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Countdown to Baku - Belgrade 2008

04 April 2012 at 17:33 CEST

Now that the national selection season is over, we are back with our Countdown to Baku series, this time concentrating on the 2008 contest, which was held at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia on the 20th, 22nd and 24th of May that year. The host broadcaster was RTS.

2008 Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade

In 2007, Marija Šerifović won the competition with the song Molitva and brought the competition home. Her song was the first non-english language number to win the competition since the language rules were relaxed in 1999.

2008 was a very special year for a number of reasons. Most notably, it was the first time that the two Semi-Final format was introduced replacing the previous single Semi-Final format that had been in place since 2004. Also, the competition was presented by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović, who represented Serbia & Montenegro in Istanbul in 2004 with Lane Moje and who will again represent Serbia in Baku with Nije Ljubav Stvar.

Another reason to celebrate in 2008 was that two new countries debuted in Belgrade. These were this year's hosts Azerbaijan and San Marino.

In the end 43 countries took part and only one could win. This was Russia's Dima Bilan with the song Believe. He had previously participated in the 2006 contest with Never Let You Go, coming second.

Ukraine and Greece came second and third respectively with Ukraine being the runner up for the second year in a row. They were represented by Ani Lorak with Shady Lady and Kalomira with Secret Combination respectively.

So now that we are back, why not take a look at our video recap of all 25 entries from the final and of course full length videos of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placing entries (Russia, Ukraine and Greece).

Top 3

Now that we have seen the recap of all 25 entries, we are proud to bring you the full length videos of the top three placing countries from 2008 - Russia, Ukraine and Greece. Enjoy!

1. Russia

Dima Bilan - Believe

2. Ukraine

Ani Lorak - Shady Lady

3. Greece

Kalomira - Secret Combination

We'll be back soon with the videos from 2009, 2010 and 2011 as we continue our countdown to Baku!