ESC 2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Confluence of Sound
Dates
Semi-final 1	20 May 2008 (2008-05-20)
Semi-final 2	22 May 2008 (2008-05-22)
Final	24 May 2008 (2008-05-24)
Host
Venue	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia
Presenter(s)	Jovana Janković Željko Joksimović
Directed by	Sven Stojanović
Executive supervisor
Executive producer	Sandra Šuša
Host broadcaster	Radio Television of Serbia (RTS)
Opening act	Semi-final 1: Video killed a radio star performance Semi-final 2: Serbia for beginners accompanied by Aleksandar Josipović as a Master of Ceremonies Final: Marija Šerifović performing "Molitva" (remix) and "Tell Me Why"
Interval act	Semi-final 1: Slobodan Trkulja, Metropole Orkest, Balkanopolis, Novak Djokovic Semi-final 2: National Theatre in Belgrade performance,Lys Assia Final: Goran Bregović performance, Vlade Divac
Participants
Number of entries	43
Debuting countries	Azerbaijan  San Marino
Returning countries	None
Withdrawing countries	Austria
Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2008
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Nul points	None
Winning song	Russia "Believe"
← 2007 Eurovision Song Contest 2009 →

Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released	12 May 2008
Genre	Pop
Length	62:49 (CD 1) 66:10 (CD 2)
Label	EMI, CMC
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Helsinki 2007 (2007)Eurovision Song Contest: Helsinki 20072007 Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008 (2008) Eurovision Song Contest: Moscow 2009 (2009)Eurovision Song Contest: Moscow 20092009

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following Marija Šerifović's win at the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland with the song "Molitva". This year was the first time there were three contests; two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the traditional grand final which was held on 24 May 2008. The shows were hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović at the Belgrade Arena which had a total capacity of 25,000 seats. The host broadcaster was RTS.

After a total of 272 points, Dima Bilan representing Russia (for the second time) was declared the winner, with the song "Believe" written by American Jim Beanz and Bilan himself. So far this has been the only time Russia has won the contest. Russia came third in the semi-final, making it the winner with the worst semi-final result.

Ukraine were runners up for the second year running, with 3rd place going to Greece, 4th to Armenia seeing their best result so far and 5th to Norway.

2008 also saw, for the first time ever, Eurovision.tv streaming national finals live on ESCTV with broadcasters' permission.

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Wikipedia