Forty countries participated in the contest, with Australia making a guest appearance. Cyprus and Serbia returned after a one-year absence, while the Czech Republic returned after its last participation in 2009. Meanwhile, Ukraine did not participate due to financial and political crises related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The winner was Sweden with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw and written by Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb and Linnea Deb. This was the country's second win in three years, having also won in 2012. Sweden won the jury vote and had the highest combined points, but placed third in the televote behind Italy and Russia. Overall the latter two countries placed third and second respectively, and Belgium and Australia rounded out the top five. Further down the table, Montenegro achieved its best result since its independence, finishing thirteenth.
For the first time, the top four of the contest all scored 200 points or better. Russia's entry "A Million Voices" became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. Austria and Germany became the first countries since 2003 to score no points in the final, with Austria also becoming the first (and to date, only) host country to fail to score a point.
The EBU reported that over 197 million viewers watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million.
Location
Venue
Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna – host venue of the 2015 contest
The event took place in Vienna, Austria, with the venue being the Wiener Stadthalle (specifically the main hall - Hall D) after Austria won the right to host this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the 2014 edition with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", performed by Conchita Wurst. The Wiener Stadthalle hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament, along with many concerts and events throughout the year. The main hall (Hall D) has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees.[1]
Bidding phase
After Austria's victory in the 2014 contest, their delegation revealed the possibility of hosting the contest either in the capital city, Vienna, or in Salzburg.[2] Vienna, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Lower Austria, Graz, Upper Austria, Burgenland, and Vorarlberg were all reportedly interested in hosting the contest; Salzburg pulled out of the bidding phase as the city was not able to meet the cost of the venue and promotion.[3]
Vienna, considered the front-runner, had two venues in the phase: Wiener Stadthalle and the trade fair centre, Messe Wien, with capacities of up to 16,000 and 30,000 attendees respectively. Also in the race were Stadthalle Graz and Schwarzl Freizeit Zentrum, both located in the second largest city of Austria, Graz. With a maximum capacity of 30,000, the Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt also joined the race; however, it would require the construction of a roof for the contest to be hosted there. Innsbruck also joined the race with Olympiahalle, which hosted ice hockey and figure skating at the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. A fifth city, Linz, joined the race with Brucknerhaus, although the venue would not be big enough for the contest. Being geographically close to Linz, Wels showed desire to host the event as well.[4]Oberwart, with the Exhibition hall, and Vorarlberg, with the Vorarlberger Landestheater, were the latest cities to declare an interest.[citation needed]
On 29 May 2014, Austrian host public broadcaster ORF and the EBU released some requirements and details about the venue.[5][6] ORF requested interested parties to respond by 13 June 2014.[7]
The venue must be available for at least 6 to 7 weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest.
The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
The Green Room should be located in the arena or as near it as possible, with a capacity of 300.
An additional room at least 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) in area, to house 2 catering stands, a viewing room, make-up rooms, wardrobe, and booths for approximately 50 commentators.
Separate offices to house the press centre, open between 11 and 24 May 2015, at least 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.[5]
After the deadline on 13 June 2014, ORF announced 12 venues interested in hosting the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest:[8] ORF announced on 21 June 2014 that 3 cities (Vienna, Innsbruck, and Graz) had been short-listed in the final stage of the bidding process.[9][10][11] On 6 August 2014, ORF announced the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna as the host venue.[1] The contest was provisionally set to take place on 12, 14 and 16 May 2015, but the dates were later pushed back a week in order to accommodate the candidate cities.[12]
Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue. The shortlisted cities are marked in green, while the eliminated cities are marked in red.
The city of Vienna introduced temporary new traffic signals for pedestrians on some streets, featuring same-sex couples holding hands or hugging. They were introduced as part of events connected to the theme of tolerance and inclusion in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest.[15]
Traffic lights of the same – copyrighted – design of the kind "Ampelpärchen" (couples for traffic lights) followed before Christopher Street Days in June 2015 in Salzburg and Linz. In Salzburg the initiative SoHo and social democrate mayor Schaden promoted the change of the shape of the LED-lamps. The faceplates in Linz has been financed by sponsors driven by a Facebook-based initiative, but have been removed – without consent – by the new traffic minister of Linz of the party FPÖ in early December 2015.[16][17][18][19]
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide.[20] The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.[20]
On 23 December 2014, thirty-nine countries were initially announced to be participating in the 2015 contest.[21]Cyprus and Serbia returned after one-year absences, the Czech Republic returned after a five-year absence, while Ukraine did not enter.[21]Australia was later announced to be making its debut as a guest participant. The deadline to apply for participation was 15 September 2014. Countries that applied had until 10 October 2014 to withdraw from participation without financial consequences.[22]
On 10 February 2015, the EBU announced that in honour of the 60th anniversary of Eurovision, it had invited Australia to participate in the final of the contest, represented by Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS had been a long-time broadcaster of the event, which has had a large following in Australia. The Australian entry was placed directly in the grand final. Although it was considered a one-off event, if Australia were to win, SBS would have co-hosted the 2016 contest in a European host city of its choice. The EBU considered the possibility of similarly inviting countries to participate in future editions of the contest. Australia's participation brought the number of the finalists up to 27, the highest number of entries in a final in the contest's history.[25][26]
BHRT and BNT, the broadcasters for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria, had both submitted a preliminary applications to participate in the 2015 contest,[33][34] but ultimately withdrew them because of financial reasons.[35][36]Ukrainian broadcaster NTU also opted out of the contest because of financial reasons and the ongoing armed conflict in the country.[37][38]
Active EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Croatia, Lebanon, Luxembourg (despite failed attempts by San Marino and Thierry Mersch to raise funds for a collaboration), Monaco, Morocco and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU.[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Despite tweets by Eurovision event supervisor Sietse Bakker about the possibility of the Turkey's return in 2015,[50][51] Turkish broadcaster TRT later confirmed that they had no plans in this regard.[52][53][54]
Format
The competition consisted of two semi-finals and a final, a format which has been in use since 2008. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final qualified to the final where they joined the host nation Austria, the five main sponsoring nations (known as the "Big Five"): France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and Australia which was invited this year to commemorate the contest's 60th anniversary.[25] Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the juries' full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received one point.[55] In the event of a televoting failure (insufficient number of votes or technical issues) or jury failure (technical issue or breach of rules), only one of the methods was used by each country.[56][57]
The 2015 contest was the last time that the scoring system introduced in 1975 was used, before the format was modified the following year.
Organising team formation
During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster ORF and the EBU in late May 2014, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. Edgar Böhm, who is the Head of Entertainment at ORF, was announced as the executive producer.[58]
Graphic design
The graphic design of the 2015 contest, on display across Vienna
On 31 July 2014, the EBU released a new and revamped version of the generic logo as a celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest's 60th anniversary.[59] On 11 September, the slogan for the 2015 contest was revealed to be "Building Bridges".[60] The graphic design of the contest was revealed by the EBU on 25 November.[61] The theme art depicts a wave made up of spheres which symbolise diversity, the bridging of connections and people's experiences.
The postcards of this year's contest was also based on the slogan "Building Bridges". Each postcard starts with a drive-by scene of the contestants' capital city, before showing every contestant receiving an invitation to Austria, where the contestants take part in a local activity.[62] The postcards end with a picture of their activity plastered onto a billboard, placed in different locations across Vienna.
For this year's contest, all hashtags for the participating countries incorporated IOC country codes which were displayed onscreen alongside the main country names.[63]
Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final
Participating countries in the second semi-final
Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final
Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in both semi-finals
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 26 January 2015 at the Vienna Rathaus and hosted by Andi Knoll and Kati Bellowitsch.[65] The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (host country Austria, the "Big Five" and Australia), were split into five pots, based on voting patterns from the previous ten years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and were as follows:[66]
The EBU ident's accompanying "Te Deum", which opened the broadcasts, was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra from the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace for the final. The overture featured violinist Lidia Baich, winner of the Eurovision Young Musicians 1998, who performed live on stage an excerpt of Austria's 1966 winning song "Merci, Chérie" in tribute to Udo Jürgens.[67] The ESC Vienna All-Stars, consisting of Conchita Wurst, the Vienna Boys' Choir, multinational Suparar Children's Choir, rapper Left Boy, and the contest's presenters, then jointly performed the official anthem of the contest, "Building Bridges", accompanied by the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Peter Pejtsik.[68] The twenty-seven finalists later took to the stage during the flag parade via a walkway through the audience from the green room.
16 countries took part in the first semi-final. Australia,[71]Austria, France and Spain voted in this semi-final.[72] The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
Qualifiers
Results of the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015[73][74]
17 countries took part in this semi-final. Australia,[71]Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final.[72] The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
Qualifiers
Results of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015[74][75]
As in the previous two contests, the winner was announced as soon as it was mathematically impossible to catch up. In this case, the winner had been determined by the 36th vote, which came from Cyprus. 27 countries participated in the final, the highest number in any final of Eurovision ever.
Winner
Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015[76][77]
The voting order was revealed the morning of the final, and for the only time in Eurovision history to date, the names of all the spokespersons were displayed onscreen. However, because of technical problems in some countries the final voting order was the following:[78]
Detailed voting results in semi-final 1[80][81][79]
Voting procedure used:
50% jury and televote
100% jury vote
Total score
Moldova
Armenia
Belgium
Netherlands
Finland
Greece
Estonia
Macedonia
Serbia
Hungary
Belarus
Russia
Denmark
Albania
Romania
Georgia
Australia
Austria
France
Spain
Contestants
Moldova
41
6
5
5
5
2
8
10
Armenia
77
4
12
5
7
7
7
12
5
1
8
5
4
Belgium
149
5
1
12
12
6
10
6
7
10
6
8
12
6
7
5
8
6
12
10
Netherlands
33
6
3
5
1
7
1
3
2
2
3
Finland
13
4
4
2
1
2
Greece
81
3
8
3
6
2
1
4
6
3
3
5
12
6
4
6
4
3
2
Estonia
105
2
4
5
8
8
4
2
2
8
8
10
8
2
3
5
10
4
12
Macedonia
28
1
2
12
10
3
Serbia
63
5
7
4
2
12
4
4
4
1
12
7
1
Hungary
67
4
4
7
12
8
2
4
3
10
2
5
6
Belarus
39
8
7
3
6
3
12
Russia
182
7
10
8
10
10
12
8
8
10
12
12
10
7
12
7
10
12
10
7
Denmark
33
2
1
3
1
1
7
7
5
4
1
1
Albania
62
6
10
10
10
1
3
6
3
7
6
Romania
89
12
3
7
2
6
5
3
3
5
2
1
6
8
1
1
8
8
8
Georgia
98
10
12
2
1
5
8
6
3
1
6
10
7
5
4
4
7
2
5
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semi-final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.
Detailed voting results of semi-final 2[83][84][82]
Voting procedure used:
50% jury and televote
100% jury vote
Total score
Lithuania
Ireland
San Marino
Montenegro
Malta
Norway
Portugal
Czech Republic
Israel
Latvia
Azerbaijan
Iceland
Sweden
Switzerland
Cyprus
Slovenia
Poland
Australia
Germany
Italy
United Kingdom
Contestants
Lithuania
67
7
3
4
10
1
4
10
7
4
3
7
4
3
Ireland
35
2
5
2
5
4
2
3
1
1
2
8
San Marino
11
5
6
Montenegro
57
3
5
6
7
2
10
7
1
2
10
4
Malta
43
3
7
10
4
10
3
1
5
Norway
123
8
4
8
6
5
8
7
1
7
10
12
10
6
6
6
8
7
2
2
Portugal
19
4
3
6
4
1
1
Czech Republic
33
1
4
1
1
1
8
1
1
3
8
4
Israel
151
4
8
6
3
10
8
10
2
3
8
8
10
7
10
5
10
7
8
12
12
Latvia
155
12
12
10
7
7
7
8
2
6
7
8
8
8
8
7
10
10
8
10
Azerbaijan
53
6
7
8
3
10
3
2
4
5
3
2
Iceland
14
1
2
2
5
2
2
Sweden
217
10
10
12
8
12
12
12
12
12
12
4
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
10
7
Switzerland
4
1
1
1
1
Cyprus
87
3
6
2
2
6
6
5
6
5
6
5
7
4
6
5
7
6
Slovenia
92
7
1
12
3
4
4
3
6
8
12
6
4
3
5
5
6
3
Poland
57
5
5
6
5
2
5
3
5
2
4
2
1
3
5
4
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semi-final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final. Countries which gave the maximum 12 points apiece from both the professional jury and televoting to the specified entrant are marked in bold.
Most countries sent commentators to Vienna or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.
It was reported by the EBU that the 2015 contest was viewed by a worldwide television audience of a record breaking 197 million viewers,[89] beating the 2014 record which was viewed by 195 million.[90]
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
During the results segment of the final, loud boos could be heard whenever Russia was mentioned or the country received one of the top three set of points (12, 10 or 8 points).[151] The Russian entrant Polina Gagarina could be seen crying in the green room during the voting procedure, and this was reported by various media to have occurred as a result of the booing.[152] During a break in the countries' reporting of their votes, when the running total showed Russia leading, green room host Conchita Wurst said to Gagarina, "You gave an amazing performance, and you deserve to be in the lead."[151] The contest's executive supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, urged that Eurovision should be a "friendly battlefield....not a political battleground",[153] and presenter Alice Tumler reminded the audience that "Our motto is 'Building Bridges', and music should stand over politics tonight." The organisers had anticipated such reactions, and had prepared and installed 'anti-booing technology', which was deployed for the first time in the history of the contest.[154]
Smoke machine malfunction
During the performance of Georgia in the grand final, a smoke machine malfunctioned, causing the Georgian entrant Nina Sublatti to temporarily disappear from view on the stage in a cloud of grey smoke.[155]
Macedonia and Montenegro jury results excluded
The jury votes from Macedonia and Montenegro in the final were not included, in accordance with the rules of the contest. The rules indicate that votes must consist of 50% jurors and 50% televoting, but Macedonia's and Montenegro's votes was based entirely on televoting. The final result of the contest was not affected.[156][157]
Other awards
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.[158] The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award. The winners were revealed shortly before the final on 23 May.[159]
OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. The 2015 poll ran from 1 to 10 May,[160] and after all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry was Italy's "Grande amore" performed by Il Volo; the top five results are shown below.[161][162][163]
The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.[164][165]
Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015 is the official compilation album of the 2015 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group on 20 April 2015. The album features all 40 songs that entered in the 2015 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.[166]
Charts
Weekly chart performance for Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015
^On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[24]
^ abcPortugal, Estonia and Georgia were originally scheduled to announce their votes as the 5th, 13th and 30th countries, respectively, but instead voted 38th, 39th and 40th, respectively, after all the other countries announced their votes. The reason for this was technical difficulties in the minutes running up to the voting presentation.[78]
^ abDespite finishing with the same number of points as the Netherlands, Denmark is deemed to have finished in thirteenth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^ abDespite having the same number of televoting points as the Netherlands, Denmark is deemed to have finished higher due to receiving points from a greater number of countries in the televote.
^ abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Montenegro, Poland is deemed to have finished in eighth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^ abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Albania, Armenia is deemed to have finished in sixteenth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^ abDespite both finishing with 0 points, tiebreaking rules put Austria in 26th place and Germany 27th due to their running order positions.[86]
^The first semi-final was broadcast on Rai 4 with a 1 hour 40 minute delay; the second semi-final was broadcast live.
^The three shows were broadcast on TVP Rozrywka and TVP HD with a one day delay.
^RTP provided a delayed broadcast of the first semi-final.
^The final was broadcast in Spain live on La 1 and with a delayed broadcast on Clan.
^The first semi-final was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 Eurovision with a two-day delay; the second semi-final was broadcast live.
^Hutter, Andreas (28 May 2014). "Wels ist bereit für den Song Contest" [Wels is ready for Eurovision]. volksblatt.at (in German). Neues Volksblatt. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
^Szerencsi, M; Weißmann, R (29 May 2014). "Betrifft: European Song Contest 2015" [Subject: Eurovision Song Contest 2015] (PDF). kundendienst.orf.at (in German). ORF. Archived from the original(PDF) on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
^Heinrich, Bernd; Piebel, Johannes Peter (22 June 2014). "Wien, Graz oder Innsbruck!" [Vienna, Graz or Innsbruck]. eurovision-austria.com (in German). Eurovision-Austria. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
^Silber, Christoph (13 June 2014). "Unternehmer will Song Contest veranstalten" [Entrepreneur wants to organise Eurovision]. kurier.at (in German). Kurier. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
^Siim, Jarmo (11 September 2014). "Vienna 2015 slogan revealed". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
^Knox, David (14 November 2014). "SBS 2015: TV Highlights". tvtonight.com.au. TV Tonight. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2014. Eurovision has become one of the most popular television events in Australia. Next year is the 60th anniversary of Eurovision and with the official theme 'Building Bridges' already announced by host country Austria, SBS can reveal we have our Eurovision engineers Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang already working on how we can build a bridge to Vienna and join the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015.
^Andersen, Bolwig; Mau, Maria (25 March 2015). "Tøpholm: Her er Danmarks hemmelige fordel" [Tøpholm: Here is Denmark's secret advantage]. dr.dk (in Danish). Danmarks Radio. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
^"Eurovisiooni lauluvõistlus 2015" [Eurovision Song Contest 2015]. kava.ee (in Estonian). Kava. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^Klész, Imre (6 January 2015). "Eurovízió 2015: Magyar közvetítés a Duna TV-n!" [Eurovision 2015: Hungarian broadcast on Duna TV!]. eschungary.hu (in Hungarian). ESC Hungary. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
^Kjartansson, Aðalsteinn (14 April 2015). "Felix Bergsson kynnir Eurovision" [Felix Bergsson presents Eurovision] (in Icelandic). Vísir. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
^"Eirovīziju komentēs Grēviņš un Frīdenbergs" [Grēviņš and Frīdenbergs will be the Eurovision commentators] (in Latvian). Skaties.lv. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^"TVP na Eurowizji 2015" [TVP at Eurovision 2015]. tvp.pl (in Polish). TVP. 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
^"Eurowizyjne mosty w TVP" [Eurovision bridges on TVP]. tvp.pl (in Polish). TVP. 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
^"Klubi-info: Mikä ihmeen OGAE?" [The club info: What on Earth is OGAE?] (in Finnish). OGAE Finland. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
