7 months ago

Date: Saturday, 20 May 2006 - Venue: Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena, Athens, Greece
Presentation: Sakis Rouvas & Maria Menounos - Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 (total: 37)
Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2005 (excl. host, big 4 & Serbia-Montenegro) + 10 best of semi-final.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece had hosted the contest - 32 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time this year. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participations in the contest for various reasons. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, however, due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest.

The winner was Finland with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi a.k.a. Tomi Petteri Putaansuu. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation. It was the first ever hard rock / heavy metal music song to win the contest, and Lordi was the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway).

The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final.

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia and Montenegro voted.
Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 6 150
02 Bulgaria Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" English 17 36
03 Slovenia Anžej Dežan "Mr Nobody" English 16 49
04 Andorra Jenny "Sense tu" Catalan 23 8
05 Belarus Polina Smolova "Mum" English 22 10
06 Albania Luiz Ejlli "Zjarr e ftohtë" Albanian 14 58
07 Belgium Kate Ryan "Je t'adore" English 12 69
08 Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 9 79
09 Cyprus Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" English 15 57
10 Monaco Séverine Ferrer "La Coco-Dance" French, Tahitian 21 14
11 Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 10 76
12 Poland Ich Troje feat. Real McCoy "Follow My Heart" English, Polish, German, Russian[a] 11 70
13 Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 3 217
14 Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish[b] 8 91
15 Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 7 146
16 Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 1 292
17 Netherlands Treble "Amambanda" English, Imaginary 20 22
18 Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English[c] 5 163
19 Portugal Nonstop "Coisas de nada" Portuguese, English 19 26
20 Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 4 214
21 Estonia Sandra Oxenryd "Through My Window" English 18 28
22 Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 2 267
23 Iceland Silvia Night "Congratulations" English 13 62