The official list of Eurovision 2018 participating countries just “weeks” away

Earlier today, both SBS Australia and the EBU revealed that Australia would take part in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Nevertheless, the EBU notably added one additional detail in their announcement. This detail suggests that we will know the line-up for Eurovision 2018 in just a matter of weeks!

An earlier reveal than usual?

“In the coming weeks we will reveal the full line-up of participating countries in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest!”

(EBU – 24 August 2017)

Therefore, with an announcement seemingly due in the near future, this would be earlier than we are used to seeing. The participants list for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was unveiled on 31st October 2016. Furthermore, the participants list for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest was revealed on 26th November 2015. Check out the reveal dates for the past few years below:

An October announcement likely?

As you can see, since the 2011 contest, the earliest reveal of the forthcoming contest’s participating nations was for this year’s contest. This is the only time over the past few years where the list was revealed as early as October. Therefore, judging by the statement in this morning’s announcement, it seems that the EBU will publish the participants list by October at the latest.

However, the wording from the EBU makes it seems likely we could be getting the list even earlier than the end of October. This would fall in line with the early reveal of the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest participants list. The EBU revealed the countries heading to Tbilisi at the beginning of August, rather than in late September as in previous years. Nevertheless, this wasn’t without controversy with some broadcasters unhappy at being “frozen out”.

Will we finally equal the record of 43 participants?

So far, no countries have confirmed that they are withdrawing from the contest. On the other hand, Russia plan to return. Therefore, it seems likely we could be heading towards 43 participants as things stand. If this is the case, Eurovision would finally equal the record set in 2008 and 2011. This record was scheduled to be matched in both 2016 and 2017, but Romania and Russia were late withdrawals from those contests respectively reducing the total to 42 participants both times.

How many countries do you think will participate in Lisbon? Furthermore, when do you think the EBU will reveal the list of participants? Let us know in the comments below!