Eurovision Song Contest 2009 /

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and was hosted by Russia after their win in 2008. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak and his own composition "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, the highest total score in Eurovision history by 95 points. (Until then, the highest win had been Finland in 2006 with 292 points.) Second place went to Iceland, third to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002. After criticism of the voting system after the 2007 Contest, changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that both countries would indeed participate.