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2009 Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 logo.svg
Dates
Semi-final 1 12 May 2009 (2009-05-12)
Semi-final 2 14 May 2009 (2009-05-14)
Final 16 May 2009 (2009-05-16)
Host
Venue SC Olimpiyskiy, Moscow, Russia
Presenter(s)
Director Andrey Boltenko
Executive supervisor
Executive producer Yury Aksyuta
Host broadcaster Channel One (C1R)
Opening act
Interval act
Participants
Number of entries 42
Debuting countries None
Returning countries  Slovakia
Withdrawing countries
Vote
Voting system Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Nul points
Winning song
Eurovision Song Contest: Moscow 2009
ESC 2009 album cover.jpg
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released 11 May 2009
Genre Pop
Length
  • 62:19 (CD 1)
  • 62:32 (CD 2)
Label EMI / CMC
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008
(2008)
Eurovision Song Contest: Moscow 2009
(2009)
Eurovision Song Contest: Oslo 2010
(2010)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and was hosted by Russia after their win in 2008. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia.

The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak with his self-penned "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest and with a margin of 169 points over the second place which went to Iceland. Third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002.

After criticism of the voting system after the 2007 Contest, changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules.


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Wikipedia

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