Stockholm 2016 countdown: 100 days! What do we know so far?

It is not the Final Countdown. But it's the Semi-final Countdown!

With 100 days left before the first show of Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm is aired, it's time for a round up of some of the facts we know so far about the biggest music competion in the world.

Songs & Artists

6 countries are ready with songs and artists selected for Stockholm:
Click on a song title to see video, lyrics and details about each song

• Albania: Eneda Tarifa – "Përrallë"
• Belarus: Ivan – "Help You Fly"
• Belgium: Laura Tesoro – "What's The Pressure"
• Cyprus: Minus One – "Alter Ego" (video and lyrics are not revealed yet)
• Ireland: Nicky Byrne – "Sunlight"
• Malta: Ira Losco – "Chameleon"

8 countries have choosen their artists to send to Stockholm:

• Armenia: Iveta Mukuchyan
• Bosnia & Herzegovina: Deen, Dalal & Ana
• FYR Macedonia: Kaliopi
• Georgia: Young Georgian Lolitaz
• Montenegro: Highway
• Netherlands: Douwe Bob
• Russia: Sergey Lazarev
• San Marino: Serhat

National selections

Preparations are at full speed around the 43 countries participating in Stockholm. The national selections peaks in a few weeks, and so far 2 countries have started their selections, shows and competitions. So far we know that 18 countries will select their entry in February and 5 countries follows in March. The big Eurovision day will be Saturday 27 February, where six countries choose their entries for Stockholm. Still there are some countries who hasn't announced the dates for their national selection.

Host Insignia Ceremony & Semi-finals

We have had the allocation draw deciding who's in which Semi-final. Also the "Big 5" + Austria has been distributed to the two semi-finals for voting.

The Host Insignia Exchange took place in Stockholm on 25 January 2016. Here the "Eurovision Keys" were handed over to the mayor of Stockholm. The keys exist of extreme weird key-hangers from each host the last many years.

Tickets

The first batch of tickets has been sold out. The first batch of tickets went on sale on 26 November 2015, but there will be more batches to come. There will be a second round for getting tickets if you missed the first round.

Event

The host city is selected (Stockholm, in case you have been sleeping the last half year), and the dates are also set: 10, 12 & 14 May 2016.
The Arena is selected: Globen Arena in Stockholm, but we still miss to see some of the stage design
Eurovision Village will be located at Kungsträdgården.
Euroclub & Euro Fan Café will be merged this year, and placed at Skeppsbron.