EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2004, ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SEMI FINAL)
For the first time ever the contest was held over 2 days. With 36 entries the contest was too large to hold on 1 day. So the organisers decided that the Big 4 countries (France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom) plus the 10 highest scorers from Riga (not including any of the Big 4 countries) would qualify directly for the final in Istanbul. All other entries would have to qualify from a televised semi-final where the top 10 scoring countries would qualify for the final. Monaco returned to the contest 25 years after their last appearance. Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia & Montenegro all made their debuts (although some argue that Serbia & Montenegro should be credited for Yugoslavia's last entry in 1992). Poland, France and Russia didn't televise the Semi-Final as they had already qualified for the final. From 2005 it has been mandatory for all countries to broadcast both the Semi-Final and Final irrespective of participation in either of them. After a short interval the 10 qualifiers were announced as Serbia & Montenegro, Malta, Netherlands, Albania, Ukraine, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Greece and Cyprus. Switzerland went down in history as having the most unappreciated song in the history of the contest. 32 countries could have voted for it - not one of them did and it ended last with 0 points.
FULL SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
1.(20) 263 points - Serbia & Montenegro - Lane moje - Zeljko Joksimovic & Ad Hoc Orchestra
2.(11) 256 points - Ukraine - Wild Dances - Ruslana
3.(10) 238 points - Greece - Shake It - Sakis Rouvas
4.(13) 167 points - Albania - Image Of You - Anjeza Shahini
5.(14) 149 points - Cyprus - Stronger Every Minute - Lisa Andreas
6.(22) 146 points - Netherlands - Without You - Re-Union
7.(21) 133 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - In The Disco - Deen
8.(8 ) 74 points - Malta - On Again...Off Again - Julie & Ludwig
9.(18 ) 72 points - Croatia - You Are The Only One - Ivan Mikulic
10.(15) 71 points - Macedonia - Life Is - Tose Proeski
11.(5) 57 points - Israel - Leha'amin - David D'Or
(17) 57 points - Estonia - Tii - Neiokõsõ
13.(19) 56 points - Denmark - Shame On You - Tomas Thordarson
14.(1) 51 points - Finland - Two To Tango - Jari Sillanpää
15.(7) 38 points - Portugal - Foi Magia - Sofia Vitoria
16.(12) 26 points - Lithuania - What Happened To Our Love? - Linas & Simona
17.(4) 23 points - Latvia - Dziesma par laimi - Fomins & Kleins
18.(6) 12 points - Andorra - Jugarem a estimar-nos - Marta Roure
19.(2) 10 points - Belarus - My Galileo - Alexandra & Konstantin
(9) 10 points - Monaco - Notre planète - Maryon
21.(16) 5 points - Slovenia - Stay Forever - Platin
22.(3) 0 points - Switzerland - Celebrate - Piero & The Music Stars
