This year's 54th Eurovision is shaping up to be one of the glitziest shows in the history of the competition, one of Europe's most watched annual television shows.
Russia is hosting the contest for the first time this year after Dima Bilan won the competition in Belgrade last year.
Here are some facts about the contest.
PAST CONTESTS:
* The Eurovision Song Contest, an event that is often laughed off by critics as tacky and kitsch, also boasts a television audience estimated at around 100 million people each year.
* The first contest took place in 1956 and it has been broadcast every year since. It was originally conceived in Monaco by Marcel Bezencon and based on the Italian Sanremo Festival held since 1951. Switzerland won the first contest.
* The 13th Eurovision contest in 1968 was the first to be broadcast in colour from London's Royal Albert Hall. Cliff Richard's seminal "Congratulations" came second, beaten by Spain's "La La La", which used the word "La" 138 times.
EUROVISION RECORDS:
* Singer Johnny Logan has won the contest three times. In 1980 and 1987 he represented Ireland as performer and won both times, in 1992 he wrote Linda Martin's winning entry.
* ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winner. The Swedish pop band won the contest in 1974 with the song "Waterloo".
* The most covered song in the contest is Domenico Mudugno's "Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu", also known as "Volare".
* Norway came last most often in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001 and 2004. However, they also won twice in 1985 and 1995. Britain first won the contest in 1967 with the song "Puppet on a String" sung by bare-footed Sandie Shaw. Ireland has won 7 times, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom 5 times. Sweden and the Netherlands won 4 times.
* In 2006, Ireland's Brian Kennedy contributed what was to be song number 1,000 in the competition.
* Most winning songs were performed in English - songs (mostly) in English won 22 times. French is also popular, with 14 victories. Dutch and Hebrew songs won 3 times each.
WHO WON IN 2008:
* Dima Bilan, a lithe 26-year-old singer, beat 24 contestants to give Russia its first victory in the Eurovision Song Contest on May 24 with a rock ballad "Believe".
-- Germans fretted after their most popular band of the last decade scored zero points from 40 of 42 countries in the contest and they ended up sharing last place. The "No Angels", four women in skimpy dresses who sold more than 5 million albums in the last eight years, went into the contest in Belgrade with hopes of giving Germany their second victory, since 1982.
POLITICS STALKS THE 2009 COMPETITION:
* In 2009, artists from 25 of the 42 represented countries will compete in the final of the 2009 contest.
* Georgia, which fought a war against Russia last August, has already said it will pull out of the competition after the governing body banned its song for containing political references, perceived as a thinly-veiled swipe at Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.
* Russia's own entrant has been criticised by some nationalists because the singer comes from Ukraine, another country which has tense relations with Moscow.
* A Jewish-Arab duo, Achinoam Nini - a Jewish singer better known abroad as "Noa", and Mira Awad, a Christian Arab Israeli - will sing the tune "Your eyes". Israel's President Shimon Peres said he admired the duo, Israel's first mixed ethnic entry to the contest in decades.
* Russian gay pride events coincide with Moscow's hosting of the contest during the final on May 16 and competitors have been asked to back homosexual rights onstage, Russian gay activists have said.