The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the forty-ninth Eurovision and took place on May 12, 2004 and May 15, 2004, in Istanbul, Turkey. Meltem Cumbul and Korhan Abay were the presenters.
It was the first Eurovision Song Contest to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand finale held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain (as the four largest countries in Europe), Turkey (as the 2003 contest winners) and the nine remaining highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest. It was also the first contest to be broadcast in high definition format.
All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand finale. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote.
On March 23, 2004, two draws were held to determine the running-order for the Semi-Final and Final events. A third draw took place, immediately following the Semi-Final on May 12, 2004, to determine the running order of the ten qualifying songs in the Final.
An hour after the Semi-Final had been aired, the European Broadcasting Union discovered that there had been problems with the vote counting in Monaco and Croatia. Digame, an affiliate of Deutsche Telekom, who had been responsible for processing the votes from Monaco, reported that they had encountered problems with their calculation software, and there was a problem with text message voting in Croatia. Consequently, some votes were not counted in the results announced at the end of the Semi-Final broadcast. When the results were corrected, to include these additional votes, they were found not to have affected which countries had qualified for the Final.
The contest was won by the Ukrainian entrant, Ruslana Lyzhichko, with the song Dikiye tantsy (Wild Dances), which won 280 points. Some commentators suggested that her victory could be attributed more to her dance routine and revealing attire than to the quality of the song.
Semi-Final Results
| Country (Language) |
Artist | Song (Translation) |
Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Anjeza Shaini | Imazhi Yt (Your Image) |
4 | 167 |
| Andorra | Marta Roure | Jugarem a estimar-nos (We'll Be Playing at Loving Each Other) |
18 | 12 |
| Belarus | Aleksandra & Konstantin | Moy Galiley (My Galileo) |
19 | 10 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Deen | In the Disco | 7 | 133 |
| Croatia | Ivan Mikulic | You are my Only Love | 9 | 72 |
| Cyprus | Lisa Andreas | Stronger Every Minute | 5 | 149 |
| Denmark | Tomas Thordarson | Sig det' løgn (Shame on You) |
13 | 56 |
| Estonia | Neiokõsõ | Tii | 12 | 57 |
| Finland | Jari Sillanpää | Takes 2 to Tango | 14 | 51 |
| Greece | Sakis Rouvas | Shake it | 3 | 238 |
| Israel | David D'or | Leha'amin (To Believe) |
11 | 57 |
| Latvia | Fomins & Kleins | Dziesma par laimi (Song About Happiness) |
17 | 23 |
| Lithuania | Linas & Simona | What's Happened to your Love? | 16 | 26 |
| FYR Macedonia | Tose Proeski | Angel ti si (Life Is) |
10 | 71 |
| Malta | Julie & Ludwig | On Again... Off Again | 8 | 74 |
| Monaco | Maryon | Notre planète (Our Planet) |
20 | 10 |
| Netherlands | Re-union | Without You | 6 | 146 |
| Portugal | Sofía | Foi Magia (It Was Magic) |
15 | 38 |
| Serbia and Montenegro | Željko Joksimović | Lane Moje (My Sweetheart) |
1 | 263 |
| Slovenia | Platin | Stay Forever | 21 | 5 |
| Switzerland | Piero Esteriore & the Musicstars | Celebrate | 22 | 0 |
| Ukraine | Ruslana Lyzhichko | Dikiye tantsy (Wild Dances) |
2 | 256 |
| Venue: Abdi Ipekci Stadium - Istanbul, Turkey | ||||
| The table is ordered by the countries' names. | ||||
NB - The results of the qualifying nations were not published until after the final, to avoid bias.
First Appearances
- Albania, Andorra, Belarus
- Serbia and Montenegro (first time under this name)
Voting Structure
Score Sheet
Final Results
| Country (Language) | Artist | Song (Translation) |
Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Anjeza Shaini | Imazhi Yt (Your Image) |
7 | 106 |
| Austria | Tie-break | Du bist (You Are) |
21 | 9 |
| Belgium | Xandee | 1 life | 22 | 7 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Deen | In the Disco | 9 | 91 |
| Croatia | Ivan Mikulic | You are my Only Love | 12 | 50 |
| Cyprus | Lisa Andreas | Stronger Every Minute | 5 | 170 |
| France | Jonatan Cerrada | A chaque pas (Every Step) |
15 | 40 |
| Germany | Max | Can't Wait Until Tonight | 8 | 93 |
| Greece | Sakis Rouvas | Shake it | 2 | 252 |
| Iceland | Jónsi | Heaven | 19 | 16 |
| Ireland | Chris Doran | If the World Stops Turning | 22 | 7 |
| FYR Macedonia | Tose Proeski | Angel ti si (Life Is) |
14 | 47 |
| Malta | Julie & Ludwig | On Again... Off Again | 12 | 50 |
| Netherlands | Re-union | Without You | 20 | 11 |
| Norway | Knut Anders | High | 24 | 3 |
| Poland | Blue Cafe | Love Song | 17 | 27 |
| Romania | Sanda Ladosi | I Admit | 18 | 18 |
| Russia | Julia Savicheva | Believe Me | 11 | 67 |
| Serbia and Montenegro | Željko Joksimović | Lane Moje (My Sweetheart) |
3 | 251 |
| Spain | Ramón | Para llenarme de ti (To Be Filled By You) |
10 | 87 |
| Sweden | Lena Philipsson | Det gör ont (It Hurts) |
5 | 170 |
| Turkey | Athena | For Real | 4 | 195 |
| Ukraine | Ruslana Lyzhichko | Dikiye tantsy (Wild Dances) |
1 | 280 |
| United Kingdom | James Fox | Hold on to our Love | 16 | 29 |
| Venue: Abdi Ipekci Stadium - Istanbul, Turkey | ||||
| The table is ordered by the countries' names. | ||||