3 months ago

Dates: Semi-final 1: 19 May 2015 - Semi-final 2: 21 May 2015 - Final: 23 May 2015
Host venue: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
Presenters: Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler, Arabella Kiesbauer, Conchita Wurst
Directed by Kurt Pongratz - Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
Executive producer : Edgar Böhm - Host broadcaster: Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the 2014 contest with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), the contest was held at the Hall D of the Wiener Stadthalle and consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 21 May, and a final on 23 May 2015. The three live shows were presented by Austrian television presenters Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer, while the previous edition's winner Conchita Wurst acted as the green room host.

Forty countries participated in the contest, with Australia making a guest appearance. Cyprus and Serbia returned, after their one-year absence, while the Czech Republic returned after their last participation in 2009. Meanwhile, Ukraine announced their non-participation due to financial and political crises related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The winner was Sweden with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw and written by Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb and Linnea Deb. This was the country's second win in three years, having also won in 2012. Sweden won the jury vote and had the highest combined points, but placed third in the televote behind Italy and Russia. Overall the latter two countries placed third and second respectively, and Belgium and Australia rounded out the top five. Further down the table, Montenegro achieved its best result since its independence, finishing thirteenth.

For the first time, the top four of the contest all scored 200 points or better. Russia's entry "A Million Voices" became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. Austria and Germany became the first countries since 2003 to score no points in the final, with Austria also becoming the first (and to date, only) host country to fail to score a point.

The EBU reported that over 197 million viewers worldwide watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million.

The city of Vienna introduced temporary new traffic signals for pedestrians on some streets, featuring same-sex couples holding hands or hugging. They were introduced as part of events connected to the theme of tolerance and inclusion in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest.

On 10 February 2015, the EBU announced that in honour of the 60th anniversary of Eurovision, it had invited Australia to participate in the final of the contest, represented by Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS had been a long-time broadcaster of the event, which has had a large following in Australia. The 2015 contest was the last time that the scoring system introduced in 1975 was used, before the format was modified the following year.

Semi-final 1:

16 countries took part in the first semi-final. Australia, Austria, France and Spain voted in this semi-final.

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1 Moldova Eduard Romanyuta "I Want Your Love" 41 11
2 Armenia Genealogy "Face the Shadow" 77 7
3 Belgium Loïc Nottet "Rhythm Inside" 149 2
4 Netherlands Trijntje Oosterhuis "Walk Along" 33 14
5 Finland Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät "Aina mun pitää" 13 16
6 Greece Maria Elena Kyriakou "One Last Breath" 81 6
7 Estonia Elina Born and Stig Rästa "Goodbye to Yesterday" 105 3
8 Macedonia Daniel Kajmakoski "Autumn Leaves" 28 15
9 Serbia Bojana Stamenov "Beauty Never Lies" 63 9
10 Hungary Boggie "Wars for Nothing" 67 8
11 Belarus Uzari and Maimuna "Time" 39 12
12 Russia Polina Gagarina "A Million Voices" 182 1
13 Denmark Anti Social Media "The Way You Are" 33 13
14 Albania Elhaida Dani "I'm Alive" 62 10
15 Romania Voltaj "De la capăt" 89 5
16 Georgia Nina Sublatti "Warrior" 98 4