The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 21 May and a final on 23 May 2015, held at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, and presented by Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler, Arabella Kiesbauer, and Conchita Wurst. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (ORF), which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst.
Broadcasters from forty countries participated in the contest, with making a guest appearance. and returned after a one-year absence, while the returned after its last participation in . Meanwhile, did not participate due to financial and political crises related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The winner was 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 . Sweden won the jury vote and had the highest combined points, but placed third in the televote behind and . Overall the latter two countries placed third and second respectively, and and Australia rounded out the top five. Further down the table, achieved its best result since its independence, finishing thirteenth. For the first time, the top four of the contest all scored over 200 points, with Russia's entry "A Million Voices" also becoming the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points. and became the first countries since to score no points in the final, with Austria also becoming the first 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
The 2015 contest took place at Hall D of Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, following the country's win in the 2014 edition with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", performed by Conchita Wurst. Wiener Stadthalle hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament, along with numerous concerts and events throughout the year. Hall D has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees.
Bidding phase After Austria's victory in the contest, their delegation revealed the possibility of hosting the contest either in the capital city, Vienna, or in Salzburg. 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.
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. Oberwart, with the Exhibition hall, and Vorarlberg, with the Vorarlberger Landestheater, were the latest cities to declare an interest.
On 29 May 2014, Austrian host public broadcaster ORF and the EBU released some requirements and details about the venue. ORF requested interested parties to respond by 13 June 2014. 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 , 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 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 in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.
After the deadline on 13 June 2014, ORF announced 12 venues interested in hosting the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest: 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. On 6 August 2014, ORF announced the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna as the host venue. 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.
Key
Host venue Shortlisted City Venue Notes Graz Stadthalle Graz ‡ Hosted the 2010 European Men's Handball Championship. Innsbruck Olympiaworld ‡ Hosted the figure skating and ice hockey events at both the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Klagenfurt Wörthersee Stadion Served as host for some matches of UEFA Euro 2008. Oberwart MessezentrumVienna Schönbrunn Palace Wiener Stadthalle (Hall D) Hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament and many events throughout the year. Vienna International Airport, Parking C Heldenplatz New All-round Concert Hall in Neu Marx Marx hall Trabrennbahn Krieau Wels Messe Wels
Inclusive traffic lights
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.
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.'Lockeres Statement': Ampelpärchen gibt es jetzt auch in Salzburg , krone.at, 18 June 2015, retrieved 7 December 2015. Ampelpärchen leuchten jetzt auch in Linz , orf.at 26 June 2015, retrieved 7 December 2015. 'Völlig unnötig': Linzer FPÖ-Stadtrat ließ Ampelpärchen abmontieren , krone.at 7 December 2015, retrieved 7 December 2015. FPÖ-Stadtrat ließ Ampelpärchen abmontieren , orf.at 7 December 2015, retrieved 7 December 2015.
Participants
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. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.
On 23 December 2014, thirty-nine countries were initially announced to be participating in the 2015 contest. and returned after one-year absences, the returned after a five-year absence, while did not enter. 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.
Inga Arshakyan, representing Armenia as part of Genealogy, represented , with her sister as part of Inga and Anush. Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini both had represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Perniola in , and Simoncini in . Amber, representing Malta, was a backing vocalist for . Uzari, representing Belarus, was a backing vocalist for . Elnur Hüseynov, had represented as part of the duo Elnur and Samir. Raay, representing Slovenia as part of the duo Maraaya, was a backing musical performer for . Hera Björk, who had represented , returned as a backing singer for Iceland. Nicolas Dorian, who had represented as part of Witloof Bay, returned as a backing singer for Belgium.
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2015 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Elhaida Dani "I'm Alive" English AMPTV Genealogy "Face the Shadow" English SBS Guy Sebastian "Tonight Again" English ORF The Makemakes "I Am Yours" English İTV Elnur Hüseynov "Hour of the Wolf" English BTRC Uzari and Maimuna "Time" English RTBF Loïc Nottet "Rhythm Inside" English CyBC John Karayiannis "One Thing I Should Have Done" English Mike Connaris ČT Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta "Hope Never Dies" English DR Anti Social Media "The Way You Are" English ERR Elina Born and Stig Rästa "Goodbye to Yesterday" English Stig Rästa Yle Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät "" Finnish Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät Lisa Angell "" French GPB Nina Sublatti "Warrior" English NDR Ann Sophie "Black Smoke" English NERIT Maria Elena Kyriakou "One Last Breath" English MTVA Boggie "Wars for Nothing" English RÚV Maria Olafs "Unbroken" English RTÉ Molly Sterling "Playing with Numbers" English IBA Nadav Guedj "Golden Boy" English Doron Medalie RAI Il Volo "" Italian LTV Aminata "Love Injected" English Aminata Savadogo LRT Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila "This Time" English MRT Daniel Kajmakoski "Autumn Leaves" English PBS Amber "Warrior" English TRM Eduard Romanyuta "I Want Your Love" English RTCG Knez "" Montenegrin AVROTROS Trijntje Oosterhuis "Walk Along" English NRK Mørland and Debrah Scarlett "A Monster Like Me" English Kjetil Mørland TVP Monika Kuszyńska "In the Name of Love" English RTP Leonor Andrade "" Portuguese Miguel Gameiro TVR Voltaj "" Romanian, English C1R Polina Gagarina "A Million Voices" English SMRTV Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola "Chain of Lights" English RTS Bojana Stamenov "Beauty Never Lies" English RTVSLO Maraaya "Here for You" English RTVE Edurne "" Spanish SVT Måns Zelmerlöw "Heroes" English SRG SSR Mélanie René "Time to Shine" English Mélanie René BBC Electro Velvet "Still in Love with You" English
Invitation of Australia On 10 February 2015, the EBU announced that in honour of the 60th anniversary of the competition, it had invited its associate member Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) to participate in the final of the contest representing . 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 it was to win, SBS would be allowed to co-host the 2016 contest with a full EBU member broadcaster of it choice in a city in the country of the latter, and would be able to participate again. The EBU considered the possibility of similarly inviting associate broadcasters from new countries to participate in future editions. 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.
Other countries BHRT and BNT, the broadcasters for and , had both submitted a preliminary applications to participate in the 2015 contest, but ultimately withdrew them because of financial reasons. broadcaster NTU also opted out of the contest, also because of financial reasons and the ongoing armed conflict in the country.
Active EBU member broadcasters in , , , (despite failed attempts by and Thierry Mersch to raise funds for a collaboration), , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Despite tweets by event supervisor Sietse Bakker about the possibility of the 's return in 2015, Turkish broadcaster TRT later confirmed that they had no plans in this regard.
Format