contest solo, hosting its third consecutive contest, which remains a record, with the Point Theatre becoming the first venue to host two contests in a row. The number of competing countries was reduced to 23, with the bottom seven countries from 1994 relegated and the five countries relegated at Millstreet in 1993 returning. Norway scored its second contest victory with the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden and the song "Nocturne"; some criticism arose following its victory that, as a mainly instrumental number containing only 24 words in total, the winning song should not have been eligible for the song contest, to no avail. The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the forty-first edition of the contest, organised by NRK and held on 18 May 1996 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. A new qualifying system was introduced at this contest, principally to appease Germany, one of the contest's biggest financial backers, which otherwise would have been relegated, which saw all countries, except the host nation, competing in an audio-only qualifying round. 29 countries entered in total, with all competing nations and Norway voting and deciding the 22 countries which would advance in the final. Germany however would be one of the seven countries to be eliminated, along with Hungary, Denmark, Russia, Israel, Romania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in what would have been their debut entry. For the first and only time to date, the voting was conducted using virtual reality technology, with the graphics for the scoreboard superimposed over the contest's 'blue room'. Ireland secured its record seventh win, with Eimear Quinn providing its fourth win in five years with "The Voice". As in previous contests the most commercially successful contest entry would be one of the losing songs, with the UK's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" by Gina G becoming an international hit, reaching the top 20 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and eventually being nominated for a Grammy Award; it also remains the last UK entry to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart. The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the forty-second edition of the contest, organised by RTÉ and held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. 25 countries competed in the third contest held at the Point Theatre, with a new relegation system implemented to reduce the number of competing entries: the number of points each country