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The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the 2013 contest with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), the contest was held at B&W Hallerne, and consisted of two semi-finals on 6 and 8 May, and a final on 10 May 2014.
The three live shows were presented by Danish television presenter Lise Rønne, musician Nikolaj Koppel and actor Pilou Asbæk.Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest; this included the return of Poland and Portugal after absences of two years and one year respectively. Overall, there were two fewer countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia announced that they would not be taking part.
The winner was Austria with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", performed by Conchita Wurst and written by Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, and Julian Maas. Austria's victory was the longest gap between victories for any country at the time - 48 years, not having won since 1966. The Netherlands, Sweden, Armenia and Hungary rounded out the top five, with the Netherlands achieving their best result since their victory in 1975, Hungary achieving their best result since their fourth place in 1994, and Armenia equalling their best result from 2008. Of the "Big Five" countries, only Spain achieved a place in the top ten, while France finished in last place for the first time in their Eurovision history. Meanwhile, San Marino and Montenegro both qualified for the final for the first time.
A new record of 195 million viewers for the contest was reported.The official compilation album of the 2014 contest was released by Universal Music Group on 14 April 2014, and featured all 37 songs from the contest, including the official #JoinUs theme performed during the interval act of the final. The host broadcaster, DR, and the EBU won the International TV Award at the Ondas Awards for their production of the contest.
The show organisers from Copenhagen spent in total 112 million Danish kroner on the contest; three times more than what was expected and were furthermore highly accused of cases of nepotism within the organisation.

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