The 2015 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria from 19 May 2015 to 23 May 2015, after Conchita Wurst's win with "Rise Like a Phoenix" in Copenhagen the previous year. This was Austria's (and Vienna's) second time hosting the contest.
The three live shows were hosted by presenters Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler, and Arabella Kiesbauer, with then-reigning winner Conchita Wurst tending to the green room. The three main hosts made Eurovision history as the first all-female trio to host the contest, a record that would soon be surpassed by Portugal's quartet of women hosting in 2018.
The branding for this edition, "Building Bridges,"
is based around spherical shapes that come together to form bridges across Europe, promoting diversity and togetherness. This concept extended to the stage design, with a dotted lighting swirl (as seen in the main logo on this page) framing the performance area.
Forty countries competed in this edition, with Ukraine the sole dropout from the previous year due to the onset of the Russo-Ukranian war. Cyprus and Serbia returned after a one-year hiatus, while the Czech Republic also returned to mark their first participation since 2009. Perhaps the biggest development of this edition, however, was the debut of Australia in the contest, the first since San Marino and Azerbaijan in 2008. Reflecting the "Building Bridges" theme of this edition, Australia was given an automatic spot in the final (making for the largest grand finale of any edition to date, with a whopping twenty-seven nations) as a thanks die decades of support down under. This would become an extended arrangement in the following years, with Australia's spot in the contest due to EBU discretion.
This edition was won by Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw with the anthemic "Heroes," giving Sweden their sixth win —surpassing their tied record with France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, setting a new record for second-most wins ever behind Ireland— as well as their second in just three years. The final scoreboard of this edition also set several records both good and bad: this was the first year that the top four all finished with over 200 points, while Austria became the first host country ever to receive the dreaded nul points, with Germany joining them as the first recipients of a zero sum since 2003. This partially led to a revision of the scoring system starting with the 2016 edition, splitting the jury and televote tallies 50-50 rather than combining and converting them into points accordingly, theoretically making it difficult (but not impossible!) for any country to receive zero points in the final.
Tropes seen during this year's contest include:
- The Ace:
- Sweden's "Heroes" by Mans Zelmerlow takes first place, giving the country their sixth win — just one short of matching Ireland's record seven victories.
- Azerbaijan qualifies to the final, maintaining their 100% qualification rate.
- Air Guitar: Slovenia has an air violin.
- Ascended Extra:
- Malta's Amber previously sang backup for the country in 2012.
- Belarus' Azari (of Uzari & Maimuna) previously sang backup for the country in 2011.
- Slovenia's Raay (of Maraaya) was a backing musician for the country in 2014.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Armenia's Genealogy features Inga Arshakyan, who previously competed as one-half of Inga and Anush in 2009.
- Azerbaijan's Elnur Hüseynov previously competed as one-half of Elnur & Samir in 2008, which was also Azerbaijan's Eurovision debut.
- Cyprus and Serbia return to the contest after sitting out 2014, while the Czech Republic participates for the first time since 2009.
- Creator Couple: Slovenia's Maraaya is made up of husband and wife Raay and Marjetka Vovk.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Iceland's Hera Björk (a backing singer for the country in 2009 and then their representative in 2010) returns to sing backup for Maria Olafs.
- Belgium's Nicolas Dorian (of Witloof Bay in 2011) returns as a backing singer for Loïc Nottet.
- Early-Bird Cameo: San Marino's Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini both previously represented the microstate at Junior Eurovision in 2013 and 2014 (as part of The Peppermints), respectively.
- Eliminated from the Race: Moldova, Netherlands, Finland, Macedonia, Belarus and Denmark in the first Semi-Final; Ireland, San Marino, Malta, Portugal, Czech Republic, Iceland, and Switzerland in the second Semi-Final.
- Gratuitous English: Very much so this year, as out of 29 out of the 36 competing non-anglophone countries sang entirely in English.
- Played with by Romania's Voltaj who won their national final with a song fully in Romanian, but adapted the second chorus into English for Eurovision.
- Averted by usual suspects France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, as well as Finland and Montenegro.
- Guest Fighter: Australia, a long-time follower of the contest, was invited to take part in this year's edition joining the host country and the Big Five directly in the grand finale. Due to the good reception, they became regular participants in the following years (though needing to pass through the semifinals first).
- In Memoriam: The grand finale opening act featured a brief violin rendition of Merci, Chérie, the previous (and only other) Austrian winning entry back in 1966, its singer Udo Jürgens having passed away in December 2014.
- Milestone Celebration: This was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Put on a Bus: Political troubles cause Ukraine to sit this edition out.
- Supergroup: Armenia's Genealogy is comprised of six singers from around the world of Armenian descent, each representing the Armenian diaspora.
- Vocal Tag Team: This year was notable for having an unusually high number of male/female duets, with six countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, San Marino, the United Kingdom) all sending pairs of singers. Zig-Zagged with Belarus and Slovenia, whose acts were composed by a vocalist and an instrumentalist of opposite genders.
