Portugal earned its first Eurovision victory with Salvador Sobral’s entirely Portuguese song “Amar pelos dois.” Sobral won the 2017 contest for Portugal in Kyiv, Ukraine, with a quiet jazz-influenced ballad written by his sister, Luísa Sobral.
The result was historic because Portugal had participated since 1964 without winning. “Amar pelos dois” finished first with 758 points, then the contest’s highest total under the combined jury-and-televote system. It also won both the international juries’ vote and the public televote.
The song’s language was central to its identity, but Portuguese was not required by the rules in 2017. Eurovision’s language rule had been removed in 1999, allowing entries to use any language. The song title means “To love for both,” and its restrained staging contrasted with the large-scale performances often associated with Eurovision.