The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, a venue used a lot in the 1990s, due to Ireland's long set of wins. The presenter was Mary Kennedy. This year's competition was the last with only one host, until Petra Mede hosted in 2013 in Malmö, Sweden.
This contest broke the chain of victories that Ireland had from 1992, 1993, and 1994. This was Ireland's 3rd year in succession to host the contest - and to mark the 40th show, it was opened with a 4-minute retrospective showing images from the contest's history. The Irish-Norwegian group Secret Garden was the winner of this contest with the mostly instrumental song, "Nocturne". Secret Garden's violinist was Fionnuala Sherry, who is Irish.
The EBU capped the maximum of entrants to 23 so the contest wouldn't be on air for more than three hours. Estonia, Finland, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland were relegated for poor results while Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey returned after relegation.
Eurovision 1995 was a year for Scandinavian domination as Norway won, Sweden finished third and Denmark rounding off the top 5. Sweden was the favourite to win the 1995 contest with Jan Johansen. Spain had a surprising second place, their best result since they last achieved 2nd in 1979 with Betty Missiego. On the other hand, Germany received their second-worst placing as of 2015, putting them in danger of relegation.
Results[]
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Poland
|
Justyna | Sama | Polish | Alone | 18 | 15 |
| 02 |  Ireland
|
Eddie Friel | Dreamin' | English | -- | 14 | 44 |
| 03 |  Germany
|
Stone & Stone | Verliebt in Dich | German | In love with you | 23 | 1 |
| 04 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Davorin Popović | Dvadeset prvi vijek | Bosnian | The 21st century | 19 | 14 |
| 05 |  Norway
|
Secret Garden | Nocturne | Norwegian | -- | 1 | 148 |
| 06 |  Russia
|
Philipp Kirkorov | Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana | Russian | Lullaby for a volcano | 17 | 17 |
| 07 |  Iceland
|
Bo Halldórsson | Núna | Icelandic | Now | 15 | 31 |
| 08 |  Austria
|
Stella Jones | Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt | German | The world turns the wrong way | 13 | 67 |
| 09 |  Spain
|
Anabel Conde | Vuelve Conmigo | Spanish | Come back to me | 2 | 119 |
| 10 |  Türkiye
|
Arzu Ece | Sev | Turkish | Love | 16 | 21 |
| 11 |  Croatia
|
Magazin & Lidija | Nostalgija | Croatian | Nostalgia | 6 | 91 |
| 12 |  France
|
Nathalie Santamaria | Il me donne rendez-vous | French | He makes a date with me | 4 | 94 |
| 13 |  Hungary
|
Csaba Szigeti | Új név a régi ház falán | Hungarian | A new name on the old house wall | 22 | 3 |
| 14 |  Belgium
|
Frédéric Etherlinck | La voix est libre | French | The voice is free | 20 | 8 |
| 15 |  United Kingdom
|
Love City Groove | Love City Groove | English | -- | 10 | 76 |
| 16 |  Portugal
|
Tó Cruz | Baunilha e chocolate | Portuguese | Vanilla and chocolate | 21 | 5 |
| 17 |  Cyprus
|
Alexandros Panayi | Sti Fotia | Greek | In the fire | 9 | 79 |
| 18 |  Sweden
|
Jan Johansen | Se på mig | Swedish | Look at me | 3 | 100 |
| 19 |  Denmark
|
Aud Wilken | Fra Mols til Skagen | Danish | From Mols to Skagen | 5 | 92 |
| 20 |  Slovenia
|
Darja Švajger | Prisluhni mi | Slovene | Listen to me | 7 | 84 |
| 21 |  Israel
|
Liora | Amen | Hebrew | -- | 8 | 81 |
| 22 |  Malta
|
Mike Spiteri | Keep Me in Mind | English | 10 | 76 | |
| 23 |  Greece
|
Elina Konstantopoulou | Pia Prosefhi | Greek | Which prayer? | 12 | 68 |
Trivia[]
- There was much speculation in Ireland as to whether RTÉ had deliberately chosen a song perceived as not having a good chance of winning in order to avoid hosting the contest for a fourth time in a row - although this was never verified. This rumor did, however, inspire an episode of Father Ted (Series 2, episode 5: "A Song For Europe"). The episode proved to be so popular that RTÉ airs it every year before the broadcast of the Eurovision semifinals.
- In any event, RTÉ ended up hosting the contest once again in 1997.
- This was the last contest in which Haris Andreadis and Michel Bernholc conducted in.
- This was the last contest where the Israeli and German entries would have an orchestral arrangement, as Diva three years later would use a backing track, as well as Germany's 1997 and 1998 entries.
- This was the last year were none of the top three songs were in English until 2021.
- Due to relegation, this was the first time Switzerland missed the contest, making Germany the last country with a perfect attendance record. However, that would last for only one year, as Germany missed the 1996 contest and would have been relegated due to its last-place finish.
- The event was held on the 41st birthday of Johnny Logan. Before the interval act, Kennedy acknowledged this occasion and the audience sang Happy Birthday to him.