No clear favorite

Just like in 2004, ten countries had a reason for partying as the went on to qualify for the Final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest: Romania, Moldova, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Norway, Israel, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia and Latvia. Unlike in 2004, there was no clear favorite among the ten qualifiers and the 14 who already pre-qualified to the Final. A handful of countries were tipped as the winner.

About the winner

After an exciting start of the voting, it soon became clear that Greece,represented by Helena Paparizou with the song My Number One, and Malta's Chiara would fight for the crown of European music. Both had already participated before in the Eurovision Song Contest; Helena as part of the group Antique, which came 3rd in the 2001 contest (which was Greece's best ever result at that time). Chiara had also come third in a nail-biting finish in Birmingham. in 1998. However, in the last part of the voting, it became clear that Greece would take the trophy home to Athens. The Romanian entry Let Me Try by Luminita Anghel & Sistem came third after winning the Semi-Final. 2005 is the only contest to date where a pre-qualified finalist has won the contest's Final.

The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, which later in 2005 would see a gala in Copenhagen to celebrate the birthday of this middle-aged but young hearted lady, better known as the Eurovision Song Contest to millions of European television viewers.