For the second time Jerusalem played host to the contest...and for the second time a song in a contest one of the songs used the host city in it's title....the first instance being in Jerusalem 20 years previously!. The language rule was removed in 1999 meaning the countries could send their entry in any language. 12 countries took advantage of this, including 9 singing entirely in English. Germany went down the multilingual route using German, Turkish and English. Israel used English and Hebrew. Bosnia & Herzegovina used Bosnian and French. Returning to the contest 5 years after their 0 point debut were Lithuania. They faired marginally better this year, finally breaking their duck with 13 points. Doris Dragovic returned this year for Croatia 13 years after she appeared for Yugoslavia. Darja Svajger returned for Slovenia 4 years after her debut. Selma Björnsdottir appeared for Iceland and returned 6 years later. Eden were Israel's representatives. A member of their group, Eddie Butler, returned 7 years later. The voting was close between Sweden and Iceland all the way through with Iceland holding the lead for long periods. With Bosnia & Herzegovina & Estonia still to vote however Sweden held a slender 3 point lead. When the Bosnian votes ignored the Icelandic entry and gave 12 to the Swedes victory was assured. Because the song used synthesised backing voices, Croatia's score was later reduced by 33% to 79. This reduction was applicable for the calculation of five-year averages to determine participation in future contests, but it was decided to leave the actual placement in the 1999 result unaffected.
Results
1.(15) 163 points - Sweden - Take Me To Your Heaven - Charlotte Nilsson
2.(13) 146 points - Iceland - All Out Of Luck - Selma
3.(21) 140 points - Germany - Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat - Sürpriz
4.(4) 118 points - Croatia - Marija Magdalena - Doris
5.(19) 93 points - Israel - Yom Huledet (Happy Birthday) - Eden
6.(23) 90 points - Estonia - Diamond Of Night - Evelin Samuel & Camille
7.(22) 86 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Putnici - Dino & Béatrice
8.(9) 71 points - Denmark - This Time I Mean It - Michael Teschl & Trine Jepsen
(11) 71 points - Netherlands - One Good Reason - Marlayne
10.(18 ) 65 points - Austria - Reflection - Bobbie Singer
11.(6) 50 points - Slovenia - For A Thousand Years - Darja Svajger
12.(2) 38 points - Belgium - Like The Wind - Vanessa Chinitor
(5) 38 points - United Kingdom - Say It Again
14.(8 ) 35 points - Norway - Living My Life Without You - Van Eijk
15.(20) 32 points - Malta - Believe 'n Peace - Times 3
16.(7) 21 points - Turkey - Dön Artik - Tugba Onal & Grup Mistik
17.(17) 18 points - Ireland - When You Need Me - The Mullans
18.(12) 17 points - Poland - Przytul mnie mocno - Mietek Szczesniak
19.(10) 14 points - France - Je veux donner ma voix - Nayah
20.(1) 13 points - Lithuania - Strazdas - Aiste
21.(16) 12 points - Portugal - Como tudo começou - Rui Bandiera
22.(14) 2 points - Cyprus - Tha'ne erotas - Marlain
23.(3) 1 point - Spain - No quiero escuchar - Lydia