The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the 2004 contest with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and a final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Ukrainian television presenters Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko.
Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in 1998.
The winner was Greece with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece's first victory in the contest after 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from 2002, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four positions in the final.
Results[]
Semi-finals[]
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist(s) | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania | TVR | Luminița Anghel and Sistem | "Let Me Try" | 235 |
| 2 | Moldova | TRM | Zdob și Zdub | "Boonika bate doba" | 207 |
| 3 | Denmark | DR | Jakob Sveistrup | "Talking to You" | 185 |
| 4 | Croatia | HRT | Boris Novković feat. Lado members | "Vukovi umiru sami" | 169 |
| 5 | Hungary | MTV | Nox | "Forogj, világ" | 167 |
| 6 | Norway | NRK | Wig Wam | "In My Dreams" | 164 |
| 7 | Israel | IBA | Shiri Maimon | "HaSheket SheNish'ar" (השקט שנשאר) | 158 |
| 8 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Vanilla Ninja | "Cool Vibes" | 114 |
| 9 | Macedonia | MRT | Martin Vučić | "Make My Day" | 97 |
| 10 | Latvia | LTV | Walters and Kazha | "The War Is Not Over" | 85 |
| 11 | Poland | TVP | Ivan and Delfin | "Czarna dziewczyna" | 81 |
| 12 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Omar Naber | "Stop" | 69 |
| 13 | Belarus | BTRC | Angelica Agurbash | "Love Me Tonight" | 67 |
| 14 | Netherlands | NOS | Glennis Grace | "My Impossible Dream" | 53 |
| Ireland | RTÉ | Donna and Joe | "Love?" | 53 | |
| 16 | Iceland | RÚV | Selma | "If I Had Your Love" | 52 |
| 17 | Portugal | RTP | 2B | "Amar" | 51 |
| 18 | Finland | YLE | Geir Rönning | "Why" | 50 |
| 19 | Bulgaria | BNT | Kaffe | "Lorraine" | 49 |
| 20 | Estonia | ETV | Suntribe | "Let's Get Loud" | 31 |
| 21 | Austria | ORF | Global.Kryner | "Y así" | 30 |
| 22 | Belgium | RTBF | Nuno Resende | "Le Grand Soir" | 29 |
| 23 | Andorra | RTVA | Marian van de Wal | "La mirada interior" | 27 |
| 24 | Monaco | TMC | Lise Darly | "Tout de moi" | 22 |
| 25 | Lithuania | LRT | Laura and the Lovers | "Little by Little" | 17 |
Finals[]
Country in gold is the winning entry, the country in silver is the host country, the countries in lime are the "Big 4" countries and the countries in brown are the top 10 countries from the 2004 final (other than the Big 4) which are rewarded with automatic spots in the finals.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Greece | ERT | Helena Paparizou | "My Number One" | 292 |
| 02 | Malta | PBS | Chiara | "Angel" | 248 |
| 03 | Romania | TVR | Luminița Anghel and Sistem | "Let Me Try" | 229 |
| 04 | Israel | IBA | Shiri Maimon | "HaSheket SheNish'ar" (השקט שנשאר) | 172 |
| 05 | Latvia | LTV | Walters and Kazha | "The War Is Not Over" | 170 |
| 06 | Moldova | TRM | Zdob și Zdub | "Boonika bate doba" | 162 |
| 07 | Serbia and Montenegro | UJRT | No Name | "Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја) | 56 |
| 08 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Vanilla Ninja | "Cool Vibes" | 145 |
| 09 | Norway | NRK | Wig Wam | "In My Dreams" | 129 |
| Denmark | DR | Jakob Sveistrup | "Talking to You" | 93 | |
| 11 | Croatia | HRT | Boris Novković feat. Lado members | "Vukovi umiru sami" | 36 |
| 12 | Hungary | MTV | Nox | "Forogj, világ" | 91 |
| 13 | Turkey | TRT | Gülseren | "Rimi Rimi Ley" | 30 |
| 14 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHRT | Feminnem | "Call Me" | 30 |
| 15 | Russia | Channel One | Natalia Bodolskaya | "Nobody Hurt No One" | 26 |
| 16 | Albania | RTSH | Ledina Çelo | "Tomorrow I Go" | 22 |
| 17 | Macedonia | MRT | Martin Vučić | "Make My Day" | 56 |
| 18 | Cyprus | CyBC | Constantinos Christoforou | "Ela Ela" | 4 |
| 19 | Sweden | SVT | Martin Stenmarck | "Las Vegas" | 1 |
| Ukraine | NTU | GreenJolly | "Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато) | 128 | |
| 21 | Spain | TVE | Son de Sol | "Brujería" | 18 |
| 22 | United Kingdom | BBC | Javine | "Touch My Fire" | 25 |
| 23 | France | France Télévisions | Ortal | "Chacun pense à soi" | 5 |
| 24 | Germany | ARD/NDR | Gracia | "Run & Hide" | 36 |
Awards[]
Marcel Bezençon Awards[]
- Artistic Award - "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou (Greece)
- Composers Award - "Zauvijek moja" by No Name (Serbia and Montenegro)
- Press Award - "Angel" by Chiara (Malta)
Barbara Dex Award[]
| Rank | Country | Artist(s) | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macedonia | Martin Vučić | "Make My Day" |
| 2 | Iceland | Selma | "If I Had Your Love" |
| 3 | Portugal | 2B | "Amar" |
| 4 | Norway | Wig Wam | "In My Dreams" |
| 5 | Belarus | Angelica Agurbash | "Love Me Tonight" |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Shows | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | RTSH | Leon Menkshi | all shows | Zhani Ciko |
| Andorra | ATV | Meri Picart, Josep Lluís Trabal | all shows | Ruth Gumbau |
| Austria | ORF 1 | Andi Knoll | all shows | Dodo Roscic |
| Belarus | Belarus-1 | Ales Kruglyakov | all shows | Elena Ponomareva |
| Belgium (French) | La Une, RTBF Sat | Jean-Pierre Hautier | all shows | Armelle Gysen |
| Jean-Louis Lahaye | semi-finals | |||
| Belgium (Dutch) | één | André Vermeulen, Anja Daems | all shows | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHT1 | Dejan Kukrić | all shows | Ana Mirjana Račanović |
| Bulgaria | BNT | Elena Rosberg, Georgi Kushvaliev | all shows | Evgeniya Atanasova |
| Croatia | HRT 2 | Duško Čurlić | semi-finals | Barbara Kolar |
| HRT 1 | finals | |||
| Cyprus | CyBC | Evi Papamichael | all shows | Melani Steliou |
| Denmark | DR1 | Mads Vangsø, Adam Duvå Hall | all shows | Gry Johansen |
| Estonia | ETV | Marko Reikop | all shows | Maarja-Liis Ilus |
| Raadio 2 | Mart Juur, Andrus Kivirähk | |||
| Finland (Finnish) | YLE TV2 | Jaana Pelkonen, Heikki Paasonen | all shows | Jari Sillanpää |
| YLE Radio Suomi | Sanna Kojo, Jorma Hietamäki | |||
| Finland (Swedish) | YLE FST, YLE Radio Vega | Thomas Lundin, Hans Johansson | ||
| France | France 4 | Peggy Olmi | semi-finals | Marie Myriam |
| France 3 | Julien Lepers, Guy Carlier | finals | ||
| Germany | NDR Fernsehen | Peter Urban | semi-finals | Thomas Hermanns |
| Das Erste | finals | |||
| Greece | NET | Alexandra Pascalidou | all shows | Alexis Kostalas |
| Hungary | m1 | Zsuzsa Demcsák, András Fáber, Dávid Szántó | all shows | Zsuzsa Demcsák |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið, Rás 2 | Gísli Marteinn Baldursson | all shows | Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir |
| Ireland | RTÉ Two | Marty Whelan | semi-finals | Dana |
| RTÉ One | finals | |||
| Israel | IBA | No commentator | all shows | Dana Herman |
| Latvia | LTV1 | Kārlis Streips | all shows | Marija Naumova |
| Lithuania | LRT | Darius Užkuraitis | Unknown | Rolandas Vilkončius |
| Macedonia | MTV 1 | Unknown | all shows | Karolina Gočeva |
| Malta | TVM | Eileen Montesin | all shows | Valerie Vella |
| Moldova | Moldova 1, Radio Moldova | Vitalie Rotaru | all shows | Elena Camerzan |
| Monaco | TMC Monte-Carlo | Bernard Montiel, Genie Godula | all shows | Anne Allegrini |
| Netherlands | Nederland 2 | Willem van Beusekom, Cornald Maas | all shows | Nancy Coolen |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | |||
| Norway | NRK1 | Jostein Pedersen | all shows | Ingvild Helljesen |
| NRK P1 | Unknown | finals | ||
| Poland | TVP1 | Artur Orzech | all shows | Maciej Orłoś |
| Portugal | RTP1 | Eládio Clímaco | all shows | Isabel Angelino |
| Romania | TVR1 | Unknown | all shows | Berti Barbera |
| Russia | Channel One | Yuriy Aksyuta, Yelena Batinova | all shows | Yana Churikova |
| Serbia and Montenegro | RTS1, RTS Sat | Duška Vučinić-Lučić | all shows | Nina Radulović |
| TVCG 2, TVCG Sat | Dražen Bauković, Tamara Ivanković | |||
| Slovenia | SLO 2 | Mojca Mavec | semi-finals | Katarina Čas |
| SLO 1 | finals | |||
| Radio Val 202 | Jernej Vene | all shows | ||
| Spain | La 2 | Beatriz Pécker, Ainhoa Arbizu, Carlos Cerezo | semi-finals | Ainhoa Arbizu |
| La Primera | Beatriz Pécker | finals | ||
| Sweden | SVT1 | Pekka Heino | all shows | Annika Jankell |
| SR P4 | Björn Kjellman, Carolina Norén | |||
| Switzerland (German) | SF zwei | Sandra Studer | semi-finals | Cécile Bähler |
| SF 1 | finals | |||
| Switzerland (French) | TSR 2 | Jean-Marc Richard, Marie-Thérèse Porchet | semi-finals | |
| TSR 1 | finals | |||
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI 2 | Daniela Tami, Claudio Lazzarino | semi-finals | |
| TSI 1 | finals | |||
| Turkey | TRT 1 | Unknown | all shows | Meltem Ersan Yazgan |
| Ukraine | Pershyi Natsionalnyi | Yaroslav Chornenkyi | all shows | Maria Orlova |
| Ukrainian Radio | Galyna Babiy | |||
| United Kingdom | BBC Three | Paddy O'Connell | semi-finals | Cheryl Baker |
| BBC One, BBC Prime | Terry Wogan | finals | ||
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | AMPTV | Unknown | Unknown |
| Australia | SBS TV | Paddy O'Connell | semi-finals |
| Terry Wogan | finals | ||
| Kosovo | RTK | Unknown | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - SBS TV broadcast the semi-finals deferred on 20 May 2005 and the final deferred on 22 May 2005 at 19:30 AEST (09:30 UTC).
- France - France 3 aired a delayed repeat broadcast of the semi-finals on 21 May at 01:20 CEST (20 May, 23:20 UTC).