Eurovision Song Contest 1974 for Sweden), Bucks Fizz (winner in 1981 for the United Kingdom), and Celine Dion (winner in 1988 for Switzerland), all of whom launched successful careers. Based on the Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951, Eurovision has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956, making it the longest-running annual international television contest and one of the world's longest-running television programmes. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events, with audience figures of between 100 million and 600 million internationally. It has been broadcast in several countries that do not compete, such as the United
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following Dima Bilan's win at the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia with the song "Believe" – marking the first time that the country had won the contest. The event was staged between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak with his self-penned "Fairytale", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history