Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits (also known as Eurovision's Greatest Hits) was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to commemorate the60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. The concert took place on 31 March 2015 at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London. Guy Freeman was the executive producer and Geoff Posner the director, both of whom held the same positions as the last time the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. Simon Proctor was the senior producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Tickets for the event went on sale at 10:15 (GMT) on 6 February 2015.
Graham Norton and Petra Mede hosted the event, which saw fifteen acts from thirteen countries performing their Eurovision entries from yesteryear. During the televised show, video montages for some of the Eurovision Song Contest archives were shown in-between each live performance. The United Kingdom entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, "Still in Love with You" by Electro Velvet, was performed at the concert as the opening act, but never broadcast on the televised show. Riverdance performed a reprise of their 1994 Eurovision Song Contest interval act as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Several countries confirmed that they would air the delayed broadcast of the concert on various dates that suited the broadcasters scheduling, including Australia, who first competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 as a wildcard entry. The host broadcaster, BBC, and Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), simulcast the show on Good Friday, 3 April 2015 across BBC One and RTÉ 2. The Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, were the first to announce their decision to not broadcast the event. Other countries also announced their decision to not broadcast the event, including Luxembourg, who had an act taking part in the event.
Performances[]
| Order | Year | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 2013 | Denmark | DR | Emmelie de Forest | "Only Teardrops" |
| 02 | 1973 | Luxembourg | RTL | Anne-Marie David | "Tu te reconnaîtras" |
| 03 | 1984 | Sweden | SVT | Herreys | "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" |
| 04 | 1998 | Israel | IBA | Dana International | "Diva" |
| 05 | 2000 | Denmark | DR | Olsen Brothers | "Fly on the Wings of Love" |
| 06 | 1976 | United Kingdom | BBC | Brotherhood of Man | "Save Your Kisses For Me" |
| 07 | 1968 | Spain (medley) | RTVE | Rosa López | "La, la, la" |
| 1969 | "Vivo cantado" | ||||
| 1973 | "Eres tú" | ||||
| 2002 | "Europe's Living a Celebration" | ||||
| 08 | 1982 | Germany | ARD/BR | Nicole | "Ein bißchen Frieden" |
| 09 | 2006 | Finland | Yle | Lordi | "Hard Rock Hallelujah" |
| 10 | 2001 | France | France Télévisions | Natasha St-Pier | "Je n'ai que mon âme" |
| 11 | 2008 | Russia | VGTRK | Dima Bilan | "Believe" |
| 2006 | Channel One | "Never Let You Go" | |||
| 12 | 1985 | Norway | NRK | Bobbysocks! | "La det swinge" |
| 13 | 2012 | Sweden | SVT | Loreen | "Euphoria" |
| 14 | 1980 | Ireland | RTÉ | Johnny Logan | "What's Another Year" |
| 1992 | "Why Me?" | ||||
| 1987 | "Hold Me Now" | ||||
| 15 | 2014 | Austria | ORF | Conchita Wurst | "Rise Like a Phoenix" |
Recap montages[]
Recap montages of Eurovision entries over the last sixty years, were also broadcast in-between performances. These sometimes differed between the UK/BBC and non-UK broadcasts because of copyright clearance and were as follows:
| Order | Year | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 1975 | Netherlands | NOS | Teach-In | "Ding-a-Dong" |
| 02 | 1974 | United Kingdom | BBC | Olivia Newton-John | "Long Live Love" |
| 03 | 1988 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Céline Dion | "Ne partez pas sans moi" |
| 04 | 2011 | Ireland | RTÉ | Jedward | "Lipstick" |
| 05 | 1974 | Sweden | SR | ABBA | "Waterloo" |
| 06 | 2007 | Russia | Channel One | Serebro | "Song #1" |
| 07 | 1978 | Israel | IBA | Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta | "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" |
| 08 | 1965 | United Kingdom | BBC | Kathy Kirby | "I Belong" |
| 09 | 1981 | Bucks Fizz | "Making Your Mind Up" | ||
| 10 | 1993 | Sonia | "Better the Devil You Know" | ||
| 11 | 1998 | Imaani | "Where Are You?" | ||
| 12 | 1977 | Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran | "Rock Bottom" | ||
| 13 | 1992 | Michael Ball | "One Step Out of Time" | ||
| 14 | 1968 | Cliff Richard | "Congratulations" | ||
| 15 | 1967 | Sandie Shaw | "Puppet on a String" | ||
| 16 | 1970 | Ireland | RTÉ | Dana | "All Kinds of Everything" |
| 17 | 1981 | Sheeba | "Horoscopes" | ||
| 18 | 1991 | France | Antenne 2 | Amina Annabi | "Le Dernier qui a parlé..." |
| 19 | 2013 | Belgium | RTBF | Roberto Bellarosa | "Love Kills" |
| 20 | 2005 | Norway | NRK | Wig Wam | "In My Dreams" |
| 21 | 2002 | Malta | PBS | Ira Losco | "7th Wonder" |
| 22 | 2010 | Germany | ARD/NDR | Lena | "Satellite" |
| 23 | 1993 | Ireland | RTÉ | Niamh Kavanagh | "In Your Eyes" |
| 24 | 1989 | Denmark | DR | Birthe Kjaer | "Vi maler byen rød" |
Broadcast[]
| Country | Network | Date of broadcast | Commentator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | RTSH | April 5, 2015 | No commentary |
| Australia | SBS One | May 21, 2015 | No commentary |
| Austria | ORF eins | May 17, 2015 | Andi Knoll |
| Belgium (Dutch) | één | April 4, 2015 | Peter Van de Veire |
| Belgium (French) | La Une | May 12, 2015 | Jean-Louis Lahaye, Maureen Louys |
| Bulgaria | BNT1 | April 13, 2015 | No commentary |
| BNT2 | April 19, 2015 | ||
| Denmark | DR1 | May 16, 2015 | Ole Tøpholm |
| Estonia | ETV | May 22, 2015 | No commentary |
| Finland (Finnish) | Yle TV2 | April 11, 2015 | Finnish subtitles |
| Finland (Swedish) | Yle Fem | April 4, 2015 | Sarah Dawn Finer, Christer Björkman |
| France | France 2 | May 20, 2015 | Virginie Guilhaume |
| Germany | NDR Fernsehen, MDR Fernsehen | May 16, 2015 | Peter Urban |
| EinsFestival | May 22, 2015 | ||
| Greece | NERIT1, N HD | May 16, 2015 | Greek subtitles |
| Iceland | RÚV | April 4, 2015 | No commentary |
| Israel | Channel 1 | April 11, 2015 | No commentary |
| Ireland | RTÉ2 | April 3, 2015 | No commentary |
| Latvia | LTV1 | April 25, 2015 | Aigars Rozenbergs |
| Norway | NRK1 | April 4, 2015 | No commentary |
| Portugal | RTP1 | April 26, 2015 | Júlio Isidro |
| Romania | TVR1, TVR HD | May 16, 2015 | No commentary |
| Russia | Channel One | April 5, 2015 | Yury Aksyuta, Svetlana Zeynalova |
| San Marino | SMRTV | April 5, 2015 | No commentary |
| Serbia | RTS | May 23, 2015 | No commentary |
| Slovenia | TV SLO 1 | May 2, 2015 | No commentary |
| Spain | La 1 | May 23, 2015 | José María Íñigo, Julia Varela |
| Sweden | SVT1, SVT World | April 4, 2015 | Sarah Dawn Finer, Christer Björkman |
| Switzerland | SRF zwei | May 19, 2015 (part 1) May 21, 2015 (part 2) |
Sven Epiney |
| United Kingdom | BBC One | April 3, 2015 | No commentary |
| BBC Radio 2 | May 4, 2015 | Graham Norton |
Non-broadcasting countries[]
The following list of countries declined to broadcast the show:
- Armenia (ARMTV)
- Czech Republic (ČT)
- Luxembourg (RTL)
- Macedonia (MRT)
- Netherlands (AVROTROS)
- Ukraine (NTU)
The following list of countries, which participated in the Eurovision Song Contest at least once, had not announced their plans on whether to broadcast the show.
- Andorra (RTVA)
- Azerbaijan (İTV)
- Belarus (BTRC)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT)
- Croatia (HRT)
- Cyprus (CyBC)
- Georgia (GPB)
- Hungary (MTVA)
- Italy (RAI)
- Lithuania (LRT)
- Malta (PBS)
- Moldova (TRM)
- Monaco (TMC)
- Montenegro (RTCG)
- Morocco (SNRT)
- Poland (TVP)
- Slovakia (RTVS)
- Turkey (TRT)