The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition held on 10 and 12 May 2007. It was also the first contest ever to be broadcast in high definition.
Having waited a full 45 years for their first victory, Finland won the right to stage the contest for the very first time at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki where a record-breaking 42 nations were set to compete. Making their debuts were the Czech Republic, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia (the latter two had broken off into independent nations a year earlier), and Austria and Hungary returned after a time away. Monaco decided to withdraw after bad results in recent years.
This edition would be the last to have one semi-final round as countries' interest in joining the contest continued to grow. Beginning the following year, a second semi-final would be added with only the host nation and the members of the Big Four guaranteed automatic qualification to the final.
In keeping with the fantasy theme, Santa Claus presented the Grand Prix to the winner as well as launched the voting window, as the Finnish people say the country is Santa's true home.
In its debut as an independent nation, Serbia won the contest, matching the debut win for Switzerland back in 1956. The winning song was Molitva by Marija Šerifović, it was the first non-English song to win since 1998, and the first ballad to win in the televoting era.
Gallery[]
Format[]
On 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position. In the semi-final, Austria, Andorra, Turkey, Slovenia and Latvia were able to choose their positions - they all chose spots in the second half. In the final, Armenia, Ukraine and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the second half of both evenings.
The United Kingdom chose their entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU.
The EBU had a fixed limit of 40 participants, and if they exceeded this limit they would use a ranking order scheme to pick off excessive participants. However, in 2007, they removed the limit 42 countries applied, leaving a semi-final of 28 countries. Initially, there were talks to reduce the amount of auto-qualifiers but this did not happen. Instead, all 28 countries (the most ever in a televised Eurovision round) were put into 1 semi-final with 10 spaces to qualify.
Another controversial thing was the political voting leading to all the qualifiers being in Central or Eastern Europe. However, none of these countries did poorly in the final, the lowest, Latvia was 16th.
Croatia, Norway, Montenegro and Malta all failed to qualify for the first time, and Austria withdrew the next year citing their low chances of success from the system.
The voting window was increased from 10 to 15 minutes this year.
Participants[]
Semi Final[]
28 countries performed in the semi final held on 10 May 2007, and all countries including the Big Four voted.
The top ten of the semi final qualified to the grand final.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Bulgaria
|
Elitsa and Stoyan | Water | Bulgarian | -- | 6 | 146 |
| 02 |  Israel
|
Teapacks | Push the Button | English, French, Hebrew | 24 | 17 | |
| 03 |  Cyprus
|
Evridiki | Comme ci, comme ça | French | Like this, like that | 15 | 65 |
| 04 |  Belarus
|
Koldun | Work Your Magic | English | -- | 4 | 176 |
| 05 |  Iceland
|
Eiríkur Hauksson | Valentine Lost | 13 | 77 | ||
| 06 |  Georgia
|
Sopho Khalvashi | Visionary Dream | 8 | 123 | ||
| 07 |  Montenegro
|
Stevan Faddy | Ajde, kroči | Montenegrin | Come on, step in | 22 | 33 |
| 08 |  Switzerland
|
DJ Bobo | Vampires Are Alive | English | -- | 20 | 40 |
| 09 |  Moldova
|
Natalia Barbu | Fight | 10 | 91 | ||
| 10 |  The Netherlands
|
Edsilia Rombley | On Top of the World | 21 | 38 | ||
| 11 |  Albania
|
Frederik Ndoci | Hear My Plea | English, Albanian | 17 | 49 | |
| 12 |  Denmark
|
DQ | Drama Queen | English | 19 | 45 | |
| 13 |  Croatia
|
Dragonfly ft. Dado Topić | Vjerujem u ljubav | Croatian, English | I believe in love | 16 | 54 |
| 14 |  Poland
|
The Jet Set | Time to Party | English | -- | 14 | 75 |
| 15 |  Serbia
|
Marija Šerifović | Molitva | Serbian | Prayer | 1 | 298 |
| 16 |  Czech Republic
|
Kabát | Malá dáma | Czech | Little lady | 28 | 1 |
| 17 |  Portugal
|
Sabrina | Dança comigo | Portuguese, English, Spanish, French | Come dance with me | 11 | 88 |
| 18 |  North Macedonia
|
Karolina Gočeva | Mojot svet | Macedonian, English | My world | 9 | 97 |
| 19 |  Norway
|
Guri Schanke | Ven a bailar conmigo | English, Spanish | Come and dance with me | 18 | 48 |
| 20 |  Malta
|
Olivia Lewis | Vertigo | English | -- | 25 | 15 |
| 21 |  Andorra
|
Anonymous | Salvem el món | Catalan, English | Let's save the world | 12 | 80 |
| 22 |  Hungary
|
Magdi Rúzsa | Unsubstantial Blues | English | -- | 2 | 224 |
| 23 |  Estonia
|
Gerli Padar | Partners in Crime | 22 | 33 | ||
| 24 |  Belgium
|
The KMG's | Love Power | 26 | 14 | ||
| 25 |  Slovenia
|
Alenka Gotar | Cvet z juga | Slovene | Flower of the South | 7 | 140 |
| 26 |  Türkiye
|
Kenan Doğulu | Shake It Up Şekerim | English | Shake it up sweetheart | 3 | 197 |
| 27 |  Austria
|
Eric Papilaya | Get a Life - Get Alive | -- | 27 | 4 | |
| 28 |  Latvia
|
Bonaparti.lv | Questa notte | Italian | Tonight | 5 | 168 |
Final[]
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Marija Šestić | Rijeka bez imena | Serbian | River without a name | 11 | 106 |
| 02 |  Spain
|
D'NASH | I Love You Mi Vida | Spanish, English | I love you my life | 20 | 43 |
| 03 | Belarus
|
Koldun | Work Your Magic | English | -- | 6 | 145 |
| 04 |  Ireland
|
Dervish | They Can't Stop the Spring | 24 | 5 | ||
| 05 |  Finland
|
Hanna Pakarinen | Leave Me Alone | 17 | 53 | ||
| 06 | North Macedonia
|
Karolina Gočeva | Mojot svet | Macedonian, English | My world | 14 | 73 |
| 07 | Slovenia
|
Alenka Gotar | Cvet z juga | Slovene | Flower of the south | 15 | 66 |
| 08 | Hungary
|
Magdi Rúzsa | Unsubstantial Blues | English | -- | 9 | 128 |
| 09 |  Lithuania
|
4Fun | Love or Leave | 21 | 28 | ||
| 10 |  Greece
|
Sarbel Michael | Yassou Maria | Hello Maria | 7 | 139 | |
| 11 | Georgia
|
Sopho Khalvashi | Visionary Dream | -- | 12 | 97 | |
| 12 |  Sweden
|
The Ark | The Worrying Kind | 18 | 51 | ||
| 13 |  France
|
Les Fatals Picards | L'amour à la française | French, English | Love the French way | 22 | 19 |
| 14 | Latvia
|
Bonaparti.lv | Questa notte | Italian | Tonight | 16 | 54 |
| 15 |  Russia
|
Serebro | Song #1 | English | -- | 3 | 207 |
| 16 |  Germany
|
Roger Cicero | Frauen regier'n die Welt | German, English | Women rule the world | 19 | 40 |
| 17 | Serbia
|
Marija Šerifović | Molitva | Serbian | Prayer | 1 | 268 |
| 18 |  Ukraine
|
Verka Serduchka | Dancing Lasha Tumbai | Ukrainian, Russian, German, English | -- | 2 | 235 |
| 19 |  United Kingdom
|
Scooch | Flying the Flag (For You) | English | 22 | 19 | |
| 20 |  Romania
|
Todomondo | Liubi, Liubi, I Love You | English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French, Romanian | Love, love, I love you | 13 | 84 |
| 21 | Bulgaria
|
Elitsa & Stoyan | Water | Bulgarian | -- | 5 | 157 |
| 22 | Türkiye
|
Kenan Doğulu | Shake It Up Şekerim | English | Shake it up, my sweetheart | 4 | 163 |
| 23 |  Armenia
|
Hayko | Anytime You Need | English, Armenian | -- | 8 | 138 |
| 24 | Moldova
|
Natalia Barbu | Fight | English | 10 | 109 |
Trivia[]
- Edsilia Rombley would be the Dutch spokesperson for the 2015 contest in Vienna, and a presenter for the 2021 contest in Rotterdam alongside Chantal Janzen and Jan Smit.
- Natalia Barbu would return to represent her country at the 2024 contest in Malmö.
- Elitsa and Stoyan returned for Bulgaria at the 2013 contest in Malmö, with Stoyan making another appearance at the 2022 contest in Turin as part of Intelligent Music Project.
- Swiss spokesperson Sven Epiney took over from Bernard Thunheer as commentator for Swiss German channel SRF the following year and is seen as a potential candidate to be one of the presenters when Switzerland hosts the contest in 2025.
