Skip to main content

Countdown to Baku - Moscow 2009

18 April 2012 at 13:59 CEST

After winning Europe's favourite TV show in 2008, Dima Bilan brought the contest to his native Russia where it was held on the 12th, 14th and 16th of May at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow. The host broadcaster in 2009 was Channel 1.

2009 Eurovision Song Contest - Moscow

We all know what happened in 2008; Dima Bilan clinched Russia's first victory at the competition since its debut in 1994 with the song Believe. He was a huge hit all over Europe and took the competition to Moscow for the first time the next year.

Most of us can think of reasons why 2009 was such a special year. It was a milestone year for many reasons, the most obvious being that Alexander Rybak from Norway won the competition with the highest score ever in the competition - 387 points! A very impressive feat and something that secured him a place in the record books. His song, Fairytale received high acclaim and charted high all over Europe; the young man from Norway with his violin shot to stardom overnight. In fact you can read more about his victory in an article we previously published not so long ago.

Another reason to celebrate 2009 was that jury voting was reintroduced with a 50:50 split with televoting in the final. The Semi-Finals retained a televoting only system in 2009. Although the televoting and jury results came to the same final conclusion, it is interesting to see the differences in the intermediate placings. The two Semi-Final format was also continued after debuting in Belgrade the previous year.

Also, in 2009 we saw one of the most spectacular stages ever in the contest's history. It was designed by New York designer John Casey who was also responsible for the stage in Dublin in 1997. The stage was dominated by multiple LED screens, which were used to create individual visual shows for each song.

In addition there were a number of celebrities taking part in the competition in 2009, including a song penned by musical writer Andrew Lloyd-Weber for the United Kingdom called It's My Time performed by Jade Ewen. He even appeared on stage playing the piano. Germany's entry performed by Alex Swings Oscar Sings! called Miss Kiss Kiss Bang saw American burlesque star Dita von Teese appear on stage during the show.

In all 42 countries took part in 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, with 25 in the final. As mentioned before Norway won the competition with Alexander Rybak and his self-composed song Fairytale with a record breaking total of 387 points.

The beautiful Yohanna from Island came second with Is It True? with a total of 218 points and Azerbaijan came third when AySel and Arash managed to rack up 207 points with their catchy number Always.

Now you have a bit of background information and can start taking a look at our wonderful recap video of all 25 songs from the final. What was your favourite? Tell us below!

Top 3

We hope you enjoyed the recap and that it has wet your appetite for more. Below we have full-length videos of the top three placing songs; Norway, Iceland and Azerbaijan. Enjoy!

1. Norway

Alexander Rybak - Fairytale

2. Iceland

Yohanna - Is It True?

3. Azerbaijan

AySel and Arash - Always

We'll be back very soon with videos from the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest held in Oslo, Norway and then the 2011 contest held in Düsseldorf, Germany... Then you know what! It will be time for Baku!