The show was hosted by Katrina Leskanich, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997 with Love Shine A Light, and Renārs Kaupers, who was Latvia's first ever Eurovision Song Contest entrant in 2000 with his band Brainstorm.

In May 2005, the EBU opened a poll on Eurovision.tv to find the ten songs that would compete. Voters chose their two favourite songs from each of five decades: 1956 to 1965, 1966 to 1975, 1976 to 1985, 1986 to 1995 and 1996 to 2005. The remaining four songs were selected by the Reference Group of the contest. On the 16th of June, 2005 the fourteen chosen songs were announced.

The show featured performances of the 14 songs, Eurovision Song Contest highlights and three special medleys, performed by former participants.

The results

Both juries and televoting were used, both having an equal influence over the vote. In the first round of voting, the number of songs was reduced to five. Each country awarded points from one to eight, then ten and finally twelve for their ten most popular songs. The top five songs were then subjected to another round of voting, where only six points and above were awarded. The results were not announced until after the show. The song with the most points in the second round was the winner.

The event was won by the legendary Swedish group ABBA and their song Waterloo. The band had originally won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden in 1974 and became one of the most successful bands worldwide, selling more than 370 million records. Unfortunately, none of the four band members attended the show, and thus the award was handed over to Marten Aglander, representative of Universal Music in Sweden.

#	Song	1st round	Place	2nd round	Place
1	Congratulations	105	8	-	-
2	What's Another Year?	74	12	-	-
3	Diva	39	13	-	-
4	Eres Tú	90	11	-	-
5	Ein Bisschen Frieden	106	7	-	-
6	Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu	200	2	267	2
7	Waterloo	331	1	329	1
8	Fly On The Wings Of Love	111	6	-	-
9	Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son	37	14	-	-
10	Everyway That I Can	104	9	-	-
11	Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi	98	10	-	-
12	Hold Me Now	182	3	262	3
13	Save Your Kisses for Me	154	5	230	5
14	My Number One	167	4	245	4

Facts and figures

• 2,5 million votes were cast to determine the most popular Eurovision Song Contest entry;
• Eleven of the fourteen songs were Eurovision Song Contest winners; only Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu, Congratulations and Eres Tú (which all finished in the top three at the contest) were not. Two countries, the United Kingdom and Ireland, were represented twice on the list. Johnny Logan, who won the Eurovision Song Contest twice for Ireland as a singer, saw both of his songs on the shortlist;
• The EBU released two CDs featuring Eurovision Song Contest songs from the previous 50 years. Two DVDs with original Eurovision Song Contest performances of these songs were also released.