Never Let You Go (Dima Bilan song)

Last updated
"Never Let You Go"
NeverLetYouGoCDSingle.jpg
Single by Dima Bilan
Released2006
Recorded2005
Genre Pop
Length3:06
Songwriter(s)
Dima Bilan singles chronology
"Not That Simple"
(2005)
"Never Let You Go"
(2006)
"Lady Flame"
(2006)
Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Language
English
Composer(s)
Alexandr Lunyov
Lyricist(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final result
3rd
Semi-final points
217
Final result
2nd
Final points
248
Entry chronology
◄ "Nobody Hurt No One" (2005)
"Song #1" (2007) ►

"Never Let You Go" is a song performed by Dima Bilan at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, where he represented Russia and ended up in 2nd place.

Contents

At the performance in Athens, Dima Bilan wears a white tank top with a number representing his place in the contest's running order – 13 in the semi-final and 10 in the final. Bilan was surrounded by two ballerinas dancing in the background and a white piano covered in red rose petals, from which a ghost-like female figure emerged halfway through the song.

On the night of the semi-final the song was performed 13th, following Poland's Ich Troje with "Follow My Heart" and preceding Turkey's Sibel Tüzün with "Süper Star". The song received 217 points, placing 3rd in a field of 23 and proceeding to the final.

On the night of the final Bilan performed 10th in the running order, following Denmark's Sidsel Ben Semmane with "Twist of Love" and preceding Macedonia's Elena Risteska with "Ninanajna". The song received 248 points, finishing second behind Finland's Lordi with "Hard Rock Hallelujah".

This was Russia's best showing at Eurovision up to that time. He beat Alsou, who also came 2nd in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, but by only 155 points. Since the introduction of the semi-final in 2004, more countries are participating and voting in the contest, thus increasing the possible amount of scores a song can receive: in 2006, there were 38 nations taking part (Serbia and Montenegro pulled out of performing, but still voted), as opposed to 24 in 2000. Nevertheless, Alsou received 53.8% of the maximum possible points from 24 countries in 2000, whilst Bilan's final tally equated to 54.4% of the maximum possible score available from the 38 voting countries.

The song was succeeded as Russian representative by Serebro with "Song #1".

Dima Bilan performed the song at the World Music Awards in Earls Court on 15 November 2006.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2006)Peak
position
CIS (TopHit) [1] 3
Greece (IFPI Greece) [2] 8
Russia Airplay (TopHit) [3] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (2006)Position
CIS (Tophit) [4] 14
Russia Airplay (TopHit) [5] 18

Decade-end charts

Decade-end chart performance for "Never Let You Go"
Chart (2000–2009)Position
Russia Airplay (TopHit) [6] 170

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

Russia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its debut in 1994. Russia won the 2008 contest with Dima Bilan performing the song "Believe". One of the most successful countries in the contest in the 21st century with a total of ten top five placements, Russia finished second with Alsou in 2000, Dima Bilan in 2006, Buranovskiye Babushki in 2012 and Polina Gagarina in 2015; third with t.A.T.u. in 2003, Serebro in 2007, Sergey Lazarev in 2016 and 2019, and fifth with Dina Garipova in 2013. In 2018, the country failed to qualify for the final for the first time in its history. The Russian entry has been chosen through both internal selections and a televised national final titled Evrovidenie, with its most recent entry (2021) being chosen by the latter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Number One</span> 2005 Helena Paparizou song

"My Number One" is a song recorded by Greek-Swedish singer Helena Paparizou, written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou and produced by Christos Dantis. It was the Greek winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, held in Kyiv, awarding the country its first victory in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). Dima Bilan represented Russia with the song "Never Let You Go", which qualified from the semi-final and placed 2nd in the final, scoring 248 points. This 2nd place, alongside the 2nd place of Alsou in 2000, was the best result of Russia until 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dima Bilan</span> Russian singer and model (born 1981)

Dima Nikolayevich Bilan is a Russian singer and model. He represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Never Let You Go", finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song "Believe". He has had several Russian number one hit records. He is sometimes referred to as "Russia's Iglesias" due to his similarity to the Spanish singer.

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). Natalia Podolskaya represented Russia with the song "Nobody Hurt No One", which placed 15th and scored 57 points at the contest.

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Work Your Magic" written by Karen Kavaleryan and Philip Kirkorov. The song was performed by Dmitry Koldun. The Belarusian entry for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland was selected through the national final Eurofest 2007, organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). The national final was a televised production which consisted of a semi-final and a final held on 15 December 2006 and 22 January 2007, respectively. Fifteen competing acts participated in the semi-final where three entries qualified to the final: one entry selected by a public televote and two entries selected by a seven-member jury panel. In the final, the jury panel selected "Work Your Magic" performed by Dmitry Koldun as the winner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dmitry Koldun</span> Belarusian singer

Dmitry Aleksandrovich Koldun is a Belarusian pop singer.

Russia participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, Evrovidenie 2008 organised by the Russian broadcaster Rossiya Channel (RTR). Dima Bilan represented Russia with the song "Believe", which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and won the contest, placing 1st in the final with 272 points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shady Lady (Ani Lorak song)</span> 2008 single by Ani Lorak

"Shady Lady" is a song recorded by Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak. It is best known as the Ukraine entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Belgrade. It was composed by Philipp Kirkorov and written by Karen Kavaleryan. However, around the time of the contest there were many rumors in Greece stating that popular composer Dimitris Kontopoulos had actually composed the song. Although his name was not credited during the Eurovision Song Contest performances, it was later confirmed that Kontopoulos was indeed a producer of the song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Believe (Dima Bilan song)</span> 2008 song

"Believe" is the winning Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, sung by Dima Bilan. The song was written by Jim Beanz and Bilan himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobody Hurt No One</span> Song performed by Natalia Podolskaya

"Nobody Hurt No One" was the Russian entry in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, performed in English by Belarusian singer Natalia Podolskaya. It was written by Victor Drobysh, Jussi-Pekka Järvinen, Mary Susan Applegate, and produced by Victor Drobysh and Iosif Prigozhin.

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "This Is Our Night" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb and performed by Sakis Rouvas. To select their entry for the 2009 contest, which was held in Moscow, Russia, the Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected Rouvas, while his song was chosen through the televised national final Ellinikós Telikós 2009, which consisted of three candidate songs voted upon by the public and a jury.

Russia participated in and hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). Anastasia Prikhodko represented Russia with the song "Mamo", which scored 91 points in the final and finished in 11th place.

Russia participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, held in Oslo, Norway in May 2010, and was represented by broadcaster Rossiya Channel (RTR).

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster RTR. Buranovskiye Babushki represented Russia with the song "Party for Everybody", which qualified from the first semi-final and went on to place 2nd in the final, scoring 259 points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Party for Everybody</span> 2012 song by Buranovskiye Babushki

"Party for Everybody" was the Russian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 sung by Buranovskiye Babushki. The song won Russia's national song selection, which took place on 7 March 2012 in Moscow.

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Russian entry was selected through an internal selection, organised by Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). Dina Garipova represented Russia with the song "What If", which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and placed 5th in the final with 174 points.

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R). Yulia Savicheva represented Russia with the song "Believe Me", which placed 11th and scored 67 points at the contest.

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "A Million Voices", written by Gabriel Alares, Joakim Björnberg, Katrina Noorbergen, Leonid Gutkin and Vladimir Matetsky. The song was performed by Polina Gagarina, who was selected by Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia (C1R) in March 2015 to represent the nation at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. In the first of the Eurovision semi-finals "A Million Voices" placed first out of the 16 participating countries, securing its place among the 27 other songs in the final. In Russia's nineteenth Eurovision appearance on 23 May, "A Million Voices" finished in second place, receiving 303 points and full marks from five countries.

Russia won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which took take place on 26 November 2017, in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Russian broadcaster Russia-1, owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Polina Bogusevich won the contest with the song "Wings".

References

  1. Dima Bilan — Never Let You Go. TopHit. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  2. "IFPI archive". Archived from the original on 2006-11-05. Retrieved 2006-11-05.
  3. "Top Radio Hits Russia Weekly Chart: Jul 27, 2006". TopHit . Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  4. "Лучшие песни и музыка за 2006 год" (in Russian). Tophit . Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  5. "Top Radio Hits Russia Annual Chart: 2006". TopHit. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  6. "Top Radio Hits Russia Decade Chart: 00s". TopHit. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.