Following Dima Bilan's victory in Belgrade, the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will be staged in Moscow. The event is due to take place on May 16th, 2009 while the two semi-finals will be held on May 12 and 14th.

43 countries will take part in 2009. Georgia has withdrawn while Slovakia returns after a long break.

The first national pre-selections have already begun. As usual Albania will be the first country to select its entry in late December.

Due to political and neighborly voting in recent years, the voting procedure has once again been changed: Each country's votes will now be a combination of 50% televote and 50% national jury.

2004-2008 recaps:

2004: Semi-Final

2004: Big Final

2005: Semi-Final

2005: Big Final

2006: Semi-Final

2006: Final

2007: Semi-Final

2007: Final

2008: Semi-Final 1

2008: Semi-final 2

2008: Big Final

The following countries will participate in the 1st semi final:

01. Bosnia & Herzegowina

02. Sweden

03. Israel

04. Belgium

05. Andorra

06. Czech Republic

07. Montenegro

08. Iceland

09. Georgia

10. Bulgaria

11. Portugal

12. Switzerland

13. FYROM

14. Finland

15. Belarus

16. Turkey

17. Romania

18. Malta

19. Armenia

Germany, United Kingdom and Spain will also vote in this semi final.

The following countries will participate in the 2nd semi final:

01. Slovenia

02. Denmark

03. Azerbaijan

04. The Netherlands

05. Latvia

06. Hungary

07. Serbia

08. Norway

09. Ukraine

10. Greece

11. Lithuania

12. Poland

13. Croatia

14. Estonia

15. Moldova

16. Cyprus

17. Ireland

18. Slovakia

19. Albania

Russia and France will also vote in this semi final.

Edited March 3, 200916 yr by Huntress

Complete line-up:

Semi-final 1

01. Montenegro: Andrea Demirović / "Just Get Out Of My Life"

02. Czech Republic: Gipsy.cz / "Aven Romale"

03. Belgium: Patrick Ouchène / "Copycat"

04. Belarus: Petr Elfimov / "Eyes That Never Lie"

05. Sweden: Malena Ernman / "La Voix"

06. Armenia: Inga and Anush Arshakyan / "Nor Par (Jan Jan)"

07. Andorra: Susanne Georgi / "La Teva Decisió"

08. Switzerland: Lovebugs / "The Highest Heights"

09. Turkey: Hadise / "Düm Tek Tek"

10. Israel: Noa & Mira Awad / "There Must Be Another Way"

11. Bulgaria: Krassimir Avmarov / "Illusion"

12. Iceland: Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir / "Is It True?"

13. FYR Macedonia: Next Time / "Nešto Što Kje Ostane"

14. Romania: Elena Gheorghe / "The Balkan Girls"

15. Finland: Waldo's People / "Lose Control"

16. Portugal: Flor-de-Lis / "Todas As Ruas Do Amor"

17. Malta: Chiara / "What If We"

18. Bosnia & Herzegowina: Regina / "Bistra Voda"

Semi-final 2

01. Croatia: Igor Cukrov and Andrea Šušnjara / "Lijepa Tena"

02. Ireland: Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy / "Et Cetera"

03. Latvia: Intars Busulis / "Probka"

04. Serbia: Marko Kon and Milan Nikolić / "Cipela"

05. Poland: Lidia Kopania / "I Don't Wanna Leave"

06. Norway: Alexander Rybak / "Fairytale"

07. Cyprus: Christina Metaxa / "Firefly"

08. Slovakia: Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková / "Leť Tmou"

09. Denmark: Niels Brinck / "Believe Again"

10. Slovenia: Quartissimo and Martina Majerle / "Love Symphony"

11. Hungary: Zoli Ádok / "Dance With Me"

12. Azerbaijan: AySel & Arash / "Always"

13. Greece: Sakis Rouvas / "This Is Our Night"

14. Lithuania: Sasha Son / "Love"

15. Moldova: Nelly Ciobanu / "Hora Din Moldova"

16. Albania: Kejsi Tola / "Carry Me In Your Dreams"

17. Ukraine: Svetlana Loboda / "Be My Valentine"

18. Estonia: Urban Symphony / "Rändajad"

19. The Netherlands: De Toppers / "Shine"

Final

03. France: Patricia Kaas / "Et S'il Fallait Le Faire"

10. Russia: Anastasiya Prykhodko / "Mamo"

17. Germany: Alex Swings, Oscar Sings / "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang"

23. United Kingdom: Jade Ewen / "My Time"

25. Spain: Soraya / "La Noche Es Para Mí"

+ 10 qualifiers from semi-final 1

+ 10 qualifiers from semi-final 2

Edited March 19, 200916 yr by Huntress

Couple of years ago, Liz McClarnon (from Atomic Kitten fame) was on this show, I believe.

Couple of years ago, Liz McClarnon (from Atomic Kitten fame) was on this show, I believe.

Liz took part in the UK pre-selection in 2007, but lost out to Scooch, who represented the UK in 2007 with the song "Flying the Flag". Scooch eventually ended up 23rd in the final with 19 points.

This year, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed the UK entry.

This year's hot contenders are Norway, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Spain

I Love MALENA ERMANS song La Voix, so beatiful and great, im saying it because of the song, not that she is from Swden, like i am.

My favourite songs this year are:

1 point goes to: Andorra

2 points go to: Greece

3 points go to: Bulgaria

4 points go to: Romania

5 points go to: Albania

6 points go to: Finland

7 points go to: Denmark

8 points go to: Iceland

10 points go to: Azerbaijan

12 points go to: Spain

I also like the songs from Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Montenegro, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom

Norway and Turkey are so overrated <_>

Edited April 25, 200916 yr by Huntress

It seems France won't win anytime soon

I don't care for modern music, but the Eurovision contest has been a TREASURE TROVE of music that I really like that is "New to me". I go and troll youtube for songs from Eurovision from 1968-79, and have found many artists and songs that I love... song I've never heard before. This is one of my favorites I just discovered:

The following countries qualified from the first semi-final:

- Armenia

- Bosnia & Herzegovina

- Finland

- Iceland

- Israel

- Malta

- Portugal

- Romania

- Sweden

- Turkey

The following countries qualified from the second semi-final:

- Albania

- Azerbaijan

- Croatia

- Denmark

- Estonia

- Greece

- Lithuania

- Moldova

- Norway

- Ukraine

Edited May 16, 200916 yr by Huntress

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009:

1. Norway (387)

2. Iceland (218)

3. Azerbaijan (207)

4. Turkey (177)

5. United Kingdom (173)

6. Estonia (129)

7. Greece (120)

8. France (107)

9. Bosnia-Herzegovina (106)

10. Armenia (92)

11. Russia (91)

12. Ukraine (76)

13. Denmark (74)

14. Moldova (69)

15. Portugal (57)

16. Israel (53)

17. Albania (48)

18. Croatia (45)

19. Romania (40)

20. Germany (35)

21. Sweden (33)

22. Malta (31)

23. Lithuania (23)

24. Spain (23)

25. Finland (22)

Thus Norway will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Moldova was robbed!

I thought Turkey would get it -- their song was the catchiest. While Azerbaijan's man had the most gorgeous military-style jacket. I want.

And Germany tried their best with the one-two punch of the male singer's white-sequined skinny jeans and Dita Von Teese. They just couldn't catch a break.

Russia's was just awful -- Maaaaaahmaah! France was actually pretty good for once. But Norway? What a boring song. I'm stunned it got top marks.

Cat, honey, you're obviously not a fan of the Greek gymnast?

Edited May 18, 200916 yr by Sylph

Cat, honey, you're obviously not a fan of the Greek gymnast?

LOL, you mean Athens's answer to Ricky Martin? I was distracted by his belly button. I thought midrif-baring tops had been trashed and burned after 1997. I did love his star jumps (off what looked like giant hair-straighteners) and for entertainment value alone, it should have been 1. Moldova, 2. Greece, 3. Germany and that scary Ukrainian woman at #4.

Sadly, though, Cyprus did not qualify alongside Greece this year. So there was nobody around to give Greece an automatic douze points. Sigh.

Still, it was Eurovision's most watchable year in a while. Past years have been real dogs.

Edited May 18, 200916 yr by Cat

I occasionally watch for the trash entertainment factor. It's soooo trashy and kitsch and awful, I just can't believe it! And I have to laugh!

I am appalled that Spain ended up next-to-last. Appalled.