Eurovision Song Contest 2004

"Eurovision 2004" redirects here. For the junior contest, see Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Under the Same Sky
Dates
Semi-final	12 May 2004 (2004-05-12)
Final	15 May 2004 (2004-05-15)
Host
Venue	Abdi İpekçi Arena Istanbul, Turkey
Presenter(s)	Korhan Abay Meltem Cumbul
Directed by	Sven Stojanovic
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Bülent Osma
Host broadcaster	Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/istanbul-2004
Participants
Number of entries	36
Number of finalists	24
Debuting countries	Albania   Andorra   Belarus   Serbia and Montenegro
Returning countries	Denmark   Finland   Lithuania   Macedonia   Monaco    Switzerland
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2004
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Ukraine "Wild Dances"
2003 ←  Eurovision Song Contest  → 2005

The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the 2003 contest with the song "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), the contest was held at the Abdi İpekçi Arena, and, for the first time, consisted of a semi-final on 12 May, and a final on 15 May 2004. ^[1] The two live shows were presented by Turkish actors Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul. It was the first time that Turkey had hosted the contest, 29 years after the country made its debut, and was also the first time since the 1998 contest in Birmingham that it was not hosted in the host country's capital city.

Thirty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-six in the previous edition. Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro took part for the first time this year. The old relegation system was replaced with a semi-final format. This was done in order to accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate. The new format allowed all countries to participate every year, rather than being forced to sit out per the relegation rules, which had been the standard since 1994. Because of this, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia, Monaco and Switzerland all returned to the contest, Monaco not having competed since 1979.

The winner was Ukraine with the song "Wild Dances", performed by Ruslana who wrote it with her husband Oleksandr Ksenofontov. This was Ukraine's first victory in the contest, only one year after the country made its debut in 2003. Serbia and Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Sweden rounded out the top five. Due to the expansion of the contest, this year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points. Prior to this contest, only the winning entries in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, the top 3 songs all got over 200 points. An official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the semi-final and the final.

Location

Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul – host venue of the 2004 contest.

Ataköy Athletics Arena

ICEC

WTCI

Abdi İpekçi Arena

class=notpageimage|

Locations of the suggested venues in Istanbul, Turkey: the chosen venue is marked in blue, while eliminated venues are marked in red

Istanbul was chosen as the host city of the 2004 edition following Turkey's victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Erener's "Everyway That I Can". Originally the Mydonose Showland, an entertainment center in the form of a giant pyramid tent near Atatürk International Airport, was chosen by host broadcaster TRT to host the event, ^[2] but the venue was later changed to the Abdi İpekçi Arena as the contest approached due to its bigger capacity. ^[1] The Mydonose Showland, later renamed the Istanbul Show Center, was demolished in 2009 after a fire destroyed it in April that year. ^{[3] [4]} The Abdi İpekçi Arena was closed after the 2016/2017 basketball season and was demolished in early 2018. ^{[5] [6]}

A number of other venues in the city were reported as possible venues, these included Ataköy Athletics Arena and Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC), the latter of which lost out to Mydonose Showland. ^[7] Istanbul Chamber of Commerce president Mehmet Yıldırım offered the World Trade Center Istanbul (WTCI) as a venue for the event and confirmed that the Chamber would also provide financial support for the contest's organisation. ^[8]

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 –Participation summaries by country
Albania Andorra Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Malta Monaco Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom

This year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the 'Big 4'; France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom (as the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest.

Andorra, Albania, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the contest for the first time, with Monaco returning after a 25-year absence. Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but later pulled out after money issues arose between RTL and the EBU. Hungary was also due to return after last participating in 1998, but ultimately they did not take part in the contest. ^[9] Hungary would eventually return to the contest the following year, while Luxembourg would not return to the contest until 2024.

All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote, in the final. However France, Poland and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final (as they were not participating in it) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries. In Belgium, the French-language RTBF did not broadcast the semi-final, but the Dutch-language VRT did. Monaco's televoting results in the semi-final were rendered invalid and a back-up jury had to be used, but no problems occurred in the final.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 ^{[10] [11] [12]}

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)
Albania	RTSH	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	English	Agim Doçi Edmond Zhulali
Andorra	RTVA	Marta Roure	"Jugarem a estimar-nos"	Catalan	Jofre Bardagí
Austria	ORF	Tie Break	"Du bist"	German	Peter Zimmermann
Belarus	BTRC	Aleksandra and Konstantin	"My Galileo"	English	Konstantin Drapezo Aleksandra Kirsanova Aleksey Solomaha
Belgium	VRT	Xandee	"1 Life"	English	Dirk Paelinck Marc Paelinck
Bosnia and Herzegovina	PBSBiH	Deen	"In the Disco"	English	Vesna Pisarović
Croatia	HRT	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are the Only One"	English	Duško Gruborović Marina Madrinić Ivan Mikulić
Cyprus	CyBC	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	English	Mike Connaris
Denmark	DR	Tomas Thordarson	"Shame on You"	English	Ivar Lind Greiner Iben Plesner
Estonia	ETV	Neiokõsõ	"Tii"	Võro	Aapo Ilves Priit Pajusaar Glen Pilvre
Finland	YLE	Jari Sillanpää	"Takes 2 to Tango"	English	Jari Sillanpää Mika Toivanen
France	France Télévisions	Jonatan Cerrada	"À chaque pas"	French, Spanish	Steve Balsamo Jonatan Cerrada Ben "Jammin" Robbins
Germany	NDR [lower-alpha 1]	Max	"Can't Wait Until Tonight"	English, Turkish	Stefan Raab
Greece	ERT	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	English	Nikos Terzis Nektarios Tyrakis
Iceland	RÚV	Jónsi	"Heaven"	English	Magnús Þór Sigmundsson Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson
Ireland	RTÉ	Chris Doran	"If My World Stopped Turning"	English	Brian McFadden Jonathan Shorten
Israel	IBA	David D'Or	"Leha'amin" (להאמין)	Hebrew, English	David D'Or Ehud Manor Ofer Meiri
Latvia	LTV	Fomins and Kleins	"Dziesma par laimi"	Latvian	Tomass Kleins Guntars Račs
Lithuania	LRT	Linas and Simona	"What's Happened to Your Love"	English	Linas Adomaitis Michalis Antoniou Camden-MS
Macedonia	MRT	Toše Proeski	"Life"	English	Irena Dukić Jovan Jovanov Damjan Lazarov
Malta	PBS	Julie and Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	English	Gerard James Borg Philip Vella
Monaco	TMC	Maryon	"Notre planète"	French	Philippe Bosco Patrick Sassier
Netherlands	NOS	Re-union	"Without You"	English	Angeline van Otterdijk Ed van Otterdijk
Norway	NRK	Knut Anders Sørum	"High"	English	Lars Andersson Dan Attlerud Thomas Thörnholm
Poland	TVP	Blue Café	"Love Song"	English, Spanish	Tatiana Okupnik Paweł Rurak-Sokal
Portugal	RTP	Sofia Vitória	"Foi magia"	Portuguese	Paulo Neves
Romania	TVR	Sanda	"I Admit"	English	Irina Gligor George Popa
Russia	C1R	Julia Savicheva	"Believe Me"	English	Maxim Fadeev Brenda Loring
Serbia and Montenegro	UJRT	Željko Joksimović and Ad-Hoc Orchestra	" Lane moje " (Лане моје)	Serbian	Željko Joksimović Leontina Vukomanović
Slovenia	RTVSLO	Platin	"Stay Forever"	English	Simon Gomilšek Diana Lečnik
Spain	TVE	Ramón	"Para llenarme de ti"	Spanish	Kike Santander
Sweden	SVT	Lena Philipsson	"It Hurts"	English	Thomas "Orup" Eriksson
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Piero and the MusicStars	"Celebrate"	English	Greg Manning
Turkey	TRT	Athena	"For Real"	English	Gökhan Özoğuz Hakan Özoğuz
Ukraine	NTU	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	English, Ukrainian	Oleksandr Ksenofontov Ruslana Lyzhychko
United Kingdom	BBC	James Fox	"Hold On to Our Love"	English	Gary Miller Tim Woodcock

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Stefan Raab (backing singer for Max)	Germany	2000

Format

Visual design

The stage design of the contest

The contest's new official generic logo was used for the first time this year, with the heart-shaped flag in the centre due to be changed for future contests. The slogan for Istanbul's contest was "Under the Same Sky", which communicated the importance of a united Europe and Turkish integration.

Voting structure

Every country in the competition, including those who did not qualify for the final, were allowed to vote for other countries. After all performances were completed, each country opened their phone lines to allow their viewers to vote for their favourite song. Voting for the country in which you are situated is not allowed, however. Each country awarded points based on the number of votes cast for each song: the song which received the most viewer votes was awarded 12 points, the second 10 points, the third 8 points and then 7, 6, 5, etc. down to 1.

In the event of a tie, the number of countries to vote for the tying songs would be counted, and the song having the most countries awarding points to it, would be the winner. In the event of a further tie, then the previously used method of counting back on the number of 12 points, 10 points etc., would be used to find an eventual winner.

This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting, and more in years to come, in 2004 to save time the hosts only re-read each score in one language. This was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in.

Contest overview

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 12 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET). 22 countries performed and all participants voted except France, Poland and Russia who opted not to broadcast the show.

A new ABBA video was shown in the semi-final, briefly outlining how ABBA started and what the response was of the first record company they approached. It featured small puppets of the band performing snippets of their songs (the voices being the ones of the band) and featured Rik Mayall as the record company manager. ^[1] Due to copyright purposes, this was cut from the Eurovision Song Contest DVD and released separately. References to the video before it was shown were also cut.

  Qualifiers

Results of the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 ^[14]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Finland	Jari Sillanpää	"Takes 2 to Tango"	51	14
2	Belarus	Aleksandra and Konstantin	"My Galileo"	10	19
3	Switzerland	Piero and the MusicStars	"Celebrate"	0	22
4	Latvia	Fomins and Kleins	"Dziesma par laimi"	23	17
5	Israel	David D'Or	"Leha'amin"	57	11
6	Andorra	Marta Roure	"Jugarem a estimar-nos"	12	18
7	Portugal	Sofia Vitória	"Foi magia"	38	15
8	Malta	Julie and Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	74	8
9	Monaco	Maryon	"Notre planète"	10	19
10	Greece	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	238	3
11	Ukraine	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	256	2
12	Lithuania	Linas and Simona	"What's Happened to Your Love"	26	16
13	Albania	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	167	4
14	Cyprus	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	149	5
15	Macedonia	Toše Proeski	"Life"	71	10
16	Slovenia	Platin	"Stay Forever"	5	21
17	Estonia	Neiokõsõ	"Tii"	57	11
18	Croatia	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are the Only One"	72	9
19	Denmark	Tomas Thordarson	"Shame on You"	56	13
20	Serbia and Montenegro	Željko Joksimović and Ad-Hoc Orchestra	" Lane moje "	263	1
21	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Deen	"In the Disco"	133	7
22	Netherlands	Re-union	"Without You"	146	6

Final

The finalists were:

• the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
• the top 10 countries from the 2003 contest (other than the automatic qualifiers);
• the top 10 countries from the 2004 semi-final.

The final was held on 15 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Ukraine.

In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic "Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)", originally performed by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform "Everyway That I Can", the 2003 winning song, and one of her new songs called "Leave". Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble Fire of Anatolia performed as the interval act. ^[1]

  Winner

Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 ^[15]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Spain	Ramón	"Para llenarme de ti"	87	10
2	Austria	Tie Break	"Du bist"	9	21
3	Norway	Knut Anders Sørum	"High"	3	24
4	France	Jonatan Cerrada	"À chaque pas"	40	15
5	Serbia and Montenegro	Željko Joksimović and Ad-Hoc Orchestra	" Lane moje "	263	2
6	Malta	Julie and Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	50	12
7	Netherlands	Re-union	"Without You"	11	20
8	Germany	Max	"Can't Wait Until Tonight"	93	8
9	Albania	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	106	7
10	Ukraine	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	280	1
11	Croatia	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are the Only One"	50	12
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Deen	"In the Disco"	91	9
13	Belgium	Xandee	"1 Life"	7	22
14	Russia	Julia Savicheva	"Believe Me"	67	11
15	Macedonia	Toše Proeski	"Life"	47	14
16	Greece	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	252	3
17	Iceland	Jónsi	"Heaven"	16	19
18	Ireland	Chris Doran	"If My World Stopped Turning"	7	22
19	Poland	Blue Café	"Love Song"	27	17
20	United Kingdom	James Fox	"Hold On to Our Love"	29	16
21	Cyprus	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	170	5
22	Turkey	Athena	"For Real"	195	4
23	Romania	Sanda	"I Admit"	18	18
24	Sweden	Lena Philipsson	"It Hurts"	170	5

Spokespersons

Each country appointed a spokesperson to announce their respective country's points in the final. ^[16] The voting order in the 2004 contest was determined alphabetically by each country's ISO two-letter country code.

1.  Andorra –Pati Molné
2.  Albania – Zhani Ciko  [ sq ]
3.  Austria – Dodo Roscic  [ de ]
4.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Mija Martina
5.  Belgium – Martine Prenen  [ nl ]
6.  Belarus – Denis Kurian
7.   Switzerland – Emel Aykanat
8.  Serbia and Montenegro – Nataša Miljković  [ sr ]
9.  Cyprus –Loukas Hamatsos
10.  Germany – Thomas Anders
11.  Denmark – Camilla Ottesen
12.  Estonia – Maarja-Liis Ilus
13.  Spain – Anne Igartiburu
14.  Finland –Anna Stenlund
15.  France – Alex Taylor  [ fr ]
16.  United Kingdom – Lorraine Kelly
17.  Greece –Alexis Kostalas
18.  Croatia – Barbara Kolar
19.  Ireland – Johnny Logan
20.  Israel – Merav Miller
21.  Iceland –Sigrún Ósk Kristjánsdóttir
22.  Lithuania – Rolandas Vilkončius  [ lt ]
23.  Latvia – Lauris Reiniks
24.  Monaco –Anne Allegrini
25.  Macedonia –Karolina Petkovska
26.  Malta –Claire Agius
27.  Netherlands – Esther Hart
28.  Norway – Ingvild Helljesen
29.  Poland – Maciej Orłoś  [ pl ]
30.  Portugal – Isabel Angelino  [ pt ]
31.  Romania – Andreea Marin
32.  Russia – Yana Churikova
33.  Sweden – Jovan Radomir
34.  Slovenia – Peter Poles
35.  Turkey –Meltem Ersan Yazgan
36.  Ukraine – Pavlo Shylko

Detailed voting results

Semi-final

Detailed voting results of the semi-final ^{[17] [18]}

Voting procedure used:   100% televoting   100% jury vote		Total score	Andorra	Albania	Austria	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Belgium	Belarus	Switzerland	Serbia and Montenegro	Cyprus	Germany	Denmark	Estonia	Spain	Finland	United Kingdom	Greece	Croatia	Ireland	Israel	Iceland	Lithuania	Latvia	Monaco	Macedonia	Malta	Netherlands	Norway	Portugal	Romania	Sweden	Slovenia	Turkey	Ukraine
Contestants	Finland	51		7			1				6			7	3			5				3			6	2			3			8
	Belarus	10												2								1	2												5
	Switzerland	0
	Latvia	23						4						5						4	2		6		2
	Israel	57	3	5	1		2	3		3	2	1	2		4	2	2	3									6	2		7	5			4
	Andorra	12													12
	Portugal	38	12				4		7						6										1						8
	Malta	74	5	6		4		1					4	10			5	1	1	1	6	2	7	7		4		3		4			1		2
	Monaco	10	4	2							4
	Greece	238	8	12	5	5	10	8	3	10	12	10	3	4	7	5	12		6	2	12	6	8	6	4	7	12	6	5	8	12	4	4	12	10
	Ukraine	256	10	3	4	7	8	12	2	8	8	6	6	12	10	8	7	7	8	10	10	10	12	10	5	8	10	7	7	12	7	6	8	8
	Lithuania	26						2			7							2		3	1			8			3
	Albania	167	6		7	6	5		10	6	1	8	7	1	2	6	6	8	7	5	4	4		5	3	12	8	5	8	2	6	7	5	6	1
	Cyprus	149	2		6		6	6	1	2		4	5	6	1	7	10	12	2	8	3	8	4	3	12		5	10	4	3	1	3	3	5	7
	Macedonia	71		8	2	8			5	12		3	1					4	5								1	1			4	2	6	3	6
	Slovenia	5				1													3							1
	Estonia	57		1						4						12	1					7	10	12					1	5		1			3
	Croatia	72			8	10		7	6	5		5				1							3	1		6		4		1			7		8
	Denmark	56				3					3			3		4					5	12			10		2		6		2	5		1
	Serbia and Montenegro	263	1	4	12	12	7	10	12		10	12	10		8	10	8	10	12	6	8		1	4	7	10	4	12	10	10	10	12	12	7	12
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	133		10	10		3		8	7		7	12				4		10	7						5		8	12			10	10	10
	Netherlands	146	7		3	2	12	5	4	1	5	2	8	8	5	3	3	6	4	12	7	5	5	2	8	3	7		2	6	3		2	2	4

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
9	Serbia and Montenegro	Austria ,   Bosnia and Herzegovina ,   Croatia ,   Germany ,   Netherlands ,   Slovenia ,   Sweden ,    Switzerland ,   Ukraine
7	Greece	Albania ,   Cyprus ,   Israel ,   Malta ,   Romania ,   Turkey ,   United Kingdom
4	Ukraine	Belarus ,   Estonia ,   Lithuania ,   Portugal
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Denmark ,   Norway
	Cyprus	Greece ,   Monaco
	Estonia	Finland ,   Latvia
	Netherlands	Belgium ,   Ireland
1	Albania	Macedonia
	Andorra	Spain
	Denmark	Iceland
	Macedonia	Serbia and Montenegro
	Portugal	Andorra

Final

Detailed voting results of the final ^{[19] [20]}

Voting procedure used:   100% televoting		Total score	Andorra	Albania	Austria	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Belgium	Belarus	Switzerland	Serbia and Montenegro	Cyprus	Germany	Denmark	Estonia	Spain	Finland	France	United Kingdom	Greece	Croatia	Ireland	Israel	Iceland	Lithuania	Latvia	Monaco	Macedonia	Malta	Netherlands	Norway	Poland	Portugal	Romania	Russia	Sweden	Slovenia	Turkey	Ukraine
Contestants	Spain	87	12				7	2	6		7	2					8		3			8	1			3	1	3	4		1	12	5				2
	Austria	9															4		5
	Norway	3																																	3
	France	40	7	1			10								4											12						2		4
	Serbia and Montenegro	263	2	7	12	12	3	7	12		10	10	7	1	6	10	10	3	8	12	3	7	7	2	5	1	10	6	10	6	5	7	8	10	12	12	8	12
	Malta	50	6	3		1							1	6				2	1	2	6	4		4	6		3				3	1						1
	Netherlands	11					6							3														2
	Germany	93		2	10	3			10					2	12		7	4		1	4			1		7			3	1	6	8	4			3	5
	Albania	106			5	4	1		7	8		5	4			3	1	1	10	6	2		4		1		12	10	1	3			1		7	4	6
	Ukraine	280	10	5	4	6	5	10		10	8	6	5	12	8	8	2	5	7	8	7	12	12	12	12	6	8	8	7	7	12	10	6	12	10	8	12
	Croatia	50			3	10		5	3	5		1				1											5							5		5		7
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	91		10	7				5	6			8							10						4	4		2	10					8	10	7
	Belgium	7	1								1																		5
	Russia	67						12		1	6			8		4			2			6		8	10													10
	Macedonia	47		6		8			1	12										5								1								7	4	3
	Greece	252	8	12	2	5	8	6	4	7	12	7	3	5	7	6	6	12		7	5	10	6	10	7	10	7	12	6	2	7	6	12	7	4	6	10	8
	Iceland	16											2			2										5				5				2
	Ireland	7																7
	Poland	27									2	4			1				4				3	7											1			5
	United Kingdom	29						1						4							8		2		3			4			2		2	1	2
	Cyprus	170	4		6		4	8	2	3		8	6	7	3	7	5	10	12	4	10	3	10	5	4	2		7	8	4	4	3	3	6	6	1	1	4
	Turkey	195	3	8	8	7	12	3	8	2	4	12	10		2	5	12	6	6	3	1	2	5	3	2	8	6		12	8	8		10	8	5			6
	Romania	18									3				10							1										4
	Sweden	170	5	4	1	2	2	4		4	5	3	12	10	5	12	3	8			12	5	8	6	8		2	5		12	10	5	7	3		2	3	2

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
8	Ukraine	Estonia ,   Iceland ,   Israel ,   Latvia ,   Lithuania ,   Poland ,   Russia ,   Turkey
7	Serbia and Montenegro	Austria ,   Bosnia and Herzegovina ,   Croatia ,   Slovenia ,   Sweden ,    Switzerland ,   Ukraine
5	Greece	Albania ,   Cyprus ,   Malta ,   Romania ,   United Kingdom
4	Sweden	Denmark ,   Finland ,   Ireland ,   Norway
	Turkey	Belgium ,   France ,   Germany ,   Netherlands
2	Spain	Andorra ,   Portugal
1	Albania	Macedonia
	Cyprus	Greece
	France	Monaco
	Germany	Spain
	Macedonia	Serbia and Montenegro
	Russia	Belarus

Broadcasts

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries ^[12]

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Albania	RTSH		All shows
Andorra	RTVA	ATV	All shows	Meri Picart  [ ca ] and Josep Lluís Trabal	[21] [22]
Austria	ORF	ORF 1	All shows	Andi Knoll	[23] [24] [25]
Belarus	BTRC		All shows	Ales Kruglyakov and Denis Dudinsky  [ ru ]	[26] [27]
Belgium	VRT	TV1	All shows		[28] [29]
	RTBF	La Une	Final	Jean-Pierre Hautier	[30] [31]
		La Première			[31]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	PBSBiH	BHTV 1, BH Radio 1	All shows	Dejan Kukrić	[32] [33] [34]
	RTVFBiH	FTV	Final
Croatia	HRT		All shows
Cyprus	CyBC		All shows
Denmark	DR	DR1	All shows	Jørgen de Mylius	[35] [36] [37] [38]
Estonia	ETV		All shows	Marko Reikop	[39]
	ER	Raadio 2		Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk
Finland	YLE	YLE TV2	All shows	Markus Kajo and Asko Murtomäki  [ fi ]	[40] [41]
		YLE FST		Thomas Lundin  [ sv ]	[42] [43]
		YLE Radio Suomi		Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki	[44] [45]
		YLE Radio Vega		Thomas Lundin	[42]
			Final	Hans Johansson	[46]
France	France Télévisions	France 3	Final	Laurent Ruquier and Elsa Fayer	[47] [48]
	Radio France	France Bleu		Jean-Luc Delarue
Germany	ARD	NDR Fernsehen	Semi-final	Peter Urban	[24] [49] [50]
		Das Erste	Final
Greece	ERT		All shows
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið , Rás 2	All shows	Gísli Marteinn Baldursson	[51] [52] [53]
Ireland	RTÉ	N2	Semi-final	Marty Whelan	[54] [55] [56]
		RTÉ One	Final
Israel	IBA		All shows
Latvia	LTV		All shows	Kārlis Streips  [ lv ]	[57]
Lithuania	LRT		All shows	Darius Užkuraitis	[58]
Macedonia	MRT		All shows
Malta	PBS	TVM	All shows	Eileen Montesin	[59] [60]
Monaco	TMC Monte Carlo		All shows	Bernard Montiel  [ fr ]	[47] [61] [62]
Netherlands	NPO	Nederland 2	All shows	Willem van Beusekom and Cornald Maas	[28] [29] [63]
		Radio 2
Norway	NRK	NRK2 [lower-alpha 2]	Semi-final	Jostein Pedersen	[35] [36]
		NRK1	Final
		NRK P1
Poland	TVP		Final	Artur Orzech	[64]
Portugal	RTP		All shows	Eládio Clímaco	[65]
Romania	TVR		All shows
Russia	Channel One		Final		[66]
Serbia and Montenegro	RTS		Semi-final
		RTS 1	Final	Duška Vučinić-Lučić and Stanko Crnobrnja  [ sr ]	[67]
Slovenia	RTVSLO	SLO 2  [ sl ]	Semi-final	Andrea F	[68] [69]
		SLO 1  [ sl ]	Final
			All shows	Jernej Vene	[68]
Spain	TVE	La 2	Semi-final	Beatriz Pécker  [ es ]	[70]
		La Primera	Final		[71]
Sweden	SVT	SVT1	All shows	Pekka Heino	[35] [36] [72]
	SR	SR P4		Björn Kjellman and Carolina Norén	[72]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	SF 2	Semi-final	Marco Fritsche	[23] [24] [47] [61] [73]
		SF 1	Final	Sandra Studer
		TSR 2	Semi-final	Jean-Marc Richard and Alain Morisod
		TSR 1	Final
		TSI 1	All shows
Turkey	TRT	TRT 1, TRT Int	All shows		[74] [75]
Ukraine	NTU	Pershyi Natsionalnyi	All shows	Rodion Pryntsevsky	[76] [77] [78]
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC Three	Semi-final	Paddy O'Connell	[79] [80]
		BBC One, BBC Prime	Final	Terry Wogan	[47] [81]
		BBC Radio 2		Ken Bruce	[82]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries ^[12]

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Armenia	AMPTV
Australia	SBS	SBS TV [lower-alpha 3]	All shows	Des Mangan	[83]
Kosovo	RTK	RTK
Puerto Rico	MSN
United States	Israeli Network

Incidents

Just before the Slovenian entry was about to be performed, the Turkish broadcaster accidentally took a commercial break which meant the Slovenian song was not heard by Turkish viewers. ^[1] There were technical problems when in a short hiatus halfway through the songs used for the advertising break the hosts tried to contact various parties in Europe. They tried contacting Germany, Spain and Turkey, but in the end were only able to get a response from Germany. During the Romanian postcard introduction, the information for the Romanian entry appeared on the screen, but was quickly taken away. A final minor hiccup occurred when, on her way to present the winner the trophy, Sertab Erener got her shoe stuck in a speaker grill by the side of the stage and had to be freed by stagehands. However this did not delay proceedings, and other than the above the show ran smoothly.

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 all the votes (from 2004), reported that they had encountered problems with their calculation software, and there was a problem with text message voting in Croatia. When the votes were counted, results showed that Croatia had awarded themselves 4 points, which is against Eurovision rules. Later, an official EBU statement read that there had been technical problems at the side of the Croatian mobile service provider, who neglected to delete the illegal votes from the results. Consequently, some votes were not counted in the results announced at the end of the broadcast of the semi-final. When the results were corrected to include these additional votes, they were found not to have affected which countries had qualified for the final. ^[1]

This year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown (all other presenters were preceded with their country being highlighted on a map). This was due to Turkey's recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic (not recognised by any other state). It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have only highlighted the southern portion of the island, and thus angered the international community. ^[1]

Other awards

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the AP Awards and the Marcel Bezençon Awards were contested during the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

AP Awards

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Songwriter(s)
Artist Award	Macedonia	"Life"	Toše Proeski	Jovan Jovanov Ilija Nikolovski
Composer Award	United Kingdom	"Hold On to Our Love"	James Fox	Gary Miller Tim Woodcock
Performance Award	Ukraine	"Wild Dances"	Ruslana	Ruslana Lyzhychko Oleksandr Ksenofontov
Song Award	Portugal	"Foi magia"	Sofia Vitória	Paulo Neves

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. ^[84] The awards are divided into three categories: the Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, the Composer Award, and the Press Award. ^[85]

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Songwriter(s)
Artistic Award	Ukraine	"Wild Dances"	Ruslana	Ruslana Lyzhychko Oleksandr Ksenofontov
Composer Award	Cyprus	"Stronger Every Minute"	Lisa Andreas	Mike Connaris
Press Award	Serbia and Montenegro	" Lane moje "	Željko Joksimović	Željko Joksimović Leontina Vukomanović

Official album

Cover art of the official album

Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004 was the official compilation album of the 2004 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 26 April 2004. The album featured all 36 songs that entered in the 2004 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final. ^[86]

Charts

Chart (2004)	Peak position
German Compilation Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [87]	3

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD ^[13]
2. Deferred repeat broadcast on NRK1 at 23:40 CEST (21:40 UTC) ^[35]
3. Deferred broadcast on 14 May (semi-final) and 16 May (final) at 19:30 AEST (09:30 UTC) ^[83]

References

1. Bakker, Sietse (25 December 2009). "The end of a decade: Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 25 December 2009.
2. "Eurovision TRT: Eurovision Song Contest 2004 at the Mydonose Showland". ESCToday.com. 24 September 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
3. "Mydonose Showland artık yok". CNN Türk (in Turkish). 31 July 2009. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
4. derin, Deniz (7 April 2009). "İstanbul Gösteri Merkezi bir anda yanıp kül oldu". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 8 February 2014.
5. "Abdi İpekçi yıkılıyor!". 4 April 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
6. "- "Abdi İpekçi Spor Salonu" Efsanesi, Yeni Bir Boyut Kazanıyor". 19 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
7. "Eurovision Istanbul for sure!". ESCToday.com. 27 June 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
8. "Eurovision Only choice for Eurovision 2004: İstanbul". ESCToday.com. 28 May 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
9. Bakker, Sietse (15 October 2003). "38 countries participate in Eurovision 2004". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 2 April 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
10. "Participants of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
11. "2004 – 49th edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
12. "EBU.CH :: 2004_05_11_ESC". 8 April 2005. Archived from the original on 8 April 2005.
13. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
14. "Semi-final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
15. "Grand Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
16. Bakker, Sietse (14 May 2004). "And here are the votes from… the spokespersons". ESCToday. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
17. "Results of the semi-final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
18. "Eurovision Song Contest 2004 Final – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
19. "Results of the Grand Final of Istanbul 2004". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
20. "Eurovision Song Contest 2004 Final – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
21. Ventura Cardús, Núria (13 November 2016). "Un esclat d'il·lusió". Diari d'Andorra (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
22. "Europinions". Andorra Difusió. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
23. "TV/Radio – Mittwoch, 12 Mai 2004". Freiburger Nachrichten (in German). Fribourg, Switzerland. 12 May 2004. p. 16. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
24. "TV/Radio – Samstag, 15 Mai 2004". Freiburger Nachrichten (in German). Fribourg, Switzerland. 12 May 2004. p. 16. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
25. "Tie-Breaks Chancen auf einen Song-Contest-Sieg stehen 80:1" (Press release) (in German). ORF. Austria Press Agency. 12 May 2004. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
26. "Minusy i pliusy bielaruskaha debiutu, aĺbo Krychu chalodnaha siarod stambuĺskaj spioki" Мiнусы i плюсы беларускага дэбюту, альбо Крыху халоднага сярод стамбульскай спёкi. Belarus Today (in Belarusian). 14 May 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
27. "Adnoj nahoj u Stambulie" Адной нагой у Стамбуле. Belteleradio (in Belarusian). 7 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
28. "Radio & Televisie Woensdag". Leidsch Dagblad . Leiden, Netherlands. 12 May 2004. p. 9. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
29. "Radio & Televisie Zaterdag". Leidsch Dagblad . Leiden, Netherlands. 15 May 2004. p. 30. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
30. De Boeck, Philippe (7 May 2004). "Hautier commentera l'Eurovision" . Le Soir (in French). Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
31. Letist, Fernand (15 May 2004). "Kitch un jour, kitch toujours" . Le Soir (in French). Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
32. "Pregled programa za subotu, 15.05.2004" (in Bosnian). RTVBiH. Archived from the original on 16 May 2004. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
33. "Večeras finale Eurosonga 2004" (in Bosnian). klix.ba. Retrieved 14 May 2004.
34. "Ako Deen uđe u finale, bit će to uspjeh!" (in Bosnian). Ljiljan. 30 April 2004.
35. "Radio & TV – onsday 12. mai". Rogalands Avis . Stavanger, Norway. 12 May 2004. pp. 50–51. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via National Library of Norway.
36. "Radio & TV – lørdag 15. mai". Rogalands Avis . Stavanger, Norway. 15 May 2004. pp. 34–35. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via National Library of Norway.
37. "Programoversigt – 12/05/2004" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
38. "Programoversigt – 15/05/2004" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
39. "Televisiooni ja raadio nädalaka – 10–16. mai". Sakala (in Estonian). Viljandi, Estonia. 8 May 2004. pp. 7–10. Retrieved 18 January 2023– via DIGAR Eesti artiklid.
40. "TV2 – 12.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 12 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
41. "TV2 – 15.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 15 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
42. "FST – 12.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 12 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
43. "FST – 15.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 15 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
44. "Radio Suomi – 12.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 12 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
45. "Radio Suomi – 15.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 12 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
46. "Radio Vega – 15.5.2004" . Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 15 May 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
47. "Samedi 15 mai". TV8 (in French). Zofingen, Switzerland: Ringier. 13 May 2004. pp. 18–24. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via Scriptorium Digital Library.
48. "TV samedi 15 mai". La Côte (in French). 14 May 2004. p. 26. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via Scriptorium Digital Library.
49. "Eurovision Song Contest in Kiew: Gracia mit günstiger Startnummer 17" (Press release) (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 23 March 2004. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
50. "'Eurovision Song Contest': Wer gewinnt den Grand Prix?" (Press release) (in German). ARD. 15 March 2004. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
51. "Tískulögga Jónsa". DV (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 12 May 2004. p. 13. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via Timarit.is.
52. "Útvarp/Sjónvarp – miðvikudagur 12. maí 2004". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 12 May 2004. p. 58. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via Timarit.is.
53. "Útvarp/Sjónvarp – laugardagur 15. maí 2004". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 15 May 2004. p. 78. Retrieved 17 January 2023– via Timarit.is.
54. "Eurovision semi-final takes place tonight". RTÉ . 12 May 2004. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
55. Scally, Derek (15 May 2004). "Happy clappy Europappy" . The Irish Times Weekend Review . p. 5. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
56. "Marty Whelan marks 20 years in the Eurovision hot seat". RTÉ. 12 May 2018. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
57. "Streips kā dalībnieks debitē 'Eirovīzijā'" (in Latvian). Delfi. 9 November 2011. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
58. Bieliauskaitė, Lina (12 May 2004). "Linas ir Simona tikisi sėkmės" (in Lithuanian). Delfi. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
59. Massa, Adriana (10 May 2004). "Hopes for Eurovision qualification". Times of Malta . Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
60. Massa, Adriana (14 May 2004). "We will do our very best, Julie and Ludwig pledge". Times of Malta . Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
61. "Mercredi 12 mai". TV8 (in French). Zofingen, Switzerland: Ringier. 6 May 2004. pp. 52–58. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via Scriptorium Digital Library.
62. Delpiroux, Dominique (2 April 2004). "Bernard Montiel persiste et signe". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). Archived from the original on 24 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
63. Siemerink, Ben (13 May 2004). "Dubbelhartige festivalgoeroe". Leidsch Dagblad . Leiden, Netherlands. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
64. Erling, Barbara (12 May 2022). "Artur Orzech zapowiada, że skomentuje Eurowizję, ale tym razem na Instagramie" (in Polish). Press. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
65. Firmino, Tiago (7 April 2018). "O número do dia. Quantos festivais comentou Eládio Clímaco na televisão portuguesa?" (in Portuguese). N-TV. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
66. "Subbota, 15 maya" Суббота, 15 мая (PDF). Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (in Russian). pp. 12–13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
67. "Mi pobedjujemo!" Ми побеђујемо!. Večernje novosti (in Serbian). 14 May 2004. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
68. "Tiskovna konferenca pred odhodom". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). 22 April 2004. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
69. "Vse oddaje Pesmi Evrovizije 2004". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). 3 May 2004. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
70. "TV – miércoles, 12 mayo 2004" . La Vanguardia: Vivir (in Spanish). 12 May 2004. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
71. "TV – sábado, 15 mayo 2004" . La Vanguardia: Vivir (in Spanish). 15 May 2004. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
72. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 324–325. ISBN   91-89136-29-2.
73. "Marco Fritsche kommentiert 'Eurovision Song Contest'". persoenlich.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
74. "TV Programları – 12 Mayıs 2004". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 12 May 2004. p. 16. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
75. "TV Programları – 15 Mayıs 2004". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 12 May 2004. p. 16. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
76. "Zapytannya "Telekrytyky": - Shcho, na vashu dumku, potribno dlya toho, shchob ukrayinsʹke TB na nalezhnomu rivni orhanizuvalo translyatsiyu "Yevrobachennya-2005"?" Запитання "Телекритики": - Що, на вашу думку, потрібно для того, щоб українське ТБ на належному рівні організувало трансляцію "Євробачення-2005"?. Telekritika. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
77. "Sereda, 12 travnya" Середа, 12 травня. Nove Zhyttia (in Ukrainian). 8 May 2004. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
78. "Subota, 15 travnya" Субота, 15 травня. Nove Zhyttia (in Ukrainian). 13 May 2004. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
79. "Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final – BBC Three". Radio Times . 8 May 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via BBC Genome Project.
80. "Countdown to London". European Broadcasting Union. 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
81. "The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 – BBC One". Radio Times . 15 May 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via BBC Genome Project.
82. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times . 15 May 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2023– via BBC Genome Project.
83. "A Week of Eurovision". Torres News . Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia. 5 May 2004. p. 5. Retrieved 23 January 2023– via Trove.
84. "Marcel Bezençon Award – an introduction". Poplight. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
85. "Marcel Bezençon Awards–Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
86. Sietse Bakker (31 March 2004). "2004 album to be released as double cd". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
87. "Eurovision Song Contest 2004". Offiziellecharts.de. GfK Entertainment Charts . Retrieved 17 March 2018.

External links

• Official website
• EBU press notice regarding voting problems in the semi-final
• Details about the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul
• Video Clips (BBC Eurovision 2004) (RealPlayer)

41°00′44″N28°58′34″E / 41.01222°N 28.97611°E / 41.01222; 28.97611