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. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and a final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by American television personality Maria Menounos and Greek former contestant Sakis Rouvas.
Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participation in the contest. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, but 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 heavy metal-song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation, the longest time a country had competed without a win at that point. It was also the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, as well as 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.
Results[]
Semi-finals[]
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist(s) | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finland | YLE | Lordi | "Hard Rock Hallelujah" | 292 |
| 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHRT | Hari Mata Hari | "Lejla" | 267 |
| 3 | Russia | Channel One | Dima Bilan | "Never Let You Go" | 217 |
| 4 | Sweden | SVT | Carola | "Invincible" | 214 |
| 5 | Lithuania | LRT | LT United | "We Are the Winners" | 163 |
| 6 | Armenia | AMPTV | André | "Without Your Love" | 150 |
| 7 | Ukraine | NTU | Tina Karol | "Show Me Your Love" | 146 |
| 8 | Turkey | TRT | Sibel Tüzün | "Süper Star" | 91 |
| 9 | Ireland | RTÉ | Brian Kennedy | "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" | 79 |
| 10 | Macedonia | MRT | Elena Risteka | "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) | 76 |
| 11 | Poland | TVP | Ich Troje (with uncredited live vocals by O-Jay) |
"Follow My Heart" | 70 |
| 12 | Belgium | VRT | Kate Ryan | "Je t'adore" | 69 |
| 13 | Iceland | RÚV | Silvía Night | "Congratulations" | 62 |
| 14 | Albania | RTSH | Luiz Ejili | "Zjarr e ftohtë" | 58 |
| 15 | Cyprus | CyBC | Annet Artani | "Why Angels Cry" | 57 |
| 16 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Anžej Dežan | "Mr Nobody" | 49 |
| 17 | Bulgaria | BNT | Mariana Popova | "Let Me Cry" | 36 |
| 18 | Estonia | ETV | Sandra | "Through My Window" | 28 |
| 19 | Portugal | RTP | Nonstop | "Coisas de nada" | 26 |
| 20 | Netherlands | NOS | Treble | "Amambanda" | 22 |
| 21 | Monaco | TMC | Séverine Ferrer | "La Coco-Dance" | 14 |
| 22 | Belarus | BTRC | Polina Smolova | "Mum" | 10 |
| 23 | Andorra | RTVA | Jenny | "Sense tu" | 8 |
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 2005 final (other than the Big 4) which are rewarded with automatic spots in the finals.
Due to the withdrawal of automatic qualifier Serbia and Montenegro (which finished seventh in the 2005 final), the automatic qualification spot was given to Croatia (which finished eleventh in the 2005 final).
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Finland | YLE | Lordi | "Hard Rock Hallelujah" | 292 |
| 02 | Russia | Channel One | Dima Bilan | "Never Let You Go" | 248 |
| 03 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHRT | Hari Mata Hari | "Lejla" | 229 |
| 04 | Romania | TVR | Mihai Trăistariu | "Tornerò" | 172 |
| 05 | Sweden | SVT | Carola | "Invincible" | 170 |
| 06 | Lithuania | LRT | LT United | "We Are the Winners" | 162 |
| 07 | Ukraine | NTU | Tina Karol | "Show Me Your Love" | 145 |
| 08 | Armenia | AMPTV | André | "Without Your Love" | 129 |
| 09 | Greece | ERT | Anna Vissi | "Everything" | 128 |
| 10 | Ireland | RTÉ | Brian Kennedy | "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" | 93 |
| 11 | Turkey | TRT | Sibel Tüzün | "Süper Star" | 91 |
| 12 | Macedonia | MRT | Elena Risteka | "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) | 56 |
| Croatia | HRT | Severina | "Moja štikla" | 56 | |
| 14 | Norway | NRK | Christine Guldbrandsen | "Alvedansen" | 36 |
| Germany | ARD/NDR | Texas Lightning | "No No Never" | 36 | |
| 16 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | six4one | "If We All Give a Little" | 30 |
| Latvia | LTV | Vocal Group Cosmos | "I Hear Your Heart" | 30 | |
| 18 | Denmark | DR | Sidsel Ben Semanne | "Twist of Love" | 26 |
| 19 | United Kingdom | BBC | Daz Sampson | "Teenage Life" | 25 |
| 20 | Moldova | TRM | Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R | "Loca" | 22 |
| 21 | Spain | TVE | Las Ketchup | "Bloody Mary" | 18 |
| 22 | France | France Télévisions | Virginie Pouchain | "Il était temps" | 5 |
| 23 | Israel | IBA | Eddie Butler | "Together We Are One" | 4 |
| 24 | Malta | PBS | Fabrizio Faniello | "I Do" | 1 |
Awards[]
Marcel Bezençon Awards[]
- Artistic Award - "Invincible" by Carola (Sweden)
- Composers Award - "Lejla" by Hari Mata Hari (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Press Award - "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi (Finland)
Barbara Dex Award[]
| Rank | Country | Artist(s) | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | Nonstop | "Coisas de nada" |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Shows | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | RTSH | Leon Menkshi | all shows | Leon Menkshi |
| Andorra | ATV | Meri Picart, Josep Lluís Trabal | all shows | Xavi Palma |
| Armenia | AMPTV | Gohar Gasparyan | all shows | Gohar Gasparyan |
| Belarus | BTRC | Denis Kurian, Alexander Tikhanovich | all shows | Corrianna |
| Belgium (Dutch) | één | André Vermeulen, Bart Peeters | all shows | Yasmine |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | |||
| Belgium (French) | La Une, RTBF Sat | Jean-Pierre Hautier | ||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHT1 | Dejan Kukrić | all shows | Vesna Andree Zaimović |
| Bulgaria | BNT | Elena Rosberg, Georgi Kushvaliev | all shows | Dragomir Simeonov |
| Croatia | HRT 2 | Duško Čurlić | semi-finals | Mila Horvat |
| HRT 1 | finals | |||
| Cyprus | CyBC | Evi Papamichael | all shows | Constantinos Christoforou |
| Denmark | DR1 | Mads Vangsø, Adam Duvå Hall | all shows | Jørgen de Mylius |
| Estonia | ETV | Marko Reikop | all shows | Evelin Samuel |
| Raadio 2 | Mart Juur, Andrus Kivirähk | |||
| Finland (Finnish) | YLE TV2 | Heikki Paasonen, Ellen Jokikunnas, Asko Murtomäki | all shows | Nina Tapio |
| YLE Radio Suomi | Sanna Kojo | |||
| Finland (Swedish) | YLE FST, YLE Radio Vega | Thomas Lundin | ||
| France | France 4 | Peggy Olmi, Éric Jean-Jean | semi-finals | Sophie Jovillard |
| France 3 | Michel Drucker, Claudy Siar | finals | ||
| Germany | NDR Fernsehen | Peter Urban | semi-finals | Thomas Hermanns |
| Das Erste | finals | |||
| Greece | NET | Zeta Makripoulia, Giorgos Kapoutzidis | all shows | Alexis Kostalas |
| Second Programme | Maria Kozakou | |||
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið | Sigmar Guðmundsson | all shows | Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir |
| Rás 1 | semi-finals | |||
| Rás 2 | finals | |||
| Ireland | RTÉ Two | Marty Whelan | semi-finals | Eimear Quinn |
| RTÉ One | finals | |||
| Israel | IBA | No commentator | all shows | Dana Herman |
| Latvia | LTV1 | Kārlis Streips | all shows | Mārtiņš Freimanis |
| Lithuania | LRT | Darius Užkuraitis | Unknown | Lavija Šurnaitė |
| Macedonia | MTV 1 | Karolina Petkovska | all shows | Martin Vučić |
| Malta | TVM | Eileen Montesin | all shows | Moira Delia |
| Moldova | Moldova 1, Radio Moldova | Vitalie Rotaru | all shows | Svetlana Cocoş |
| Monaco | TMC Monte-Carlo | Bernard Montiel, Églantine Éméyé | all shows | Églantine Éméyé |
| Netherlands | Nederland 2 | Cornald Maas | semi-finals | Paul de Leeuw |
| Cornald Maas, Paul de Leeuw | finals | |||
| Radio 2 | Unknown | all shows | ||
| Norway | NRK1 | Jostein Pedersen | all shows | Ingvild Helljesen |
| NRK P1 | Unknown | finals | ||
| Poland | TVP1, TVP Polonia | Artur Orzech | all shows | Maciej Orłoś |
| Portugal | RTP1 | Eládio Clímaco | all shows | Cristina Alves |
| Romania | TVR1 | Unknown | all shows | Andreea Marin Bănică |
| Russia | Channel One | Yuriy Aksyuta, Tatiana Godunova | all shows | Yana Churikova |
| Slovenia | SLO 2 | Mojca Mavec | semi-finals | Peter Poles |
| SLO 1 | finals | |||
| Spain | La 2, TVE Internacional | Beatriz Pécker | semi-finals | Sonia Ferrer |
| La Primera, TVE Internacional | finals | |||
| Sweden | SVT1 | Kristian Luuk, Josef Sterzenbach | all shows | Jovan Radomir |
| Sveriges Radio P3 | Carolina Norén, Björn Kjellman | Unknown | ||
| Switzerland (German) | SF zwei | Sandra Studer | semi-finals | Jubaira Bachmann |
| SF 1 | finals | |||
| Switzerland (French) | TSR 2 | Jean-Marc Richard, Alain Morisod | semi-finals | |
| TSR 1 | finals | |||
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI 2 | Sandy Altermatt, Claudio Lazzarino | semi-finals | |
| TSI 1 | finals | |||
| Turkey | TRT 1 | Bülend Özveren | all shows | Meltem Ersan Yazgan |
| Ukraine | Pershyi Natsionalnyi | Pavlo Shylko | all shows | Igor Posypayko |
| United Kingdom | BBC Three | Paddy O'Connell | semi-finals | Fearne Cotton |
| BBC One, BBC Prime | Terry Wogan | finals | ||
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | SBS TV | Paddy O'Connell | semi-finals |
| Terry Wogan | finals | ||
| Austria | ORF 1 | Andi Knoll | finals |
| Azerbaijan | İTV | Unknown | Unknown |
| Czech Republic | ČT2 | Kateřina Kristelová | finals |
| Gibraltar | GBC TV | Unknown | finals |
| Serbia and Montenegro | RTS1, RTS Sat | Duška Vučinić-Lučić | all shows |
| TVCG 2, TVCG Sat | Dražen Bauković, Tamara Ivanković |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - SBS TV broadcast the semi-finals deferred on 19 May 2006 at 20:30 AEST (10:30 UTC), and the final deferred on 21 May 2006 at 19:30 AEST (09:30 UTC).
- Czech Republic - ČT2 broadcast the finals deferred in a shortened format on 29 April 2007 at 02:00 CEST (00:00 UTC).
- Serbia and Montenegro - Although Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest, it retained its voting rights and broadcast all shows, with Jovana Janković announcing the results of the Serbian and Montenegrin televote. However, only Serbia was allowed to vote, despite not being an independent country.