And they are … the ten countries through from the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 semi-final in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Twenty-five countries competed on 19 May, with the ten highest-scoring entries qualifying for the Grand Final on 21 May. The numbers below are the order in which the qualifiers were announced, rather than their final positions in the semi-final:
- HUNGARY
- ROMANIA
- NORWAY
- MOLDOVA
- ISRAEL
- DENMARK
- FYR MACEDONIA
- CROATIA
- SWITZERLAND
- LATVIA
For the record, the actual semi-final ranking was:
| Rank | Country | Points | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania | 235 | Luminița Anghel and Sistem | “Let Me Try” |
| 2 | Moldova | 207 | Zdob și Zdub | “Boonika Bate Toba” |
| 3 | Denmark | 185 | Jakob Sveistrup | “Talking To You” |
| 4 | Croatia | 169 | Boris Novković feat. Lado | “Vukovi Umiru Sami” |
| 5 | Hungary | 167 | NOX | “Forogj Világ” |
| 6 | Norway | 164 | Wig Wam | “In My Dreams” |
| 7 | Israel | 158 | Shiri Maimon | “Hasheket Shenish’ar” |
| 8 | Switzerland | 114 | Vanilla Ninja | “Cool Vibes” |
| 9 | FYR Macedonia | 97 | Martin Vučić | “Make My Day” |
| 10 | Latvia | 85 | Walters & Kazha | “The War Is Not Over” |
Moldova’s qualification was particularly notable: 2005 was the country’s Eurovision debut. Bulgaria also debuted that year, but did not qualify. “FYR Macedonia” is the historical 2005 terminology; the Eurovision archive now uses “North Macedonia”.
