• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 21 May 2005 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Palace of Sports  (Палац Спорту, Palats Sportu; Київський палац спорту (КПС)), Kyiv, 🇺🇦 Ukraine 
• Presenter (s): Maria “Masha” Efrosinina & DJ Pavlo “Pasha” Shylko
• Musical Director: —
• Director: Sven Stojanović
• Executive Producer: Pavlo Grytsak
• Executive Supervisor: Svante Stockselius
• Multicamera Director: Sven Stojanović
• Host broadcaster: National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
• Motto: “Awakening” (Пробудження)
• Opening Act: Ruslana performing a medley of “Wild Dances” and “Heart on Fire”
• Interval Act: Kyiv Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing “The Same Star”
• Participants – Number of entries: 39: 24 Final [🇬🇧 United Kindom (44ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (41ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (42ª), 🇫🇷 France (45ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (17ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (26ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (45ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (8ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (24ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (10ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (23ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (3ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (2ª), Serbia and Montenegro (2ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª)]; 25 Semi-Final [🇫🇮 Finland (36ª), Belarus (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª),  Andorra (2ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (36ª), Monaco (21ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (6ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª),  🇸🇮 Slovenia (10ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (10ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (43ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (41ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (44ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (18ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (36ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (10ª)]
• Debuting countries: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª),  Lebanon (1ª) 
• Return: 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª)
• Non-returning countries: —
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “My number one” – Helena Paparizou  (Έλενα Παπαρίζου) – 🇬🇷 Greece (1ª)

About/Overview. The 50th Eurovision Song Contest took place on 21st May 2005 in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. 24 countries participated in the Grand Final.

Many happy returns. The 2005 contest was seen by many as an open competition with fans and pundits divided over which country would win.  The 2005 contest saw many previous participants return to the stage. Helena Paparizou, who represented Greece as part of the group Antique, returned to the contest with the song “My Number One”. Chiara, who finished third for Malta in 1998, returned to the contest as did Constantinos Christoforou who represented Cyprus in 1996 and in 2002 as part of the group One. Annabel Conde, who represented Spain in 1995 was a backing singer for Andorra and Selma who finished second for Iceland in 1999, failed to qualify from the Semi-Final with her song “If I Had Your Love”.

About the winner. After an unpredictable start to the voting procedure, it soon became clear that Greece, represented by Helena Paparizou with the song “My Number One”, would win the contest. Malta’s Chiara finished one place higher than her previous appearance finishing in second place. The Romanian entry, “Let Me Try” by Luminita Anghel & Sistem, came third after winning the Semi-Final. 

Facts and Figures. The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. A gala celebrating this milestone was held later in 2005 in Copenhagen. The event, known as ‘Congratulations’, saw ABBA’s “Waterloo” crowned the most popular winner of all time; The Swiss entry “Cool Vibes” was performed by popular Estonian girl group Vanilla Ninja. The entry was composed by David Brandes who was also responsible for the German entry in 2005, “Run And Hide”; The slogan for 2005 was ‘Awakening’, which reflected the political developments in the country at the time.

Final:

o/r	Country	participant(s)	SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE	Points	rank
01	🇭🇺 Hungary MTV	NOX	Forogj, világ! (Spin, world!) Hungarian	097	12
02	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Javine	Touch My Fire English	018	22
03	🇲🇹 Malta PBS	Chiara (Chiara Siracusa)	Angel (Anġlu) English	192	02
04	🇷🇴 Romania TVR	Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem)	Let Me Try (Lasă-mă să încerc) English	158	03
05	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Wig Wam	In My Dreams English	125	09
136	🇹🇷 Turkey TRT	Gülseren & Shaman	Rimi rimi ley Turkish	092	13
07	🇲🇩 Moldova TRM	Zdob şi Zdub	Boonika bate doba (Boonika bate toba, Grandmamma beats the drum) English, Romanian	148	06
08	🇦🇱 Albania RTSH	Ledina Çelo	Tomorrow I Go (Nesër shkoj, Tomorrow I will leave) English	053	16
09	🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC	Constantinos Christoforou (Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου)	Ela Ela [Ela Ela (Come Baby, Έλα έλα)] English	046	18
10	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Son de sol	Brujería (Witchcraft) Spanish	28	10
11	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Shiri Maimon (שירי מימון)	Hasheket shenish’ar  (השקט שנשאר, The silence that remains) Hebrew, English	154	04
12	Serbia and Montenegro RTS	No Name (Но Нејм, Bezimeni, Безимени)	Zauvijek moja (Заувијек моја, Forever mine) Montenegrin	137	07
13	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Jakob Sveistrup	Talking To You (Tænder på dig, Turned on by you) English	125	09
14	🇸🇪 Sweden SVT	Martin Stenmarck	Las Vegas English	030	19
17	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV	Martin (Martin Vučić, Мартин Вучиќ, Мартин Вучић)	Make My Day (Ти си сон) English	052	17
16	🇺🇦 Ukraine NTU	GreenJolly (Ґринджоли, Gryndzholy)	Razom nas bahato (Разом нас багато; Together we are many; Razom nas bahato, nas ne podolaty; Разом нас багато, нас не подолати) Ukrainian, English[a]	030	19
17	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Gracia	Run & Hide English	004	24
18	🇭🇷 Croatia HRT	Boris Novković feat. Lado Members (Борис Новковић & Ладо)	Vukovi umiru sami (Вукови умиру сами, Wolves die alone) Croatian	115	11
19	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Helena Paparizou (Elena Paparizou, Έλενα Παπαρίζου)	My Number One (Το νούμερο ένα μου) English	230	01
20	🇷🇺 Russia C1R	Natalia Podolskaya (Natalla Padolskaja, Натальля Падольская, Наталья Подольская)	Nobody Hurt No One (Хватит причинять друг другу боль) English	057	15
21	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina PBSBIH	Feminnem (Феминем)	Call Me (Zovi, Зови) English	079	14
22	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Vanilla Ninja	Cool Vibes English	128	08
23	🇱🇻 Latvia LTV	Walter & Kazha (Valters un Kaža)	The War Is Not Over (Karš nav beidzies) English	153	05
24	🇫🇷 France France 3	Ortal (Ortal Malka)	Chacun pense à soi (Everyone thinks of themselves) French	011	23

• • Dates – Semi-Final: Thursday, 19 May, 2005, 21:00 CEST
  • Host – Venue & Location: Palace of Sports  (Палац Спорту, Palats Sportu; Київський палац спорту (КПС)), Kyiv, 🇺🇦 Ukraine
  • Presenter (s): Maria “Masha” Efrosinina & DJ Pavlo “Pasha” Shylko
  • Musical Director: —
  • Director: Sven Stojanović
  • Executive Producer: Pavlo Grytsak
  • Executive Supervisor: Svante Stockselius
  • Multicamera Director: Sven Stojanović
  • Host broadcaster: National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
  • Motto: “Awakening” (Пробудження)
  • Opening Act: Ruslana performing a medley of “Wild Dances” and “Heart on Fire”
  • Interval Act: Kyiv Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing “The Same Star”
  • Participants – Number of entries: 39: 24 Final [🇬🇧 United Kindom (44ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (41ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (42ª), 🇫🇷 France (45ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (17ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (26ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (45ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (8ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (24ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (10ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (23ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (3ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (2ª), Serbia and Montenegro (2ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª)]; 25 Semi-Final [🇫🇮 Finland (36ª), Belarus (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª),  Andorra (2ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (36ª), Monaco (21ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (6ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª),  🇸🇮 Slovenia (10ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (10ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (43ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (41ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (44ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (18ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (36ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (10ª)]
  • Debuting countries: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª),  Lebanon (1ª) 
  • Return: 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª)
  • Non-returning countries: —
  • Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
  • Nil Points: —
  • Winning song: “Let Me Try” – Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem) – 🇷🇴 Romania (1ª)

About/Overview. The 50th Eurovision Song Contest took place on 21st May 2005 in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. 24 countries participated in the Grand Final.

Many happy returns. The 2005 contest was seen by many as an open competition with fans and pundits divided over which country would win.  The 2005 contest saw many previous participants return to the stage. Helena Paparizou, who represented Greece as part of the group Antique, returned to the contest with the song “My Number One”. Chiara, who finished third for Malta in 1998, returned to the contest as did Constantinos Christoforou who represented Cyprus in 1996 and in 2002 as part of the group One. Annabel Conde, who represented Spain in 1995 was a backing singer for Andorra and Selma who finished second for Iceland in 1999, failed to qualify from the Semi-Final with her song “If I Had Your Love”.

About the winner. After an unpredictable start to the voting procedure, it soon became clear that Greece, represented by Helena Paparizou with the song “My Number One”, would win the contest. Malta’s Chiara finished one place higher than her previous appearance finishing in second place. The Romanian entry, “Let Me Try” by Luminita Anghel & Sistem, came third after winning the Semi-Final. 

Facts and Figures. The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. A gala celebrating this milestone was held later in 2005 in Copenhagen. The event, known as ‘Congratulations’, saw ABBA’s “Waterloo” crowned the most popular winner of all time; The Swiss entry “Cool Vibes” was performed by popular Estonian girl group Vanilla Ninja. The entry was composed by David Brandes who was also responsible for the German entry in 2005, “Run And Hide”; The slogan for 2005 was ‘Awakening’, which reflected the political developments in the country at the time.

Semi-Final: [Q] – Qualifiers

o/r	country	participant(s)	SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE	Points	rank
01	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Global.Kryner	Y así (Like that, Und so) English, Spanish	030	21
02	🇱🇹 Lithuania LRT	Laura and The Lovers	Little By Little (Po truputį) English	017	25
03	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	2B	Amar (To love) Portuguese, English	051	17
04	🇲🇩 Moldova TRM	Zdob şi Zdub	Boonika bate doba (Boonika bate toba, Grandmamma beats the drum)  Enlish, Romanian [Q]	207	02
05	🇱🇻 Latvia LTV	Walter and Kazha (Valters un Kaža)	The War Is Not Over (Karš nav beidzies) English [Q]	085	10
06	Monaco TMC	Lise Darly	Tout de moi (All of me) French	022	24
07	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Shiri Maimon (שירי מימון)	Hasheket shenish’ar (השקט שנשאר, The silence that remains) Hebrew, English [Q]	158	07
08	Belarus BTRC	Angelica Agurbash  (Анжелика Ялиньская, Anzhelika Yalin’skaya; Анжаліка Ялінская, Anzhalika Jalinskaja)	Love Me Tonight (Кахай мяне сёння вечарам) English	067	13
09	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Glennis Grace	My Impossible Dream English	053	14
10	🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV	Selma (Selma Björnsdóttir)	If I Had Your Love English	052	16
11	🇧🇪 Belgium RTBF	Nuno Resende	Le grand soir (The big night) English	029	22
12	🇪🇪 Estonia ERR	Suntribe	Let’s Get Loud English	031	320
13	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Wig Wam	In My Dreams English [Q]	164	06
14	🇷🇴 Romania TVR	Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem)	Let Me Try (Lasă-mă să încerc) English [Q]	235	01
15	🇭🇺 Hungary MTV	NOX	Forogj, világ! (Spin, world!) Hungarian [Q]	167	05
16	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Geir Rönning	Why? (Miksi?) English	050	18
17	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV	Martin (Martin Vučić, Мартин Вучиќ, Мартин Вучић)	Make My Day (Ти си сон) English [Q]	097	09
18	Andorra RTVA	Marian van de Wal	La mirada interior (The inner glance) Catalan	027	23
19	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Vanilla Ninja	Cool Vibes English [Q]	114	08
20	🇭🇷 Croatia HRT	Boris Novković feat. Lado Members (Борис Новковић & Ладо)	Vukovi umiru sami (Вукови умиру сами, Wolves die alone) Croatian [Q]	169	04
21	🇧🇬 Bulgaria BNT	Kaffe (Каффе)	Lorraine English	049	19
22	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Donna and Joe	Love? English	053	14
12	🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO	Omar Naber (Омар Набер)	Stop Slovene	069	12
3	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Jakob Sveistrup	Talking To You (Tænder på dig, Turned on by you) English [Q]	185	03
11	🇵🇱 Poland TVP	Ivan and Delfin	Czarna dziewczyna (Black-haired girl / Black girl) Polish, Russian	081	11

Missed participation

• Belarus: “Boys and Girls” (English) – Angelica Agurbash (Анжалікі Агурбаш). “Boys and Girls” was intended to be the Belarusian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, to be performed in English by Angelica Agurbash. As it was not performed, the song enters a very exclusive group of only three of four songs to be announced as an entry before not being performed. The song is an emotional ballad, with the lyrics written as a plea to the children of the world, reminding them that they are the future. Due in part to the unfashionable style of the song but also to its subject matter (the song is based around the Beslan school hostage crisis, which is unusual in English language songs), it did not attract a favourable reception prior to the Contest. Thus, Agurbash chose to perform the up-tempo dance number “Love Me Tonight” instead. Ironically, the Finnish entry at the 2005 Contest (“Why?” by Geir Rönning) was themed around the same events, although it did not qualify from the semi-final. 

•  Lebanon: “Quand Tout S’enfuit” (French) – Aline Lahoud (الين لحود). Lebanon has never participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. The country’s broadcasting organization, Télé Liban, was set to make the country’s debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song “Quand tout s’enfuit” performed by Aline Lahoud, but was forced to withdraw due to Lebanon’s laws banning the broadcast of Israeli content.

Participation map

Participating countries Did not qualify from the semi final  Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005

ESC 2005 Scoreboard Grand Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Finale:

ESC 2005 Scoreboard Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Semi-Finale:

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.

1.Location.  Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper. The Palace of Sports, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was confirmed by officials as the host venue in September 2004. However, in order to host the contest, the facilities had been brought up to the standard required by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

At the end of December 2004, work began on the renovation of the hall, for which approximately 4 million francs were allocated. Renovation works were to be finished by 20 April, however, they were completed at the beginning of May. The arena could accommodate over 5,000 seated spectators. Additionally 2,000 press delegates were catered for.

Hotel rooms were scarce as the contest organisers asked the Ukrainian government to put a block on bookings they did not control themselves through official delegation allocations or tour packages: this led to many people’s hotel bookings being cancelled.

Organizers hoped that by hosting Eurovision, it would boost Ukraine’s image abroad and increase tourism, while the country’s new government hoped that it would also give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership.

2.Format. 

2.1.Visual design. The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the country’s flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbul’s ‘Under The Same Sky’, the slogan for the 2005 show was ‘Awakening’, which symbolised the awakening of the country and city ready to present itself to Europe. The postcards (short clips shown between performances) for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country.

This was the first edition to be broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format.

2.2.Presenters. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv were television presenterMaria “Masha” Efrosinina and DJPavlo “Pasha” Shylko. Previous winnerRuslana returned to the stage in Kyiv to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the ‘green room’. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko.

2.3.Publicity. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, which contains heart-shaped pins with the flags of all thirty-nine participating countries. The EBU also commissioned a book “The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History” by British/American author John Kennedy O’Connor to celebrate the contest’s fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13 (Serbia and Montenegro, Denmark). The book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.

During the semi final, there were a few sound faults, most notably during the Norwegian song, shortly after the intro and also during the Irish song. These were not fixed for the DVD release.

2.4.Incidents. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country’s pop charts with mass purchases of her single. 

Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, and said she would go to the finals in Kyiv despite complaints from other German singers. Bulgaria’s debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song “Lorraine” by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism. The song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, so TV viewers were unable to watch their national selection from the very beginning. There was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry: TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song “Rimi Rimi Ley” by Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to an eventual victory for Martin Vučić. The Ukrainian song had to be changed because it would bring a political message to the people, and EBU stated that no politics could be involved in the contest. The entry for Serbia and Montenegro was also overshadowed by a scandal and an accusation of plagiarism. Portugal’s entry, “Amar”, had very poor sound quality, with the female singer’s microphone failing many times on stage.

It is also notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was mainly due to the extremely long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score. Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated “How many more [countries] have we got to go? What time is it?”. Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where only the top 3 scores were read out (the rest appeared on the scoreboard automatically).

Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. She opened the contest, and did do a few brief interviews in the green room at a few different stages in the event.

In the semifinal, the first qualifier was Hungary as shown on the card, but instead of showing Hungary’s flag, it showed the Bulgarian flag accidentally.

3.Participating countries. Thirty-nine countries participated in the 2005 contest. Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, last competing in 1998. Bulgaria and Moldova competed in the contest for the first time.

3.1.Returning artists.

Lead artists

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Constantinos Christoforou	🇨🇾 Cyprus	1996, 2002 (as member of One)
Helena Paparizou	🇬🇷 Greece	2001 (as member of Antique)
Selma	🇮🇸 Iceland	1999
Chiara	🇲🇹 Malta	1998

Backing performers

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Anabel Conde	Andorra	1995 (for 🇪🇸 Spain)

3.2.Semi-final. The semi-final was held on 19 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET). 25 countries performed but all 39 participants voted.

3.3.Final. The finalists were: the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom; the top 10 countries from the 2004 final (other than the automatic qualifiers); the top 10 countries from the 2005 semi-final.

The final was held on 21 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Greece.

3.4.Participants and results.

3.5.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 2005:

• National Selections in 2005:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇦🇱 Albania	Festivali i Këngës #43	Ledina Çelo – “Tomorrow I Go” / “Nesër shkoj”
Andorra	(Andorran Selection 2005)	Marian van de Wal – “La mirada interior“
🇦🇹 Austria	Song.Null.Fünf	Global.Kryner – “Y así“
Belarus	(Belarusian Selection 2005)	Angelica Agurbash – “Love Me Tonight” / “Boys and Girls“
🇧🇪 Belgium	(Belgian Selection 2005)	Nuno Resende – “Le grand soir“
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	BH Eurosong 2005	Feminnem – “Call Me” / “Zovi”
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	EuroBGVision 2005	Kaffe – “Lorraine”
🇭🇷 Croatia	Dora 2005	Boris Novković feat. Lado members – “Vukovi umiru sami“
🇨🇾 Cyprus	(Cypriot Selection 2005) (song selection) [b]	Constantinos Christoforou – “Ela Ela”
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 2005	Jakob Sveistrup – “Talking to You” / “Tænder på dig”
🇪🇪 Estonia	Eurolaul 2005	Suntribe – “Let’s Get Loud”
🇫🇮 Finland	Euroviisut 2005	Geir Rönning – “Why?”
🇫🇷 France	Un candidat pour l’Eurovision	Ortal – “Chacun pense à soi“
🇩🇪 Germany	Germany 12 Points!	Gracia – “Run & Hide”
🇬🇷 Greece	Eurovision Party (song selection) [c]	Helena Paparizou – “My Number One”
🇭🇺 Hungary	Eurovíziós Dalfesztivál	NOX – “Forogj, világ!“
🇮🇪 Ireland	You’re A Star	Donna & Joseph McCaul / Donna and Joe – “Love?”
🇮🇱 Israel	Kdam Eurovision 2005	Shiri Maimon – “HaSheket SheNish’ar” (השקט שנשאר)
🇱🇻 Latvia	Eirodziesma 2005	Valters & Kaža / Walters and Kazha – “The War Is Not Over”
🇱🇹 Lithuania	Nacionalinė atranka į Euroviziją 2005	Laura & The Lovers – “Little by Little”
🇲🇹 Malta	Malta Song For Europe 2005	Chiara – “Angel”
🇲🇩 Moldova	O melodie pentru Europa 2005	Zdob şi Zdub – “Boonika bate toba” / “Boonika bate doba”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 2005	Glennis Grace – “My Impossible Dream”
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	Nacionalen Evrosong 2005	Martin Vučić – “Make My Day” / “Ti si son” (Ти си сон)
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 2005	Wig Wam – “In My Dreams”
🇷🇴 Romania	Selecția Națională 2005	Luminiţa Anghel & Sistem – “Let Me Try”
🇷🇺 Russia	Evrovidenie 2005	Natalia Podolskaya – “Nobody Hurt No One”
Serbia and Montenegro	Evropesma 2005	No Name – “Zauvijek moja” (Заувијек моја)
🇸🇮 Slovenia	EMA 2005	Omar Naber – “Stop”
🇪🇸 Spain	Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción	Son de Sol – “Brujería“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestivalen 2005	Martin Stenmarck – “Las Vegas”
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 2005	Gülseren – “Rimi Rimi Ley”
🇺🇦 Ukraine	(Ukrainian Selection 2005)	GreenJolly – “Razom nas bahato” (Разом нас багато)
🇬🇧 United Kindom	Making Your Mind Up 2005	Javine – “Touch My Fire”

• Internal Selections in 2005:

3.6.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results.

4.1.Semi-final. The EBU introduced an undisclosed threshold number of televotes that would have to be registered in each voting country in order to make that country’s votes valid. If that number was not reached, the country’s backup jury would vote instead. This affected Albania, Andorra and Monaco in the semi-final, and Andorra, Moldova and Monaco in the final.

Semi-final.