 | Facts & Figures |
|---|---|
| Date | Thursday 18 May 2006 |
| Location | [flag=gr]Olympic Indoor Hall, Athens, Greece |
| Broadcaster | Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) |
| Hosts | Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas |
| Executive Producer | Fotini Yannoulatou |
| EBU Scrutineer | Svante Stockselius |
| Director | Volker Weicker |
| Opening act | „The Mermaid Song“ performed by Foteini Darra accompanied by Greek dancers; „My Number One“ performed by Helena Paparizou |
| Interval act | „Mambo!“ performed by Helena Paparizou; 4000 Years of Greek Song (composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou, choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos); Nana Mouskouri |
| Winner | [flag=fi]Lordi from Finland |
With the Eurovision Song Contest already enjoying enormous popularity in Greece, Helena Paparizou’s victory in 2005 created the perfect circumstances to organize the show. Under the Greek sun, the 2006 contest took place in Athens!
Unpredictable as ever
There were lots of discussions in Athens among the media and fans who would be the winner of the 51st Eurovision Song Contest. Sweden, represented by Carola and her song Invincible, was named very often. The singer had already won the Eurovision Song Contest in1991 and wanted to be the second person on earth to win it twice. Another hotly tipped winner was Russian heartthrob Dima Bilan, who had already tried to represent Russia the year before. German group Texas Lightning did well in at the bookmakers with their refreshing pop-country song No No Never, but the song only managed to end up at a disappointing 14th place. Anna Vissi, the Greek pop queen who had already entered the contests of 1980 (for Greece) and 1982 (for Cyprus) had high hopes as well to win the competition with her dramatic performance of Everything.
About the winner
However, not many experts expected the masked hardrockers Lordi to get the trophy. With their Hard Rock Hallelujah and their performance filled with spectacular pyrotechnical effects, the Finns managed to win the contest with 292 points. Funnily enough, they had the exact same score in the Semi-Final! These 292 points are the highest amount of points ever achieved in a Eurovision Song Contest to date. Lordi went on to have lots of success with their song which made the top 10 in dozens of European charts.
2006 saw some rule changes in the voting of the Eurovision Song Contest Final. Not all points were read out by the national spokespersons any longer as the marks from 1 point till 7 points were automatically beamed onto the screen, and just the three highest votes were still announced by the national spokespersons. The reason for this was that the voting in the previous years seemed too long, and with this rule change, the organizers wanted to streamline the show.
The Participants
The finalists were:
- the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom plus the host Country;
- the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
- the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final.
The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Finland.
| # | Representing country | Performer(s) | Song title, writer(s) and composer(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Switzerland SSR SRG | Six4One | If We All Give A Little | 030 | 16 |
| 02 | Moldova TRM | Arsenium & Natalia Gordienko | Loca | 022 | 20 |
| 03 | Israel IBA | Eddie Butler | Ze Hazman | 004 | 23 |
| 04 | Latvia LTV | Cosmos | I Hear Your Heart | 030 | 16 |
| 05 | Norway NRK | Christine Guldbrandsen | Alvedansen | 036 | 14 |
| 06 | Spain TVE | Las Ketchup | Bloody Mary | 018 | 21 |
| 07 | Malta PBS | Fabrizio Faniello | I Do | 001 | 24 |
| 08 | Germany ARD | Texas Lightning | No, No, Never | 036 | 14 |
| 09 | Denmark DR | Sidsel Ben Semmane | Twist Of Love | 026 | 18 |
| 10 | Russia C1R | Dima Bilan | Never Let You Go | 248 | 02 |
| 11 | F.Y.R. Macedonia MKRTV | Elena Risteska | Ninanajna | 056 | 12 |
| 12 | Romania TVR | Mihai Traistariu | Tornero | 172 | 04 |
| 13 | Bosnia & Herzegovina BHRT | Hari Mata Hari | Lejla | 229 | 03 |
| 14 | Lithuania LRT | LT United | We Are The Winners | 162 | 06 |
| 15 | United Kingdom BBC | Daz Sampson | Teenage Life | 025 | 19 |
| 16 | Greece ERT | Anna Vissi | Everything | 128 | 09 |
| 17 | Finland YLE | Lordi | Hard Rock Hallelujah | 292 | 01 |
| 18 | Ukraine NTU | Tina Karol | Show Me Your Love | 145 | 07 |
| 19 | France France 3 | Virginie Pouchin | Il était Temps | 005 | 22 |
| 20 | Croatia HRT | Severina | Moja tikla | 056 | 12 |
| 21 | Ireland RTÉ | Brian Kennedy | Every Song Is A Cry For Love | 093 | 10 |
| 22 | Sweden SVT | Carola | Invincible | 170 | 05 |
| 23 | Turkey TRT | Sibel Tüzün | Superstar | 091 | 11 |
| 24 | Armenia AMPTV | André | Without Your Love | 129 | 08 |
Scoreboard
| Participant |  |  | |  |  | |  | |  | |  | | | | | |  | | | | | | |  | |  |  | | |  |  | | | |  | | | | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 4 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 30 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moldova | 1 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Israel | 4 | 4 | 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latvia | 3 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 30 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spain | 6 | 12 | 18 | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malta | 1 | 1 | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 1 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russia | 4 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 248 | 2 | |||
| F.Y.R. Macedonia | 3 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 56 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Romania | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 172 | 4 | |||
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | 12 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 229 | 3 | ||||||
| Lithuania | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 162 | 6 | ||||||||
| United Kingdom | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 8 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 128 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||
| Finland | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 292 | 1 | ||||
| Ukraine | 5 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 145 | 7 | |||||||||
| France | 2 | 3 | 5 | 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Croatia | 12 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 56 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 93 | 10 | |||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 170 | 5 | |||||||
| Turkey | 7 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 91 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Armenia | 8 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 129 | 8 |