The
Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st
Eurovision Song Contest, held at the
Olympic Indoor Hall in
Athens,
Greece on 18 May (for the semi-final) and 20 May 2006 (for the final). The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was
Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT). The
Finnish band
Lordi won the contest with the song "
Hard Rock Hallelujah", written by lead singer
Mr. Lordi. "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was the first ever
hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is normally associated with softer
pop music and
schlager. This was
Finland's first victory in Eurovision after waiting forty-five years. It is also noted that they scored the same amount of points in the semi-final and the grand final. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens were
Greek singer
Sakis Rouvas, the Greek representative at Eurovision in
2004 and 2009, and the
Greek American television presenter and actress,
Maria Menounos. In the semi-final, both the hosts sang
Katrina and the Waves' contest-winning "Love Shine A Light". For one of the intervals,
Sakis Rouvas sang an
English version of his Greek hit "S'eho Erotefthi" called "I'm in love with you".
Helena Paparizou, who performed the winning song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. Following the examples of
Sertab Erener and
Ruslana in the last two years, she sang twice in the final, "
My Number One" in the opening and her current song "
Mambo!" in the interval (which was also a smash hit in Greece at the time); Greek dancers were also present in the interval acts, as well as other Greek elements. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official fan book released from this year, and every year to come with detailed information of every country.