Sweden, a country that would later be one of the most successful in the contest, debuted this year.
The juries were not in the studio like in 1956. Like in 1957, this year they stayed in their own countries, listening to the event. Once the songs had all been sung, juries sent their results via telephone. The Italian entry was not picked up properly in some of the other countries, which meant that after all the other songs had been presented, Domenico Modugno had to sing it again. Later on, it became very successful in the United States, where it has become commonly known as Volare, and got two Grammy Awards. It is one of few Eurovision songs that has reached #1 at the US singles charts. At the 50th anniversary show "Congratulations" in 2005, it was elected the 2nd best Eurovision entry ever.
The interval acts was music by the Metropole Orkest, under the lead of conductor Dolf van der Linden. This year, there were two interval acts; one in the middle, one after all the songs were played.
France won the contest for the first time.
| Draw | Country | Language | Artist | Song | English Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | Domenico Modugno | Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu | Blue Painted In Blue | 3 | 13 | |
| 2 | Dutch | Corry Brokken | Heel De Wereld | The Whole World | 9 | 1 | |
| 3 | French | André Claveau | Dors, Mon Amour | Sleep My Love | 1 | 27 | |
| 4 | French | Solange Berry | Un Grand Amour | A Great Love | 9 | 1 | |
| 5 | Swedish | Alice Babs | Lilla stjärna | Little Star | 4 | 10 | |
| 6 | Danish | Raquel Rastenni | Jeg Rev Et Blad Ud Af Min Dagbog | I Tore A Leaf Out Of My Diary | 8 | 3 | |
| 7 | French | Fud Leclerc | Ma Petite Chatte | My Little Sweetie | 5 | 8 | |
| 8 | German | Margot Hielscher | Für Zwei Groschen Musik | Music For Two Pennies | 7 | 5 | |
| 9 | German | Liane Augustin | Die Ganze Welt Braucht Liebe | The Whole World Needs Love | 5 | 8 | |
| 10 | German/Italian | Lys Assia | Giorgio | - | 2 | 24 |
| Juries | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | rowspan="10" | Italy | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| France | 27 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | |||||||
| Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Sweden | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| Denmark | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Belgium | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| Germany | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
| Austria | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| Switzerland | 24 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
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