portugal RTP | Simone de Oliviera | Sol De Inverno | 001 | 13 |
| 13 | Italy RAI | Bobby Solo | Se Piangi, Se Ridi | 015 | 05 |
| 14 | Denmark DR | Birgit Brüel | For Din Skyld | 010 | 07 |
| 15 | Luxembourg CLT | France Gall | Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son | 032 | 01 |
| 16 | Finland YLE | Viktor Klimenko | Aurinko Laskee Länteen | 000 | 15 |
| 17 | Yugoslavia JRT | Vice Vukov | Ceznja | 002 | 12 |
| 18 | Switzerland SSR SRG | Yovanna | Non à Jamais Sans Toi | 008 | 08 |
Scoreboard
Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totalled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points. If only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order.
| Participant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Netherlands | 5 | 5 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Spain | – | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| Germany | – | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Norway | 1 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | – | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Monaco | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| France | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 22 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||
| Italy | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Denmark | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| Luxembourg | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 32 | 1 | ||||||||
| Finland | – | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Yugoslavia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
Facts & figures
- For the first time, the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast not only by the European Broadcasting Union, but also by Intervision, its Eastern European counterpart.