Contest year
- Host City
- Athen, Greece
- Venue
- Olympic Indoor Hall
- Final Date
- May 20, 2006
- Entries
- 37
- Notable events included Armenia’s debut, while Serbia and Montenegro withdrew after a scandal and broadcaster infighting over its national selection, yet unusually retained voting rights.
- The contest also featured experimental high-definition filming (not broadcast), and televoting issues forced Albania to use a jury, with Monaco also reverting to a jury due to low vote volumes.
- Finland won for the first time with Lordi’s “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, the first hard rock/heavy metal winner and ending the longest winless streak at the time.
- Ireland performed the 1,000th Eurovision song.
- via Wikipedia
Presenters
Maria Menounos, Sakis Rouvas
Final Results
| Country | Artist · Song | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Finland | Lordi Hard Rock Hallelujah | 1 | 292 |
 Russia | Dima Bilan Never Let You Go | 2 | 248 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hari Mata Hari Lejla | 3 | 229 |
 Romania | Mihai Trăistariu Tornero | 4 | 172 |
 Sweden | Carola Invincible | 5 | 170 |
 Lithuania | LT United We Are the Winners | 6 | 162 |
 Ukraine | Tina Karol Show Me Your Love | 7 | 145 |
 Armenia | André Without Your Love | 8 | 129 |
| Greece | Anna Vissi Everything | 9 | 128 |
 Ireland | Brian Kennedy Every Song Is a Cry for Love | 10 | 93 |
 Turkey | Sibel Tüzün Süper Star | 11 | 91 |
 North Macedonia | Elena Risteska Ninanajna | 12 | 56 |
 Croatia | Severina Moja štikla | 12 | 56 |
 Norway | Christine Guldbrandsen Alvedansen | 14 | 36 |
 Germany | Texas Lightning No No Never | 14 | 36 |
 Switzerland | Six4one If We All Give a Little | 16 | 30 |
 Latvia | Cosmos I Hear Your Heart | 16 | 30 |
 Denmark | Sidsel Ben Semmane Twist of Love | 18 | 26 |
 United Kingdom | Daz Sampson Teenage Life | 19 | 25 |
 Moldova | Arsenium Loca | 20 | 22 |
 Spain | Las Ketchup Bloody Mary | 21 | 18 |
 France | Virginie Pouchain Il était temps | 22 | 5 |
 Israel | Eddie Butler Ze Hazman | 23 | 4 |
 Malta | Fabrizio Faniello I Do | 24 | 1 |
 Albania | Luiz Ejlli Zjarr e ftohtë | — | — |
 Andorra | Jenny Sense tu | — | — |
 Belgium | Kate Ryan Je t'adore | — | — |
 Bulgaria | Mariana Popova Let Me Cry | — | — |
 Belarus | Polina Smolova Mum | — | — |
 Cyprus | Annet Artani Why Angels Cry | — | — |
 Estonia | Sandra Oxenryd Through My Window | — | — |
 Iceland | Silvía Night Congratulations | — | — |
 Monaco | Séverine Ferrer La coco-dance | — | — |
 Netherlands | Treble Amambanda | — | — |
 Poland | Ich Troje Follow My Heart | — | — |
 Portugal | Nonstop Coisas de nada | — | — |
 Slovenia | Anžej Dežan Mr Nobody | — | — |