The Netherlands came second in the 59^th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with Calm after the Storm, a country number performed by Ilse De Lange and Waylon.

It was the Netherlands’ best result in Eurovision since Teach-In won in 1975 with Ding-a-Dong. De Lange and Waylon said in a reaction they are ‘super proud’ of how well they did.

Austrian bearded drag act Conchita Würst won the competition with Rise Like a Phoenix which took 290 points. The Netherlands was awarded 238 points and Sweden was third with 218.

Three chords

The Netherlands gave its 12 points to Austria. There was considerable interest on Twitter as to why there was blue sky in Hilversum when it was pitch black in the rest of the country.

First given as a 250-to-1 potential winner before the semi-finals, Calm after the Storm rose to become one of the bookies’ favourites before the final itself.

British newspaper Metro described the Dutch entry as ‘perhaps the most simple ever seen at the Eurovision Song Contest’. ‘It has just three chords and the first half of the song is shown in a single camera take,’ the paper said.

Nos television said 6.2 million people watched The Common Linnets’ performance – one in three of the Dutch population. That makes it the most popular broadcast of the year so far.