Eurovision Song Contest in the 2000s
The first contest of the new millennium was the second contest to be held in Stockholm. Latvia entered the contest for the first time finishing a creditable 3rd. Roger Pontare returned for Sweden 6 years after he'd appeared with Marie Bergman. Serafin Zubiri returned for Spain after 8 years. Alexandros Panayi returned for Cyprus as a member of Voice, 5 years after being a solo artist. Israel opened the contest in controversial style with a stage show which included 2 men kissing and the group waving a Syrian flag. Unlike 2 years previously though controversy didn't help the Israeli cause. Linda for the Netherlands appeared in a huge dress which later revealed her dancers. Nikki French for the UK perhaps summed up her country's attitude to Eurovision by singing "Don't Play That Song Again" which gave them their worst result to date. The voting was one sided as Denmark received 12 points from the first country to vote, Israel, and never relinquished their lead finally finishing 40 points ahead of nearest rivals Russia. The Danes had not won for 37 years and the Olsen Brothers were the oldest winners to date.
Results
1.(14) 195 points - Denmark - Fly On The Wings Of Love - The Olsen Brothers
2.(9) 155 points - Russia - Solo - Alsou
3.(21) 136 points - Latvia - My Star - Brainstorm
4.(4) 98 points - Estonia - Once In A Lifetime - Ines
5.(15) 96 points - Germany - Wadde Hadde Dudde Da? - Stefan Raab
6.(23) 92 points - Ireland - Millennium Of Love - Eamonn Toal
7.(18 ) 88 points - Sweden - When Spirits Are Calling My Name
8.(7) 73 points - Malta - Desire - Claudette Pace
9.(17) 70 points - Croatia - Kada zaspu andeli (Ostani) - Goran Karan
10.(22) 59 points - Turkey - Yorgunum anla - Pinhar & The SOS
11.(8 ) 57 points - Norway - My Heart Goes Boom - Charmed
12.(12) 45 points - Iceland - Tell Me! - August & Telma
13.(2) 40 points - Netherlands - No Goodbyes - Linda
14.(24) 34 points - Austria - All To You - The Rounder Girls
15.(19) 29 points - Macedonia - 100% te ljubam - XXL
16.(3) 28 points - United Kingdom - Don't Play That Song Again - Nicki French
17.(6) 25 points - Romania - The Moon / Luna - Taxi
18.(13) 18 points - Spain - Colgado de un sueño - Serafin Zubiri
(20) 18 points - Finland - A Little Bit - Nina Astrom
20.(16) 14 points - Switzerland - La vita cos'è - Jane Bogaert
21.(11) 8 points - Cyprus - Nomiza - Voice
22.(1) 7 points - Israel - Sameyakh - Ping Pong
23.(5) 5 points - France - On aura le ciel - Sofia Mestari
24.(10) 2 points - Belgium - Envie de vivre - Nathalie Source
The 2001 contest saw a new era dawn in the history of the contest with a country from the so-called "new school" winning for the first time. Estonia's victory could not have been more surprising. A rank 50-1 outsider with the bookmakers pre-contest it was considered a no hoper. It just goes to show that bookmakers should stick to horses and dogs. Greece returned to the contest after a 2 year break with their biggest success to date. Using a group who were based in Scandinavia was a clever ploy as Greece finished 3rd even without their biggest ally, Cyprus. Half of Antique, Helena Papaprizou, returned 4 years later to claim Greece's first victory. Also returning, this time 5 years later, would be Malta's Fabrizio Faniello with a great deal less success than Helena. The Dutch entry could have caused confusion. Called "Out On My Own" it was similar to the Norwegian entry called "On My Own". To add to the confusion both the Dutch and German entrants were called Michelle. There was something familiar about the Swedish entry this year. It was later revealed to be a possible plagiarism of the Belgian entry from 1996. It has never been officially called as such but many ESC fans consider it to be a blatant rip off of the earlier entry. That's not to say all ESC fans. There are some who just don't see the similarities at all. The voting was again one sided as Estonia took an early lead. Denmark did have the lead for a while but 4 consecutive 12 points to Estonia meant victory was theirs. Having had the oldest winners the previous years Dave Benton took that record from Jorgen Olsen by a matter of months.
Results
1.(20) 198 points - Estonia - Everybody - Tanel Padar & Dave Benton
2.(23) 177 points - Denmark - Never Ever Let You Go - Rollo & King
3.(22) 147 points - Greece - Die For You - Antique
4.(14) 142 points - France - Je n'ai que mon âme - Natasha St Pier
5.(7) 100 points - Sweden - Listen To Your Heartbeat - Friends
6.(13) 76 points - Spain - Dile que la quiero - David Civera
7.(17) 70 points - Slovenia - Energy - Nusa Derenda
8.(19) 66 points - Germany - Wer Liebe lebt - Michelle
9.(21) 48 points - Malta - Another Summer Night - Fabrizio Fannielo
10.(10) 42 points - Croatia - Strings Of My Heart - Vanna
11.(15) 41 points - Turkey - Sevgiliye Son - Sedat Yüce
12.(6) 37 points - Russia - Lady Alpine Blue - Mumiy Troll
13.(8 ) 35 points - Lithuania - You Got Style - Skamp
14.(3) 29 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Hano - Nino Prses
15.(16) 28 points - United Kingdom - No Dream Impossible - Lindsay
16.(5) 25 points - Israel - En Davar - Tal Sondak
17.(11) 18 points - Portugal - Só sei ser feliz assim - MTM
18.(1) 16 points - Netherlands - Out On My Own - Michelle
(9) 16 points - Latvia - Too Much - Arnis Mednis
20.(18) 11 points - Poland - 2 Long - Piasek
21.(12) 6 points - Ireland - Without Your Love - Gary O'Shaughnessey
22.(2) 3 points - Iceland - Angel - 2Tricky
(4) 3 points - Norway - On My Own - Haldor Lægreid
After speculation as to whether the Estonian broadcaster could afford to hold it, the contest moved to a country in the former Soviet Union for the first time. As one Baltic nation held the contest another wins it. Latvia only gained entry to the contest after the Portuguese had declined to take part. Constantinos Christoforiou returned for Cyprus, this time as part of boy-band One, 6 years after he first took part. He would return again 3 years later. Karolina Goceva represented Macedonia and would return 5 years later. After being a backing vocalist for Sweden in 1999 and Malta in 2000, Sahlene represented the home nation. Corinna May represented Germany. She'd been chosen to represent Germany in 1999 but her song was disqualified. Monica Anghel was half of the Romanian duo. She was Romania's representative in 1996 but that song did not make it through the qualifying round. The Slovenian entry was the most controversial of the evening being performed by 3 men dressed as female air hostesses. The voting was close throughout between Malta and Latvia. Malta held a slender lead for almost half of the voting. After the Swiss votes Latvia took the lead and held it until the end. With only one country left to vote Latvia held a 3 point lead over the Maltese. The last country to vote was Lithuania who gave Malta 3 points to tie the score. Surely they wouldn't ignore their neighbours Latvia. They didn't and gave them 12. The win owed as much to performance as to the song. Marie N had 3 costume changes during the performance.
Results
1.(23) 176 points - Latvia - I Wanna - Marie N
2.(20) 164 points - Malta - 7th Wonder - Ira Losco
3.(2) 111 points - United Kingdom - Come Back - Jessica Garlick
(8 ) 111 points - Estonia - Runaway - Sahlene
5.(17) 104 points - France - Il faut du temps - Sandrine François
6.(1) 85 points - Cyprus - Gimme - One
7.(5) 81 points - Spain - Europe's Living A Celebration - Rosa
8.(12) 72 points - Sweden - Never Let It Go - Afro-Dite
9.(21) 71 points - Romania - Tell Me Why - Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel
10.(7) 55 points - Russia - Northern Girl - Prime Minister
11.(6) 44 points - Croatia - Everything I Want - Vesna Pisarovic
12.(10) 37 points - Israel - Light A Candle - Sarit Hadad
13.(15) 33 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Fairytales About Love - Maja Tatic
(16) 33 points - Belgium - Sister - Sergio & The Ladies
(22) 33 points - Slovenia - Samo ljubezen - Sestre
16.(19) 29 points - Turkey - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde - Buket Bengisu & Group Sapphire
17.(4) 27 points - Greece - S.A.G.A.P.O. - Michalis Rakintzis
18.(3) 26 points - Austria - Say A Word - Manuel Ortega
19.(9) 25 points - Macedonia - Od nas zavesi - Karolina
20.(13) 24 points - Finland - Addicted To You - Laura
21.(18 ) 17 points - Germany - I Can't Live Without Music - Corinna May
22.(11) 15 points - Switzerland - Dans le jardin de mon âme - Francine Jordi
23.(24) 12 points - Lithuania - Happy You - Aivaras
24.(14) 7 points - Denmark - Tell Me Who You Are - Mahlene
The contest stayed in the Baltics moving from Estonia to Latvia. It was the biggest contest ever with 26 countries taking part, including the introduction of Ukraine. The hosts were 2 of Latvia's previous participants, Marie Naumova, the winner from 2002, and Renars Kaupers, who was singer with Brainstorm. Ich Troje represented Poland and would return 3 years later. The Russian representatives were t.A.T.u. who had had a massive Europe wide hit earlier in the year with "All The Things She Said". Rumours of them appearing naked on stage and engaging in various lesbian activites were unfounded. The Belgian entry took the language rule literaly by performing in an imaginary language. The United Kingdom reached new lows, both in performance and result. Singing completely off key and out of time it came as no real surprise that for the first time the UK finished last and got 0 points. It looked for a long while that the hosts would join the UK on 0 points and but for a little neighbour voting from Estonia, they may well have done. The voting was incredibly close throughout. The lead was never more than 7 points all the way through. The lead was held by Turkey for a long while. Belgium then took the lead and held it until the final set of votes. Russia were also in with a chance of taking the title. With only Slovenia to vote the socres were Belgium 162, Turkey 157, Russia 152. The Slovenians gave only 3 to Belgium meaning that Turkey needed 10 or more to win and Russia could not now win. With their 10 and 12 to award there was still no sign of points for Turkey. When the 10 points went to Turkey the scenes in the greenroom were of wild Turkish celebrations. 12 points to Russia meant that only 3 points separated the top 3 songs. After 28 years of waiting and only 3 top 10 finishes Turkey were victorious. It was also the first time that a song drawn in position #4 had won the contest.
Results
1.(4) 167 points - Turkey - Everyway That I Can - Sertab Erener
2.(22) 165 points - Belgium - Sanomi - Urban Trad
3.(11) 164 points - Russia - Ne ver, ne boisja - t.A.T.u.
4.(18 ) 123 points - Norway - I'm Not Afraid To Move On - Jostein Hasselgård
5.(25) 107 points - Sweden - Give Me Your Love - Fame
6.(2) 101 points - Austria - Weil der Mensch zählt - Alf Poier
7.(20) 90 points - Poland - Keine Grenzen-Zadnych granic - Ich Troje
8.(1) 81 points - Iceland - Open Your Heart - Birgitta
(12) 81 points - Spain - Dime - Beth
10.(24) 73 points - Romania - Don't Break My Heart - Nicola
11.(3) 53 points - Ireland - We've Got The World Tonight - Mickey Harte
(10) 53 points - Germany - Let's Get Happy - Lou
13.(14) 45 points - Netherlands - One More Night - Esther Hart
14.(16) 30 points - Ukraine - Hasta la vista - Olexandr
15.(8 ) 29 points - Croatia - Vise nisam tvoje - Claudia Beni
16.(6) 27 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Ne brini - Mija Martina
17.(17) 25 points - Greece - Never Let You Go - Mando
18.(19) 19 points - France - Monts et merveilles - Louisa Bailleche
19.(13) 17 points - Israel - Words For Love - Lior Narkis
20.(9) 15 points - Cyprus - Feeling Alive - Stelios Constantas
21.(23) 14 points - Estonia - Eighties Coming Back - Ruffus
22.(7) 13 points - Portugal - Deixa-me sonhar - Rita Guerra
23.(26) 7 points - Slovenia - Nanana - Karmen
24.(21) 5 points - Latvia - Hello From Mars - FLY
25.(5) 4 points - Malta - To Dream Again - Lyn Chircop
26.(15) 0 points - United Kingdom - Cry Baby - Jemini
ESC 2004
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
The final of the 2004 contest took place 3 days after the semi-final. The 10 qualifying countries joined the 14 pre-qualified countries in the final. There were no returning artists in the final at all, although many of the backing singers had been here before. Also none of the entrants have returned to date. However there were a couple of entries written by previous participants. The Bosnian entry was written by Vesna Pisarovic who'd sung for Croatia 2 years previously. Stefan Raab wrote the German entry, which, unlike his previous 2 compositions, was not a comedy record. Serbian representative Zeljko Joksimovic would return to write the Bosnian entry 2 years later. The voting was a long winded process with all the 12 losing semi-finalists as well as the 24 finalists voting. Debutants Serbia & Montenegro held the lead for almost half the voting. When Iceland gave Ukraine 12 points they took the lead and were never challenged after that. The year after their debut Ukraine had won the contest. With 36 countries voting the scores at the top of the leaderboard were a lot larger than previously. The top 3 all outscored the previous highest score.
Results
1.(10) 280 points - Ukraine - Wild Dances - Ruslana
2.(5) 263 points - Serbia & Montenegro - Lane Moje - Zeljko Joksimovic & Ad Hoc Orchestra
3.(16) 252 points - Greece - Shake It! - Sakis Rouvas
4.(22) 195 points - Turkey - For Real - Athena
5.(21) 170 points - Cyprus - Stronger Every Minute - Lisa Andreas
(24) 170 points - Sweden - It Hurts - Lena Philipsson
7.(9) 107 points - Albania - The Image Of You - Anjeza Shahini
8.(8 ) 93 points - Germany - Can't Wait Until Tonight - Max
9.(12) 91 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - In The Disco - Deen
10.(1) 87 points - Spain - Para llenarme de ti - Ramon
11.(14) 67 points - Russia - Believe Me - Julia Savicheva
12.(6) 50 points - Malta - On Again...Off Again - Julie & Ludwig
(11) 50 points - Croatia - You Are The Only One - Ivan Mikulic
14.(15) 47 points - Macedonia - Life Is - Tose Proeski
15.(4) 40 points - France - À chaque pas - Jonatan Cerrada
16.(20) 29 points - United Kingdom - Hold Onto Our Love - James Fox
17.(19) 27 points - Poland - Love Song - Blue Café
18.(23) 18 points - Romania - I Admit - Sanda Ladosi
19.(17) 16 points - Iceland - Heaven - Jonsi
20.(7) 11 points - Netherlands - Without You - Re-Union
21.(2) 9 points - Austria - Du bist - Tie Break
22.(13) 7 points - Belgium - 1 Life - Xandee
(18 ) 7 points - Ireland - If My World Stopped Turning
24.(3) 3 points - Norway - High - Knut Anders Sørum
ESC 2005
The Semi-Final of the 2005 contest was larger than the 2004 Semi-Final. Moldova and Bulgaria joined the contest for the first time and Hungary returned for the first time in 7 years. The Lebanon had initially joined and had selected their song, but later withdrew due to financial reasons, although rumours were rife that they withdrew because the broadcaster refused to show the Israeli entry. So with 25 countries vying for the remaining 10 places in the final the competition was steep. Iceland were the only country to have a returning artist with Selma returning 6 years after being a runner up. She fared less well this year failing to qualify. The 10 qualifiers were Hungary, Romania, Norway, Moldova, Israel, Denmark, Macedonia, Croatia, Switzerland & Latvia.
Full Semi-Final Results
1.(14) 235 points - Romania - Let Me Try - Luminita Anghel & Sistem
2.(4) 207 points - Moldova - Boonika Bate Tobe - Zdob Si Zdub
3.(24) 185 points - Denmark - Talking To You - Jakob Sviestrup
4.(20) 169 points - Croatia - Vukovi umiru sami - Boris Novokovic featuring Lado Members
5.(15) 167 points - Hungary - Forogl vilag! - NOX
6.(13) 164 points - Norway - In My Dreams - Wig Wam
7.(7) 158 points - Israel - Hasheket shenish'ar - Shiri Maymon
8.(19) 114 points - Switzerland - Cool Vibes - Vanilla Ninja
9.(17) 97 points - Macedonia - Make My Day - Martin Vucic
10.(5) 85 points - Latvia - The War Is Not Over - Walters & Khaza
11.(25) 81 points - Poland - Czarna dziewczyna - Ivan & Delfin
12.(23) 69 points - Slovenia - Stop - Omar Naber
13.(8 ) 67 points - Belarus - Love Me Tonight - Angelica Agurbash
14.(9) 53 points - Netherlands - My Impossible Dream - Glennis Grace
(22) 53 points - Ireland - Love? - Donna & Joe
16.(10) 52 points - Iceland - If I Had Your Love - Selma
17.(3) 51 points - Portugal - Amar - 2B
18.(16) 50 points - Finland - Why? - Geir Rönning
19.(21) 49 points - Bulgaria - Lorrain - Kaffe
20.(12) 31 points - Estonia - Let's Get Loud - Suntribe
21.(1) 30 points - Austria - Y Asi - Global.kryner
22.(11) 29 points - Belgium - Le grand soir - Nuno Resende
23.(18 ) 27 points - Andorra - La mirada interior - Marian van der Wal
24.(6) 22 points - Monaco - Tout de moi - Lise Darly
25.(2) 17 points - Lithuania - Little By Little - Laura & The Lovers
The Final took place 2 days after the semi-final. Once again the 10 qualifiers joined the Big 4 and the 10 highest scorers from the previous year. Helena Paparizou returned for Greece, this time without the other half of Antique. Chiara returned for Malta 7 years to improve her position by 1 place. Constantinos Christoforiou returned for the last of his 3 appearances for Cyprus. The Ukrainian entry caused some controversy, being added straight into the national final without going through the qualification process. The biggest talking point, however, was the fact that the countries that finished in the bottom 4 positions were the so-called Big 4 nations. The Big 4 have a guaranteed place in the final every year but with poor performance such as this their guaranteed place does not seem justified. The voting was fairly close early on with the lead changing hands regularly. Once Greece finally took the lead they didn't relinquish it. 31 years after their debut it was the longest wait for a first win so far - beating Belgiums 30 year wait by 1 year.
Final
1.(19) 230 points - Greece - My Number One - Helena Paparizou
2.(3) 192 points - Malta - Angel - Chiara
3.(4) 158 points - Romania - Let Me Try - Luminita Anghel & Sistem
4.(11) 154 points - Israel - Hasheket Shenish'ar - Shiri Maymon
5.(23) 153 points - Latvia - The War Is Not Over - Walters & Khaza
6.(7) 148 points - Moldova - Boonika Bate Tobe - Zdob Si Zdub
7.(12) 137 points - Serbia & Montenegro - Zauvijek moja - No Name
8.(22) 128 points - Switzerland - Cool Vibes - Vanilla Ninja
9.(5) 125 points - Norway - In My Dreams - Wig Wam
(13) 125 points - Denmark - Talking In Your Sleep - Jakob Sviestrup
11.(18) 115 points - Croatia - Vukovi umiru sami - Boris Novkovic featuring Lado Members
12.(1) 97 points - Hungary - Forogj vilag! - NOX
13.(6) 92 points - Turkey - Rimi rimi ley - Gülseren
14.(21) 79 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Call Me - Feminnem
15.(20) 57 points - Russia - Nobody Hurt No-one - Natalya Podolskaya
16.(8 ) 53 points - Albania - Tomorrow I Go - Ledina Celo
17.(15) 52 points - Macedonia - Make My Day - Martin Vucic
18.(9) 46 points - Cyprus - Ela Ela - Constantinos Christoforiou
19.(14) 30 points - Sweden - Las Vegas - Martin Steinmarck
(16) 30 points - Ukraine - Razom nas bahato - Greenjolly
21.(10) 28 points - Spain - Brujeria - Son de Sol
22.(2) 18 points - United Kingdom - Touch My Fire - Javine
23.(24) 11 points - France - Chacun pense à soi - Ortal
24.(17) 5 points - Germany - Run & Hide - Gracia
ESC 2006
The 51st Eurovison Song Contest was slightly smaller than the previous year. Austria and Hungary declined to take part and Serbia & Montenegro withdrew due to a scandal during their selection process. Armenia joined the contest so the number of participants stood at 37. The Semi-Final welcomed Carola back to ESC, once again representing Sweden and 15 years after she'd last appeared. She easily made it to the final. Also returning, after a shorter break of 3 years, were Ich Troje for Poland. They could not recreate their top 10 finish of 2003 and failed to make the final. Finland provided the main talking point with monster rockers Lordi appearing in masks with a hard rock (hallelujah) song. Lithuania were optimistic with their song called "We Are The Winners". Iceland had to change the lyrics of their song to remove a swear word from it. Silvia Night managed to upset almost everyone with her antics and failed to qualify for the final prompting another tantrum. The 10 qualifiers for the final were Russia, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Lithuania, Finland, Ukraine, Ireland, Sweden, Turkey and newcomers Armenia, who having opened the Semi-Final and closed the final became the first country to open and close the same contest.
FULL SEMI FINAL RESULTS
1.(16) 292 points - Finland - Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi
2.(22) 267 points - Bosnia & Herzigovina - Lejla - Hari Mata Hari
3.(13) 217 points - Russia - Never Let You Go - Dima Bilan
4.(20) 214 points - Sweden - Invincible - Carola
5.(18 ) 163 points - Lithuania - We Are The Winners - LT United
6.(1) 150 points - Armenia - Without Your Love - André
7.(15) 146 points - Ukraine - Show Me Your Love - Tina Karol
8.(14) 91 points - Turkey - Süper Star - Sibel Tüzün
9.(8 ) 79 points - Ireland - Every Song Is A Cry For Love - Brian Kennedy
10.(11) 76 points - Macedonia - Ninanajna - Elena Risteska
11.(12) 70 points - Poland - Follow My Heart - Ich Troje featuring the Real McCoy
12.(7) 69 points - Belgium - Je t'adore - Kate Ryan
13.(23) 62 points - Iceland - Congratulations - Silvia Night
14.(6) 58 points - Albania - Zjarr e ftohtë - Luiz Ejlli
15.(9) 57 points - Cyprus - Why Angels Cry - Annet Artani
16.(3) 49 points - Slovenia - Mr Nobody - Anzej Dezan
17.(2) 36 points - Bulgaria - Let Me Cry - Mariana Popova
18.(21) 2 points - Estonia - Through My Window - Sandra Oxenryd
19.(19) 26 points - Portugal - Coisas de nada - Nonstop
20.(17) 22 points - Netherlands - Amambanda - Treble
21.(10) 14 points - Monaco - La coco dance - Séverine Ferrer
22.(5) 10 points - Belarus - Mum - Polina Smolova
23.(4) 8 points - Andorra - Sense tu - Jenny
The final was once again held 2 days after the semi-final. 45 years after their debut, and having finished no higher than 6th previously, Finland emerged victorious holding the lead from start to finish. The monsters of rock Lordi had done 4 things that 40 previous Finnish entrants couldn't do. 1) win, 2) finish top 5, 3) score 100+ points and 4) finish ahead of the United Kingdom!!. Returning to the contest, along with Carola who had been in the Semi-Final, were Anna Vissi returning for Greece 26 years after her debut, and 24 years after her last appearance. Eddie Butler was a member of Israeli group Eden in 1999 and returned as a soloist 7 years later. Fabrizio Faniello returned for Malta and finished last avoiding the dreaded 0 points thanks to the Albanian voters. Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger were back again as composers and lyricist for the 18th time each (most, but not all, of them together). The Bosnian entry was written by Zeljko Joksimovic who'd been runner up for Serbia & Montenegro 2 years previously. Serbia & Montenegro themselves had to withdraw from the contest due to a voting scandal in their National Final. However they were still able to vote in the contest. The Big 4 once again fared poorly with Germany doing best finishing 14th. France and Spain were once again in the bottom 4 with the United Kingdom only a couple of places higher in 19th. Romania brought Italian back to the contest with parts of their song Tornero being sung in the language. They finished highest of the direct qualifiers, finishing 4th
Results
1.(17) 292 points - Finland - Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi
2.(10) 248 points - Russia - Never Let You Go - Dima Bilan
3.(13) 229 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Lejla - Hari Mata Hari
4.(12) 172 points - Romania - Tornero - Mihai Traistariu
5.(22) 170 points - Sweden - Invincible - Carola
6.(14) 162 points - Lithuania - We Are The Winners - LT United
7.(18 ) 145 points - Ukraine - Show Me Your Love - Tina Karol
8.(24) 129 points - Armenia - Without Your Love - André
9.(16) 128 points - Greece - Everything - Anna Vissi
10.(21) 93 points - Ireland - Every Song Is A Cry For Love - Brian Kennedy
11.(23) 91 points - Turkey - Süper star - Sibel Tüzün
12.(11) 56 points - Macedonia - Ninanajna - Elena Risteska
(20) 56 points - Croatia - Moja Stikla - Severina
14.(5) 36 points - Norway - Alvedansen - Christine Guldbrandsen
(8 ) 36 points - Germany - No No Never - Texas Lightning
16.(1) 30 points - Switzerland - If We All Give A Little - six4one
(4) 30 points - Latvia - I Hear Your Heart - Vocal Group Cosmos
18.(9) 26 points - Denmark - Twist Of Love - Sidsel Ben Semmane
19.(15) 25 points - United Kingdom - Teenage Life - Daz Sampson
20.(2) 22 points - Moldova - Loca - Arsenium featuring Natalia Gordienko & Connect R
21.(6) 18 points - Spain - Un Bloodymary - Las Ketchup
22.(19) 5 points - France - Il était temps - Virginie Pouchain
23.(3) 4 points - Israel - Together We Are One - Eddie Butler
24.(7) 1 point - Malta - I Do - Fabrizio Faniello
ESC 2007
A huge 42 countries took part in the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest. 28 of them in the semi-final vying for only 10 places in the final. Austria and Hungary returned after missing the 2006 contest. Serbia and Montenegro also returned, this time as two seperate countries. Georgia and the Czech Republic made their debuts. Monaco withdrew from the contest having failed to make it out of the Semi-Final since their return in 2004. Karolina Goceva returned for Macedonia, 5 years after her first appearance. Eirikur Hauksson was back for a 3rd attempt this time as a soloist having previously been a member of Icy in 1986 and Just4Fun in 1991. Evridiki was back for the 3rd time for Cyprus hoping not to finish 11th again. She didn't as she finished 15th. Edsilia Rombley was back for the Netherlands hoping to emulate her high finish of 1998, but it wasn't to be as she trailed in 21st. Olivia Lewis finally made it to the ESC after years of trying to win the Maltese National Final. Unfortunately for her her perseverance didn't pay off as she finished 25th. The Czech Repulic's debut was saved from an ignominous start by a single point received from the Estonian televoters. The 10 qualifiers were Belarus, Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Georgia, Latvia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Moldova.
Full Semi-Final Results
1.(15) 298 points - Serbia - Molitva - Marija Serifovic
2.(22) 224 points - Hungary - Unsubstantial Blues - Madgi Ruzsa
3.(26) 197 points - Turkey - Shake It Up Shekerim - Kenan Dogulu
4.(4) 176 points - Belarus - Work Your Magic - Koldun
5.(28 ) 168 points - Latvia - Questa Notte - Bonaparti.lv
6.(1) 146 points - Bulgaria - Water - Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov
7.(25) 140 points - Slovenia - Cvet z juka - Alenka Gotar
8.(6) 123 points - Georgia - Visionary Dream - Sopho
9.(18 ) 97 points - Macedonia - Mojot svet - Karolina
10.(9) 91 points - Moldova - Fight - Natalia Barbu
11.(17) 88 points - Portugal - Dança comigo (Vem ser feliz) - Sabrina
12.(21) 80 points - Andorra - Salvem el mon - Anonymous
13.(5) 77 points - Iceland - Valentine Lost - Eirikur Hauksson
14.(14) 74 points - Poland - Time To Party - The Jet Set
15.(3) 65 points - Cyprus - Comme ci, comme ça - Evridiki
16.(13) 54 points - Croatia - Vjerujem u ljubav - Dragonfly feat Dado Topic
17.(11) 49 points - Albania - Hear My Plea - Frederik Ndoci
18.(19) 48 points - Norway - Ven a bailar conmigo - Guri Schanke
19.(12) 45 points - Denmark - Drama Queen - DQ
20.(8 ) 40 points - Switzerland - Vampires Are Alive - DJ BoBo
21.(10) 38 points - Netherlands - On Top Of The World - Edsilia Rombley
22.(7) 33 points - Montenegro - 'Ajde kro?i - Stevan Faddy
(23) 33 points - Estonia - Partners In Crime - Gerli Padar
24.(2) 17 points - Israel - Push The Button - Teapacks
25.(20) 15 points - Malta - Vertigo - Olivia Lewis
26.(24) 14 points - Belgium - Love Power - The KMGs
27.(27) 4 points - Austria - Get A Life...Get Alive - Eric Papilaya
28.(16) 1 point - Czech Republic - Mala Dama - Kabat
The final was held again 2 days after the semi-final. Newcomers to the final were Georgia (making their debut in the contest), Belarus (at their 4th attempt), Bulgaria (at their 3rd attempt) and Serbia (making their debut as an independant country). Macedonia, having qualified for the final for the 4th consecutive time, were the only country in the final with a returning artist, Karolina Gocheva. Slovenia on the other hand finally made the final on their 4th attempt. Ukraine had the main talking point of the contest with the drag act Verka Serduchka. The Big 4 all wanted to improve their poor finishes of recent years. Once again Germany faired best but still finished a distant 19th. Spain avoided finishing in the bottom 4 for the 3rd consecutive year by finishing 20th. France weren't so lucky finishing 22nd for the 2nd consecutive year (as they had finished 23rd in 2005 it has been a bad few years for France). It looked for a long time that the United Kingdom would finish on 0 points again, but 7 points from Ireland and a truly bizarre 12 from Malta saved them from it, but not from finishing in the bottom 3 again. For the 2nd year running the Albanian votes saved a country from scoring 0 points. This time the lucky recipients were Ireland. The voting was fairly close but Serbia were never really challenged greatly. Serbia officially won on their debut but the question remains - was it really their debut having appeared before with Montenegro.
Results
1.(17) 268 points - Serbia - Molitva - Marija Serifovic
2.(18 ) 235 points - Ukraine - Dancing Lasha Tumbai - Verka Serduchka
3.(15) 207 points - Russia - Song #1 - Serebro
4.(22) 163 points - Turkey - Shake It Up Shekerim - Kenan Dogulu
5.(21) 157 points - Bulgaria - Water - Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov
6.(3) 145 points - Belarus - Work Your Magic - Koldun
7.(10) 139 points - Greece - Yassou Maria - Sarbel
8.(23) 138 points - Armenia - Anytime You Need - Hayko
9.(8 ) 128 points - Hungary - Unsubstantial Blues - Madgi Ruzsa
10.(24) 109 points - Moldova - Fight - Natalia Barbu
11.(1) 106 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Rijeka bez imena - Marija Sestic
12.(11) 97 points - Georgia - Visionary Dream - Sopho
13.(20) 84 points - Romania - Liubi, Liubi, I Love You - Todomondo
14.(6) 73 points - Macedonia - Mojot Svet - Karolina
15.(7) 66 points - Slovenia - Cvet z juga - Alenka Gotar
16.(14) 54 points - Latvia - Questa Notte - Bonaparti.lv
17.(5) 53 points - Finland - Leave Me Alone - Hanna Pakarinen
18.(12) 51 points - Sweden - The Worrying Kind - The Ark
19.(16) 49 points - Germany - Frauen regier'n die welt - Roger Cicero
20.(2) 43 points - Spain - I Love You Mi Vida - DNash
21.(9) 28 points - Lithuania - Love Or Leave - 4Fun
22.(13) 19 points - France - L'amour à la française - Les Fatals Picards
(19) 19 points - United Kingdom - Flying The Flag (For You) - Scooch
24.(4) 5 points - Ireland - They Can't Stop The Spring - Dervish
ESC 2008
For the first time ever there were 2 semi-finals and 1 final for the Eurovision song contest. Only the defending champion (Serbia) and the Big 4 had automatically qualified for the final. The remaining places were to be filled by 10 songs from each Semi-Final. 9 of those songs were chosen by televotes and the final place was decided by a jury vote. In Semi-Final 1 the jury vote didn't make a difference as the song finishing 10th in the televotes was the jury pick. Dima Bilan returned to ESC hoping to improve on his 2nd place of two years previous. San Marino & Azerbaijan made their debuts in the contest with varying degrees of success. Ireland sent a puppet turkey called Dustin as their representative. Joke entries seemed to be the order of the day - but generally fared badly. The qualifiers were - Greece, Armenia, Russia, Norway, Israel, Azerbaijan, Romania, Finland, Bosnia & Herzegovina & Poland.
1. (19) Greece - Secret Combination - Kalomira - 156 pts
2. (14) Armenia - Qele qele - Sirusho - 139 pts
3. (18) Russia - Believe - Dima Bilan - 135 pts
4. (9) Norway - Hold On, Be Strong - Maria Haukaas Storeng - 106 pts
5. (2) Israel - The Fire In Your Eyes - Boaz Mauda - 104 pts
6. (7) Azerbaijan - Day After Day - Elnur & Samir - 96 pts
7. (17) Romania - Pe-o margine de lume - Nico & Vlad - 94 pts
8. (16) Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa - Teräsbetoni - 79 pts
9. (13) Bosnia & Herzegovina - Pokusaj - Laka - 72 pts
10. (10) Poland - For Life - Isis Gee - 42 pts
11. (4) Moldova - A Century Of Love - Geta Burlacu - 36 pts
(8 ) Slovenia - Vrag naj vzame - Rebeka Dremelj - 36 pts
13. (15) Netherlands - My Heart Belongs To You - Hind - 27 pts
14. (1) Montenegro - Zauvijek volim te - Stefan Filipovic - 23 pts
15. (11) Ireland - Irelande douze points - Dustin The Turkey - 22 pts
(12) Andorra - Casanova - Gisela - 22 pts
17. (6) Belgium - O julissi - Ishtar - 16 pts
18. (3) Estonia - Leto svet - Kreisiraadio - 8 pts
19. (5) San Marino - Complice - Miodio - 5 pts
The second semi-final took place 2 days after the first. The only returning competitor was former winner Charlotte Perrelli who had won as Charlotte Nilsson in 1999. The top 9 in the televoting qualified automatically as with the first semi - but this time the jury pick wasn't the song that finished 10th - but the one that finished 12th in the televoting...and was our returnee from Sweden. The 10 qualifiers were Ukraine, Portugal, Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Latvia, Turkey, Iceland, Albania & Sweden. Portugal and Iceland both qualified from the semi-final for the first time since the system was introduced in 2004.
1. (4) Ukraine - Shady Lady - Ani Lorak - 152 pts
2. (19) Portugal - Senhora do mar - Vânia Fernandes - 120 pts
3. (11) Croatia - Romanca - Kralijevi Ulice & 75 Cent - 112 pts
(13) Denmark - All Night Long - Simon Mathew - 112 pts
5. (14) Georgia - Peace Will Come - Diana Gurtskaya - 107 pts
6. (10) Latvia - Wolves Of The Sea - Pirates Of The Sea - 86 pts
7. (3) Turkey - Deli - Mor ve Ötesi - 85 pts
8. (1) Iceland - This Is My Life - Euroband - 68 pts
9. (6) Albania - Zemrën e lamë peng - Olta Boka - 67 pts
10. (18 ) Macedonia - Let Me Love You - Tamara, Vrčak & Adrijan - 64 pts
11. (12) Bulgaria - DJ, Take Me Away - Deep Zone & Balthazar - 56 pts
12. (2) Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli - 54 pts
13. (7) Switzerland - Era stupendo - Paolo Meneguzzi - 47 pts
14. (16) Malta - Vodka - Morena - 38 pts
15. (17) Cyprus - Femme fatale - Evdokia Kadi - 37 pts
16. (5) Lithuania - Nomads In The Night - Jeronimus Milus - 30 pts
17. (9) Belarus - Hasta la vista - Ruslan Alehno - 27 pts
18. (8 ) Czech Republic - Have Some Fun - Tereza Kerndlova - 9 pts
19. (15) Hungary - Candlelight - Csézy - 6 pts
The final took place the Saturday after the 2 semi-finals had taken place. The finalists were the 10 qualifiers from each semi-final plus defending champions Serbia and the Big 4. Returning to the Eurovision stage were Dima Bilan & Charlotte Perrelli who'd both successfully negotiated the Semi's on their return (one slightly easier than the other). Dima was looking to improve on his 2nd place from 2006 whilst Charlotte was hoping to emulate Johnny Logan and become a double winner of the contest. The Serbian entry was written by former competitor (and host of this contest) Željko Joksimovic. The voting was predictable in parts and frankly bizarre in other parts (none more so than Bulgaria giving Germany 12 of the 14 points that they received all night - solely because one of the members of German representatives No Angels was Bulgarian). Spain had a pre-qualifying round hosted online through myspace and it was won convincingly by a bizarre act called Rodolfo Chickiliacuatre who wanted us to dance the "chiki chiki". France chose renowned musician Sébastien Tellier who appeared onstage in a golf-cart and for the first time ever performed the French entry entirely in English. The UK once again chose to pick a talent show loser - this time X Factor's Andy Abraham runner-up to Shayne Ward in 2006. There was a lot of controversy regarding the voting with so many of the top marks being predictable and the winner was clear very early on in the proceedings...not because it was the best song or best performance but because it had the biggest voting diaspora. Veteran UK commentator Terry Wogan was upset not only with the "friendly voting" but also with the last place achieved by the UK citing "institutionalised racism amongst Eastern European Nations" and that they would never vote for a black man east of Berlin...until it was pointed out to him that the only coloured winner of the contest represented Estonia - very much west of Berlin. Wogan would later resign as UK commentator after almost 40 years of doing the job. Dima Bilan became the 5th artist, and the first male, to finish both 1st & 2nd in ESC...the others were Lys Assia, Gigliola Cinquetti, Linda Martin & Elisabeth Andreassen
RESULTS
1. (24) - Russia - Believe - Dima Bilan - 272 pts
2. (18 ) - Ukraine - Shady Lady - Ani Lorak - 230 pts
3. (21) - Greece - Secret Combination - Kalomira - 218 pts
4. (5) - Armenia - Qele Qele - Sirusho - 199 pts
5. (25) - Norway - Hold On, Be Strong - 182 pts
6. (23) - Serbia - Oro - Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić - 160 pts
7. (12) - Turkey - Deli - Mor ve Ötesi - 138 pts
8. (20) - Azerbaijan - Day After Day - Elnur & Samir - 132 pts
9. (7) - Israel - The Fire In Your Eyes - Boaz Mauda - 124 pts
10. (6) - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Pokusaj - Laka - 110 pts
11. (14) - Latvia - Wolves Of The Sea - Pirates Of The Sea - 83 pts
(17) - Georgia - Peace Will Come - Diana Gurtskaya - 83 pts
13. (13) - Portugal - Senhora do mar - Vânia Fernandes - 69 pts
14. (11) - Iceland - This Is My Life - Euroband - 63 pts
15. (16) - Denmark - All Night Long - Simon Mathew - 60 pts
16. (3) - Albania - Zemrën e lamë peng - Olta Boka - 55 pts
(22) - Spain - Bailar el chiki chiki - Rodolfo Chikiliacuatre - 55 pts
18. (15) - Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli - 47 pts
(19) - France - Divine - Sébastien Tellier - 47 pts
20. (1) - Romania - Pe-o margine de lume - Nico & Vlad - 45 pts
21. (9) - Croatia - Romanca - Kraljevi Ulice feat 75 Cent - 44 pts
22. (8 ) - Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa - Teräsbetoni - 35 pts
23. (4) - Germany - Disappear - No Angels - 14 pts
24. (10) - Poland - For Life - Isis Gee - 14 pts
25. (2) - United Kingdom - Even If - Andy Abraham - 14 pts