Eurovision Song Contest 2015
The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 21 May and a final on 23 May 2015, held at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, and presented by Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler, Arabella Kiesbauer, and Conchita Wurst. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster ORF, which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst.
Broadcasters from forty countries participated in the contest, with making a guest appearance. and returned after a one-year absence, while the returned after its last participation in. Meanwhile, did not participate due to financial and political crises related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The winner was 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. Sweden won the jury vote and had the highest combined points, but placed third in the televote behind and. Overall the latter two countries placed third and second respectively, and and Australia rounded out the top five. Further down the table, achieved its best result since its independence, finishing thirteenth. For the first time, the top four of the contest all scored over 200 points, with Russia's entry "A Million Voices" also becoming the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. and became the first countries since to score no points in the final, with Austria also becoming the first host country to fail to score a point.
The EBU reported that over 197 million viewers watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million.
Location
Venue
The 2015 contest took place at Hall D of Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, following the country's win in the 2014 edition with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", performed by Conchita Wurst. Wiener Stadthalle hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament, along with numerous concerts and events throughout the year. Hall D has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees.Bidding phase
After Austria's victory in the contest, their delegation revealed the possibility of hosting the contest either in the capital city, Vienna, or in Salzburg. Vienna, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Lower Austria, Graz, Upper Austria, Burgenland, and Vorarlberg were all reportedly interested in hosting the contest; Salzburg pulled out of the bidding phase as the city was not able to meet the cost of the venue and promotion.Vienna, considered the front-runner, had two venues in the phase: Wiener Stadthalle and the trade fair centre, Messe Wien, with capacities of up to 16,000 and 30,000 attendees respectively. Also in the race were Stadthalle Graz and Schwarzl Freizeit Zentrum, both located in the second largest city of Austria, Graz. With a maximum capacity of 30,000, the Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt also joined the race; however, it would require the construction of a roof for the contest to be hosted there. Innsbruck also joined the race with Olympiahalle, which hosted ice hockey and figure skating at the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. A fifth city, Linz, joined the race with Brucknerhaus, although the venue would not be big enough for the contest. Being geographically close to Linz, Wels showed desire to host the event as well. Oberwart, with the Exhibition hall, and Vorarlberg, with the Vorarlberger Landestheater, were the latest cities to declare an interest.
On 29 May 2014, Austrian host public broadcaster ORF and the EBU released some requirements and details about the venue. ORF requested interested parties to respond by 13 June 2014.
- The venue must be available for at least 6 to 7 weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest.
- The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of, insulated for sound and light.
- The Green Room should be located in the arena or as near it as possible, with a capacity of 300.
- An additional room at least in area, to house 2 catering stands, a viewing room, make-up rooms, wardrobe, and booths for approximately 50 commentators.
- Separate offices to house the press centre, open between 11 and 24 May 2015, at least in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.
Key
Host venue
Shortlisted
| City | Venue | Notes |
| Graz | Stadthalle Graz ‡ | Hosted the 2010 European Men's Handball Championship. |
| Innsbruck | Olympiaworld ‡ | Hosted the figure skating and ice hockey events at both the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympic Games. |
| Klagenfurt | Wörthersee Stadion | Served as host for some matches of UEFA Euro 2008. |
| Oberwart | Messezentrum | |
| Vienna | - | - |
| Vienna | Schönbrunn Palace | |
| Vienna | Wiener Stadthalle | Hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament and many events throughout the year. |
| Vienna | Vienna International Airport, Parking C | |
| Vienna | Heldenplatz | |
| Vienna | New All-round Concert Hall in Neu Marx | |
| Vienna | Marx hall | |
| Vienna | Trabrennbahn Krieau | |
| Wels | Messe Wels |
Inclusive traffic lights
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.Traffic lights of the same – copyrighted – design of the kind "Ampelpärchen" followed before Christopher Street Days in June 2015 in Salzburg and Linz. In Salzburg the initiative SoHo and social democrate mayor Schaden promoted the change of the shape of the LED-lamps. The faceplates in Linz has been financed by sponsors driven by a Facebook-based initiative, but have been removed – without consent – by the new traffic minister of Linz of the party FPÖ in early December 2015.
Participants
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.On 23 December 2014, thirty-nine countries were initially announced to be participating in the 2015 contest. and returned after one-year absences, the returned after a five-year absence, while did not enter. was later announced to be making its debut as a guest participant. The deadline to apply for participation was 15 September 2014. Countries that applied had until 10 October 2014 to withdraw from participation without financial consequences.
Invitation of Australia
On 10 February 2015, the EBU announced that in honour of the 60th anniversary of the competition, it had invited its associate member Special Broadcasting Service to participate in the final of the contest representing. SBS had been a long-time broadcaster of the event, which has had a large following in Australia. The Australian entry was placed directly in the grand final. Although it was considered a one-off event, if it was to win, SBS would be allowed to co-host the 2016 contest with a full EBU member broadcaster of it choice in a city in the country of the latter, and would be able to participate again. The EBU considered the possibility of similarly inviting associate broadcasters from new countries to participate in future editions. Australia's participation brought the number of the finalists up to 27, the highest number of entries in a final in the contest's history.Returning artists
Inga Arshakyan, representing Armenia as part of Genealogy, represented, with her sister as part of Inga and Anush. Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini both had represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Perniola in, and Simoncini in. Amber, representing Malta, was a backing vocalist for. Uzari, representing Belarus, was a backing vocalist for. Elnur Hüseynov, had represented as part of the duo Elnur and Samir. Raay, representing Slovenia as part of the duo Maraaya, was a backing musical performer for. Hera Björk, who had represented, returned as a backing singer for Iceland. Nicolas Dorian, who had represented as part of Witloof Bay, returned as a backing singer for Belgium.Other countries
BHRT and BNT, the broadcasters for and, had both submitted a preliminary applications to participate in the 2015 contest, but ultimately withdrew them because of financial reasons. broadcaster NTU also opted out of the contest because of financial reasons and the ongoing armed conflict in the country.Active EBU member broadcasters in,,,,, and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Despite tweets by event supervisor Sietse Bakker about the possibility of the 's return in 2015, Turkish broadcaster TRT later confirmed that they had no plans in this regard.
Format
The competition consisted of two semi-finals and a final, a format which has been in use since. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final qualified to the final where they joined the host nation Austria, the five main sponsoring nations : France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and Australia which was invited this year to commemorate the contest's 60th anniversary. Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the juries' full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received one point. In the event of a televoting failure or jury failure, only one of the methods was used by each country.The 2015 contest was the last time that the scoring system introduced in was used, before the format was modified the following year.
Organising team formation
During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster ORF and the EBU in late May 2014, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. Edgar Böhm, who is the Head of Entertainment at ORF, was announced as the executive producer.Graphic design
On 31 July 2014, the EBU released a new and revamped version of the generic logo as a celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest's 60th anniversary. On 11 September, the slogan for the 2015 contest was revealed to be "Building Bridges". The graphic design of the contest was revealed by the EBU on 25 November. The theme art depicts a wave made up of spheres which symbolise diversity, the bridging of connections and people's experiences.The postcards of this year's contest was also based on the slogan "Building Bridges". Each postcard starts with a drive-by scene of the contestants' capital city, before showing every contestant receiving an invitation to Austria, where the contestants take part in a local activity. The postcards end with a picture of their activity plastered onto a billboard, placed in different locations across Vienna.
For this year's contest, all hashtags for the participating countries incorporated IOC country codes which were displayed onscreen alongside the main country names.
Presenters
Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer were the hosts of the 2015 contest; the all-female trio was the first in history to host the contest. The previous edition's winner Conchita Wurst was chosen as green room host.Semi-final allocation draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 26 January 2015 at the Vienna Rathaus and hosted by Andi Knoll and Kati Bellowitsch. The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists, were split into five pots, based on voting patterns from the previous ten years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and were as follows:| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
Opening and interval acts
The EBU ident's accompanying "Te Deum", which opened the broadcasts, was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra from the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace for the final. The overture featured violinist Lidia Baich, winner of Eurovision Young Musicians 1998, performing an excerpt of Austria's winning song "Merci, Chérie" in tribute to Udo Jürgens. Conchita Wurst, the Vienna Boys' Choir, multinational Suparar Children's Choir, rapper Left Boy, and the presenters then jointly performed the official anthem of the contest, "Building Bridges", accompanied by the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra under the conduction of Peter Pejtsik. The twenty-seven finalists later took to the stage during the flag parade via a walkway through the audience from the green room.The interval act was provided by percussionist Martin Grubinger and his band, the Percussive Planet Ensemble. The nine-minute performance, based on classical themes of major Austrian composers, included forty instrumentalists as well as the Grammy Award-winning Arnold Schoenberg Choir. Wurst later performed "You Are Unstoppable" and "Firestorm", both from her self-titled debut album.
Contest overview
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 19 May 2015 at 21:00 CEST. 16 countries took part in the first semi-final. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus,, and. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
| 1 | "I Want Your Love" | 41 | 11 | ||
| 2 | Genealogy | "Face the Shadow" | 77 | 7 | |
| 3 | "Rhythm Inside" | 149 | 2 | ||
| 4 | "Walk Along" | 33 | 14 | ||
| 5 | Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät | "Aina mun pitää" | 13 | 16 | |
| 6 | "One Last Breath" | 81 | 6 | ||
| 7 | and Stig Rästa | "Goodbye to Yesterday" | 105 | 3 | |
| 8 | "Autumn Leaves" | 28 | 15 | ||
| 9 | "Beauty Never Lies" | 63 | 9 | ||
| 10 | Boggie | "Wars for Nothing" | 67 | 8 | |
| 11 | Uzari and Maimuna | "Time" | 39 | 12 | |
| 12 | "A Million Voices" | 182 | 1 | ||
| 13 | Anti Social Media | "The Way You Are" | 33 | 13 | |
| 14 | "I'm Alive" | 62 | 10 | ||
| 15 | Voltaj | "De la capăt" | 89 | 5 | |
| 16 | "Warrior" | 98 | 4 |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 21 May 2015 at 21:00 CEST. 17 countries took part in this semi-final. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus,, and the. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
| 1 | and Vaidas Baumila | "This Time" | 67 | 7 | |
| 2 | "Playing with Numbers" | 35 | 12 | ||
| 3 | and Michele Perniola | "Chain of Lights" | 11 | 16 | |
| 4 | Knez | "Adio" | 57 | 9 | |
| 5 | Amber | "Warrior" | 43 | 11 | |
| 6 | Mørland and Debrah Scarlett | "A Monster Like Me" | 123 | 4 | |
| 7 | "Há um mar que nos separa" | 19 | 14 | ||
| 8 | and Václav Noid Bárta | "Hope Never Dies" | 33 | 13 | |
| 9 | "Golden Boy" | 151 | 3 | ||
| 10 | Aminata | "Love Injected" | 155 | 2 | |
| 11 | "Hour of the Wolf" | 53 | 10 | ||
| 12 | "Unbroken" | 14 | 15 | ||
| 13 | "Heroes" | 217 | 1 | ||
| 14 | "Time to Shine" | 4 | 17 | ||
| 15 | "One Thing I Should Have Done" | 87 | 6 | ||
| 16 | Maraaya | "Here for You" | 92 | 5 | |
| 17 | "In the Name of Love" | 57 | 8 |
Final
The final took place on 23 May 2015 at 21:00 CEST and was won by Sweden. The "Big Five", the host country, Austria, as well as special guest participant Australia, qualified directly for the final. From the two semi-finals on 19 and 21 May 2015, twenty countries qualified for the final. A total of 27 countries participated in the final, the highest number in any final of Eurovision ever, and all 40 participants voted.As in the previous two contests, the winner was announced as soon as it was mathematically impossible to catch up. In this case, the winner had been determined by the 36th vote out of the 40, which came from Cyprus.
Sweden won with 365 points, also winning the jury vote. Russia came second with 303 points, with Italy, Belgium, Australia, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Israel and Serbia completing the top ten. Poland, United Kingdom, France, Austria and Germany occupied the bottom five positions, of which the last two countries received no points.
| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
| 1 | Maraaya | "Here for You" | 39 | 14 | |
| 2 | "N'oubliez pas" | 4 | 25 | ||
| 3 | "Golden Boy" | 97 | 9 | ||
| 4 | and Stig Rästa | "Goodbye to Yesterday" | 106 | 7 | |
| 5 | Electro Velvet | "Still in Love with You" | 5 | 24 | |
| 6 | Genealogy | "Face the Shadow" | 34 | 16 | |
| 7 | and Vaidas Baumila | "This Time" | 30 | 18 | |
| 8 | "Beauty Never Lies" | 53 | 10 | ||
| 9 | Mørland and Debrah Scarlett | "A Monster Like Me" | 102 | 8 | |
| 10 | "Heroes" | 365 | 1 | ||
| 11 | "One Thing I Should Have Done" | 11 | 22 | ||
| 12 | "Tonight Again" | 196 | 5 | ||
| 13 | "Rhythm Inside" | 217 | 4 | ||
| 14 | "I Am Yours" | 0 | 26 | ||
| 15 | "One Last Breath" | 23 | 19 | ||
| 16 | Knez | "Adio" | 44 | 13 | |
| 17 | Ann Sophie | "Black Smoke" | 0 | 27 | |
| 18 | "In the Name of Love" | 10 | 23 | ||
| 19 | Aminata | "Love Injected" | 186 | 6 | |
| 20 | Voltaj | "De la capăt" | 35 | 15 | |
| 21 | Edurne | "Amanecer " | 15 | 21 | |
| 22 | Boggie | "Wars for Nothing" | 19 | 20 | |
| 23 | "Warrior" | 51 | 11 | ||
| 24 | "Hour of the Wolf" | 49 | 12 | ||
| 25 | "A Million Voices" | 303 | 2 | ||
| 26 | "I'm Alive" | 34 | 17 | ||
| 27 | "Grande amore" | 292 | 3 |
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. The voting order was revealed the morning of the final, and for the only time in Eurovision history to date, the names of all the spokespersons were displayed onscreen. However, because of technical problems in some countries the final voting order was the following:- – Andrea Demirović
- – Julie Zahra
- – Krista Siegfrids
- – Helena Paparizou
- – Sonia Argint-Ionescu
- – Teo
- – Andri Xhahu
- – Olivia Furtună
- – Tural Asadov
- – Markus Riva
- –
- – Basim
- – Laetitia Guarino
- – Walid
- – Virginie Guilhaume
- – Lilit Muradyan
- – Nicky Byrne
- – Mariette Hansson
- – Barbara Schöneberger
- – Lee Lin Chin
- –
- –
- – Kati Bellowitsch
- – Marko Mark
- – Tinkara Kovač
- – Csilla Tatár
- – Nigella Lawson
- – Ugnė Galadauskaitė
- – Edsilia Rombley
- –
- – Ofer Nachshon
- –
- – Valentina Monetta
- – Federico Russo
- – Sigríður Halldórsdóttir
- – Loukas Hamatsos
- – Margrethe Røed
- – Suzy
- – Tanja
- – Natia Bunturi
Detailed voting results
Semi-final 1
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semi-final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
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Semi-final 2
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semi-final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
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Final
This is the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in that the winner was not placed first in the televoting.12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
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Broadcasts
Most countries sent commentators to Vienna or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.It was reported by the EBU that the 2015 contest was viewed by a worldwide television audience of a record breaking 197 million viewers, beating the 2014 record which was viewed by 195 million.
Incidents and controversies
Reaction to Russia's results
During the results segment of the final, loud boos could be heard whenever Russia was mentioned or the country received one of the top three set of points. The Russian entrant Polina Gagarina could be seen crying in the green room during the voting procedure, and this was reported by various media to have occurred as a result of the booing. During a break in the countries' reporting of their votes, when the running total showed Russia leading, green room host Conchita Wurst said to Gagarina, "You gave an amazing performance, and you deserve to be in the lead." The contest's executive supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, urged that Eurovision should be a "friendly battlefield....not a political battleground", and presenter Alice Tumler reminded the audience that "Our motto is 'Building Bridges', and music should stand over politics tonight." The organisers had anticipated such reactions, and had prepared and installed 'anti-booing technology', which was deployed for the first time in the history of the contest.Smoke machine malfunction
During the performance of Georgia in the final, a smoke machine malfunctioned, causing the Georgian entrant Nina Sublatti to temporarily disappear from view on the stage in a cloud of grey smoke.Macedonia and Montenegro jury results excluded
The jury votes from Macedonia and Montenegro in the final were not included, in accordance with the rules of the contest. The rules indicate that votes must consist of 50% jurors and 50% televoting, but Macedonia's and Montenegro's votes was based entirely on televoting. The final result of the contest was not affected.Other awards
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award. The winners were revealed shortly before the final on 23 May.| Category | Country | Song | Artist | Songwriter |
| Artistic Award | "Heroes" | Måns Zelmerlöw | ||
| Composers Award | "A Monster Like Me" | Mørland and Debrah Scarlett | Kjetil Mørland | |
| Press Award | "Grande amore" | Il Volo |
OGAE
OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. The 2015 poll ran from 1 to 10 May, and after all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry was Italy's "Grande amore" performed by Il Volo; the top five results are shown below.| Country | Song | Artist | Points |
| "Grande amore" | Il Volo | 367 | |
| "Heroes" | Måns Zelmerlöw | 338 | |
| "Goodbye to Yesterday" | Elina Born and Stig Rästa | 274 | |
| "A Monster Like Me" | Mørland and Debrah Scarlett | 243 | |
| "Here for You" | Maraaya | 228 |
Barbara Dex Award
The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.| Place | Country | Artist | Votes |
| 1 | Trijntje Oosterhuis | 1,324 | |
| 2 | Bojana Stamenov | 605 | |
| 3 | Electro Velvet | 397 | |
| 4 | Elhaida Dani | 263 | |
| 5 | Voltaj | 237 |