| Universong 41 Light the sky with colours | |
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Date |
26 June - 14 July 2012 |
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Host city |
Cardiff, |
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Participants |
49 |
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Debuting countries |
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Returning countries |
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Withdrawing countries |
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Winner |
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Timeline |
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Universong 41 was the 41st edition of the Universong Contest, held for the second straight time in the United Kingdom, this time in the Welsh capital, Cardiff, after the winning of Marina and the Diamonds the previous special edition in Manchester, England, representing Wales with the song "Lies". This Universong edition was held from June 27th to July 14th, 2012. This is the second time Wales hosts Universong Contest, after having held USC 20, also in Cardiff.
England scored its third USC title after an exciting voting sequence, thanks to Alexandra Burke, who, with the song "The silence", not only won the USC title, but also broke a record imposed the previous edition by Wales itself as the most points for the winning song, with 202 points. This is the first time a winning song surpasses the 200-point threshold. As a curiosity, England was first in the running order both in the second semifinal (which it also won) and in the grand final.
The runner-up to England was Greenland in its best showing to date at a country level up to that moment (it would be later broken with the Danish overseas territory's first winning in USC 78 held in Tehran, Iran), represented by Danish duo The Storm with the song "My crown", earning a total of 180 points. On the other hand, Greece with the song "Fallin'" by Playmen and Demy, scoring 167 points, earned third place. The top 5 was completed by Romania and The Netherlands.
Originally, Finland got 6th place for the song "Hyperventilating" by Ronya, with 151 points. Nevertheless, it was discovered that the Finnish manager at the time fell into friendly voting schemes against the rules with another player. As a penalty, and by virtue of breaking Universong's rules, it suffered a 50-point decrease and further disqualification. Finland eventually remained in 10th place with 101 points.
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Semifinal 1 ===
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Ireland
|
Samantha Mumba | "Gotta tell you" | 20 | 25 |
| 02 |  Türkiye
|
Hadise | "Biz burdayız" | 12 | 64 |
| 03 |  Romania
|
Alexandra Stan | "Lemonade" | 6 | 89 |
| 04 |  Japan
|
Ayumi Hamasaki | "Mirrorcle world" | 13 | 52 |
| 05 |  Switzerland
|
Lovebugs | "Truth is" | 14 | 46 |
| 06 |  Italy
|
Giusy Ferreri | "Non ti scordar mai di me" | 7 | 83 |
| 07 |  Norway
|
Dimmu Borgir | "Gateways" | 18 | 30 |
| 08 |  Greenland
|
The Storm | "My crown" | 2 | 129 |
| 09 |  Germany
|
Lou Bega | "Sweet like cola" | 17 | 35 |
| 10 |  Greece
|
Playmen
ft. Demy |
"Fallin'" | 4 | 98 |
| 11 |  Azerbaijan
|
Nigar Jamal | "Crush on you" | 10 | 76 |
| 12 |  Poland
|
Gosia Andrzejewicz
& Dr. Alban |
"Loverboy" | 9 | 79 |
| 13 |  Luxembourg
|
Marco Z | "I'm a bird" | 22 | 22 |
| 14 |  North Macedonia
|
Simona Poposka | "Do kraj" | 8 | 80 |
| 15 |  Hungary
|
Balassi Bálint | "Hymnus secundus" | 23 | 12 |
| 16 |  Sweden
|
Mojje | "Publiken upp med händerna få se om ni har armsvett" | 21 | 23 |
| 17 |  Netherlands
|
Within Temptation | "Sinéad" | 1 | 129 |
| 18 |  Iceland
|
Thorunn Antonia | "Too late" | 5 | 94 |
| 19 |  Liechtenstein
|
Oceana | "Endless summer" | 3 | 102 |
| 20 |  Portugal
|
The Gift | "Always better if you wait for the sunrise" | 19 | 26 |
| 21 |  Latvia
|
Ella
& Tito Torres |
"Sunrise" | 11 | 71 |
| 22 |  Croatia
|
Maja Šuput | "Dobra djevojka" | 16 | 41 |
| 23 |  Armenia
|
Silva Habokyan | "Sasna par" | 15 | 44 |
Semifinal 2[]
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  England
|
Alexandra Burke | "The silence" | 1 | 168 |
| 02 |  China
|
Sa Ding Dong | "Alive" | 22 | 21 |
| 03 |  Canada
|
Crash Karma | "Fight" | 9 | 64 |
| 04 |  Serbia
|
Tina Ivanovic | "K'o manijak" | 11 | 61 |
| 05 |  Mexico
|
Danna Paola | "Ruleta" | 20 | 33 |
| 06 |  San Marino
|
Julia Lenti | "Parla con me" | 15 | 50 |
| 07 |  Russia
|
Gravitonas
& Roma Kenga |
"Everybody dance" | 7 | 77 |
| 08 |  United States
|
Chris Brown | "Don't wake me up" | 17 | 48 |
| 09 |  Spain
|
Adrián Rodríguez | "Fruit of paradise" | 6 | 94 |
| 10 |  Moldova
|
Mishelle | "It feels so good" | 14 | 51 |
| 11 |  Australia
|
The Veronicas | "Everything I'm not" | 12 | 60 |
| 12 |  Finland
|
Ronya | "Hyperventilating" | 3 | 108 |
| 13 |  Denmark
|
Kato
ft. Jon |
"Turn the lights off" | 5 | 97 |
| 14 |  Malta
|
Claudia Faniello | "L-Imhabba ghamja " | 23 | 18 |
| 15 |  Faroe Islands
|
Sisse Marie | "Kill for your love" | 2 | 115 |
| 16 |  Bosnia & Herzegovina
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Laka | "Macko" | 10 | 61 |
| 17 |  Peru
|
Animesika | "I need your love" | 18 | 44 |
| 18 |  Belgium
|
Lasgo | "Tonight" | 16 | 49 |
| 19 |  Albania
|
Era Rusi | "Iken dhe vjen" | 21 | 27 |
| 20 |  Estonia
|
Luisa Värk | "Kodu" | 19 | 38 |
| 21 |  American Samoa
|
Joe Bonamassa | "Driving towards the daylight" | 13 | 57 |
| 22 |  Bulgaria
|
Teddy Katzarova
& Fares Robert Srouji |
"Just you and I" | 8 | 67 |
| 23 |  Andorra
|
Banghra | "My own way" | 4 | 100 |
Grand Final[]
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | England
|
Alexandra Burke | "The silence" | 1 | 202 |
| 02 | North Macedonia
|
Simona Poposka | "Do kraj" | 17 | 75 |
| 03 | Andorra
|
Banghra | "My own way" | 13 | 96 |
| 04 | Serbia
|
Tina Ivanovic | "K'o manijak" | 15 | 92 |
| 05 | Russia
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Gravitonas & Roma Kenga | "Everybody dance" | 16 | 79 |
| 06 | Spain
|
Adrián Rodríguez | "Fruit of paradise" | 14 | 96 |
| 07 | Latvia
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Ella & Tito Torres | "Sunrise" | 25 | 47 |
| 08 | Bulgaria
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Teddy Katzarova & Fares Robert Srouji | "Just you and I" | 24 | 48 |
| 09 | Azerbaijan
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Nigar Jamal | "Crush on you" | 12 | 97 |
| 10 | Bosnia & Herzegovina
|
Laka | "Macko" | 20 | 60 |
| 11 |  Wales
|
Charlotte Church | "Crazy chick" | 22 | 51 |
| 12 | Liechtenstein
|
Oceana | "Endless summer" | 9 | 113 |
| 13 |  Cyprus
|
Evridiki & Dimitris Korgialas | "Ase me" | 21 | 53 |
| 14 | Iceland
|
Thorunn Antonia | "Too late" | 7 | 116 |
| 15 | Finland ^
|
Ronya | "Hyperventilating" | 10 | 101 |
| 16 | Poland
|
Gosia Andrzejewicz & Dr. Alban | "Loverboy" | 18 | 75 |
| 17 | Faroe Islands
|
Sisse Marie | "Kill for your love" | 11 | 99 |
| 18 | Greenland
|
The Storm | "My crown" | 2 | 180 |
| 19 | Romania
|
Alexandra Stan | "Lemonade" | 4 | 159 |
| 20 | Canada
|
Crash Karma | "Fight" | 19 | 70 |
| 21 |  France
|
Najoua Belyzel | "M (Hey hey hey)" | 27 | 34 |
| 22 | Italy
|
Giusy Ferreri | "Non ti scordar mai di me" | 6 | 148 |
| 23 | Netherlands
|
Within Temptation | "Sinéad" | 5 | 157 |
| 24 | Denmark
|
Kato ft. Jon | "Turn the lights off" | 23 | 50 |
| 25 | Türkiye
|
Hadise | "Biz burdayız" | 8 | 114 |
| 26 | Greece
|
Playmen ft. Demy | "Fallin'" | 3 | 167 |
| 27 | Australia
|
The Veronicas | "Everything I'm not | 26 | 39 |
^ Finland, before the penalty for friendly voting, had originally 151 points and sixth place in the grand final.