"Never Let You Go" is a song performed by

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (russian: Ди́ма Никола́евич Била́н; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan, russian: Ви́ктор Никола́евич Бела́н, links=no; 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer, songwriter and acto ...

at the

2006 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadca ...

, where he represented and ended up in 2nd place. At the performance in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, 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

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

s 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 's

Ich Troje Ich Troje ("The Three of Them") is a Polish pop band. Ich Troje was founded in 1996 by songwriter Michał Wiśniewski and composer Jacek Łągwa. Since 2000, Ich Troje has been one of the most successful Polish groups. They have sold more than 1.5 ...

with "Follow My Heart" and preceding 's

Sibel Tüzün Ayşe Sibel Tüzün (born 29 September 1971) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. Life and career Sibel began her musical education at the TRT Istanbul Children's Choir. During her secondary school years she joined the ''Youth Choi ...

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 's

Sidsel Ben Semmane Sidsel Ben Sémmane (born 9 October 1988) is a Danish musician known since 2017 by the stage name Sémmane. She won the 2006 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and went on to finish 18th at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens. Her mother is Algeria ...

with "Twist of Love" and preceding 's

Elena Risteska Elena Risteska ( mk, Елена Ристеска, ; born 27 April 1986), sometimes known as simply Elena, is a Macedonian singer. She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens with the song "Ninanajna", and finished in 1 ...

with "Ninanajna". The song received 248 points, finishing second behind 's

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

with "

Hard Rock Hallelujah "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It was released as a single in 2006, reaching the 1 spot in Finland and reaching the top 10 in eight other European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at No. 25. L ...

". This was Russia's best showing at Eurovision up to that time. He beat

Alsou Alsou Ralifovna Abramova ( rus, Алсу́ Рали́фовна Абра́мова; tt-Cyrl, Алсу Рәлиф кызы Абрамова; ; born 27 June 1983), better known as just Alsou, is a Russian singer and actress. She represented Russi ...

, who also came 2nd in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2000 The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson. Organised by the Europea ...

, but by only 155 points. Since the introduction of the semi-final in , 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 ( 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 Serebro ( rus, Серебро, t=Silver, p=sʲɪrʲɪˈbro, a=ru-серебро.ogg; stylized as SEREBRO) was a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. Serebro was formed in 2007, consisting of Marina Lizorkina, Ol ...

with " Song #1". Dima Bilan performed the song at the

World Music Awards The World Music Awards is an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event is based in Monte Carlo. Awards are presented to the world's ...

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

on 15 November 2006.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2006 songs Eurovision songs of 2006 Eurovision songs of Russia Dima Bilan songs Songs with lyrics by Karen Kavaleryan English-language Russian songs