My Number One

"My Number One"
Single by Helena Paparizou
from the album Protereotita: Euro Edition and My Number One
B-side	"I Don't Want You Here Anymore" (Anapandites Klisis) "O.K."
Released	March 24, 2005 (See Release history)
Format	CD Single, digital download
Recorded	2005
Genre	Pop-folk, dance, folk dance
Length	2:58
Label	Sony BMG Greece/Columbia (See Release history)
Writer(s)	Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou
Producer	Christos Dantis
Certification	Gold (IFPI Greece, Cyprus, Sweden)
Helena Paparizou singles chronology
"Anapandites Kliseis" (2003) "My Number One" (2005) "The Light in Our Soul" (2005)
Alternative cover US cover for My Number One Audio sample file info · help

"My Number One" is the 2005 winning song of the 50th Eurovision Song Contest. It was performed in English by Helena Paparizou and it is the first win of Greece in Eurovision. The song was written by Christos Dantis, with lyrics by him and Natalia Germanou. It also contains music from a traditional Greek instrument like the lyre.

The song is an up-tempo love song, with Helena telling her lover that he is "my number one" and "the only treasure I'll ever have".

Before Eurovision

Before Eurovision, ERT used an internal selection method to choose Helena. They chose her, and then had composers submit songs. They then picked 4 songs with Elena for her to sing at a Greek National Selection. At the Greek National Selection, Elena would have to sing the 4 songs, and the public would vote via televoting with a special jury, that would determine what song to send to Eurovision. The songs to pick from were "My Number One", "OK", "Let's Get Wild" and "The Light in Our Soul". Shortly before the Greek national selection, it was revealed that "The Light in Our Soul" was released by the artist Big Alice in Germany, which broke the rules. The song was then disqualifed from the selection prossess, leaving it to 3 songs to choose from.

The voting to pick the song consisted of televoting, and a jury. Televoting held a 60% outcome to the song, and the jury held a 40% outcome. In the end, "My Number One" gained a combined 66.47% from televoting and jury votes, and was chosen to represent Greece in 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. Shortly after the song was picked, the videoclip was shot in just 1 day at the Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum in Thessaloniki.

After the song was picked, Elena went on a European promotional tour. Elena visited over 20 countries on her tour, and sang on various TV shows, as well as gave many interviews. This method proved popular, and was used by many countries in 2006, including by Greece again in 2006.

National Final - March 2, 2005

№	Song	Composer-Lyricist	Percentage	Place
1	"My Number One"	Christos Dantis & Natalia Germanou	66.47%	1st
2	"OK"	Christodoulos Siganos & Valentino	24.55%	2nd
3	"Let's Get Wild"	Douglas Carr	8.98%	3rd
3	"The Light in Our Soul"	Kostas Bigalis	Disqualified	N/A

At Eurovision

My Number One
Eurovision Song Contest 2005 entry
Country	Greece
Artist(s)	Elena Paparizou
As	Helena Paparizou
Language	English
Composer(s)	Christos Dantis
Lyricist(s)	Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou
Finals performance
Final result	1st
Final points	230
Appearance chronology
◄ Shake It (2004)
Everything (2006) ►

As Greece had finished the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in third place, the song was pre-qualified for the final in 2005. Thus, it was performed nineteenth on the night, following Croatia's Boris Novković and Lado with "Vukovi umiru sami" and preceding Russia's Natalia Podolskaya with "Nobody Hurt No One".

During the performance, Elena did a stage show of the song. Some of the best remembered visuals from the show include her dancing a traditional Greek Pontian dance, and her playing an imaginary lyra while her dancers pick her up. At the close of voting, it had received 230 points, finishing at the head of a 24-strong field.

At the Congratulations special in late 2005, the song was named as one of the five greatest Contest entries of all time, earning the 4th place in ESC history.

"My Number One" also held 2 Eurovision records:

• The first one is that "My Number One" scored an average of only 6.05 points per jury, the second lowest average for a winning song to date. This record was previously held by Yugoslavia in 1989 with the song "Rock Me", and was later broken by Azerbaijan in 2011 with Running Scared, by Ell & Nikki.
• The second one "My Number One" held, was the record for most 12 points given out to one country. "My Number One" received 10 12 points, tying it with the UK's 1997 entry "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves for the record (Televoting was only in place for 5 countries by 1997). This record was later broken by Fairytale, the winning song in 2009, which scored 16 12 points out of 41 countries who were allowed to vote for it.

After Eurovision

After Greece won Eurovision, a mass party started on the streets of Athens. People went out onto the streets with Greek flags, and started singing "My Number One", as well as honking car horns. This was similar to when Greece won the 2004 Eurocup, 2005 Eurobasket and when Greece won the silver medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. When Elena arrived back to Greece from Kiev, mass crowds met her at the Athens International Airport, where she held up a Greek flag and the trophy.

After the Eurovision Victory, the video for the song was released in several countries throughout Europe. It went to number one in both Sweden and Greece for 4 weeks and was certified gold in both countries. The song was played constantly in Greece all through the summer. The success of the single is credited to the popular remix from Chris "The Greek" Panaghi which Sony (Greece) commissioned for the remix.

After the release of "My Number One", a Swedish album followed which contained "My Number One" and in Greece Elena re-released her first album Protereotita featuring "My Number One" and the other songs in the running for Eurovision pre-selection. It has sold over 90,000 copies in Greece and was certified double platinum.

In 2006 the heavy metal band Dream Evil recorded a tongue-in-cheek cover of the song for their album United.

In 2009, "My Number One" made its way to the PlayStation 3 karaoke game, Singstar, as a downloadable content. It was previously released in the Swedish version of the game, but it is the first time it has become accessible to players from all over Europe. It is also the first time that a song from a Greek singer is included in the Singstar game.

In early 2006, it was announced that "My Number One" and "Mambo!" would be remixed and released in the United States by Moda Records. On August 22,^[1] a maxi CD single was released to record stores, featuring 10 remixes, and the original song; the mixes were also released as digital downloads on June 4.^[2] The song peaked on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart at number 8 and number 25 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales. In September 2006, the Georgie’s #1 Radio Anthem Mix was added to popular American retailer Abercrombie & Fitch's store playlist nationwide.^[3]

Track listings

International edition "My Number One"–2:58 "I Don't Want You Here Anymore"–4:09 German edition "My Number One"–2:58 "I Don't Want You Here Anymore"–4:09 "O.K."–2:58 "My Number One" (Music video) Swedish edition "My Number One"–2:58 "My Number One" (Instrumental)–2:58

US edition "Josh Harris Radio Mix"–3:38 "Norty Cotto's My Radio Lover Mix"–3:29 "Original Radio"–2:55 "Georgie's #1 Radio Anthem Mix"–3:18 "Mike Cruz Radio Mix"–4:03 "Chris "The Greek" Panaghi Radio Mix"–3:35 "Valentino's Radio Epic Mix"–3:02 "Josh Harris Vocal Club Mix"–6:53 "Norty Cotto's My Clubber Lover Mix"–6:57 "Georgie's #1 Anthem Mix"–7:00 "Mike Cruz Vox Mix"–9:44

Music video

Paparizou and dancers performing a choreography identical to the live Eurovision performance in the "My Number One" music video.

The music video of "My Number One" premiered in the US in 2006. There were two separate videos. One is the original video, that was also shown in Europe. The second is a re-edited version of the same video, to the beat of the Josh Harris Remix from the CD Single.

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format
Greece	March 24, 2005	Sony BMG
Sweden	May 4, 2005[4]	Bonnier Amigo	CD single, digital download
Finland
Denmark	May 30, 2005[4]
Norway
Germany		Sony BMG
Austria
Netherlands	June 6, 2005[4]		CD single
Belgium
Portugal	June 7, 2005[4]
Italy	July 1, 2005[4]		CD Single, digital download
United States	June 4, 2006[2]	Moda	Digital download
	August 22, 2006[1]		CD single

Charts and certifications

Chart	Providers	Peak position	Certification
Greece	IFPI	1	Gold[5]
Sweden	IFPI	1	Gold[6]

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[7]	44
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8]	10
Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia)[9]	36
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	17
Germany (Media Control AG)[10]	37
Greece (IFPI Greece)[11]	1
Hungary (Mahasz)[12]	9
Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[13]	24
Romania (UPFR)	4
Russia (EMI)[14]	19
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[15]	1
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[16]	15
Charts (2006)	Peak position
US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[17]	8
US Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales	25

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Staff (2006-08-22). "My Number One [SINGLE"]. Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GI3R56. Retrieved 2009-09-07. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Staff (2006-06-04). "My Number One (Dance Mixes)". iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=164117687&s=143441. Retrieved 2009-09-07. 
3. ^ "Abercrombie & Fitch Store Music: 2006 Playlist By Month: September". EverythingAmbercrombie. 2008-08-04. http://everythingabercrombie.com/store-music-playlist/abercrombie-fitch-store-music-2006-playlist-by-month/. Retrieved 2009-01-14. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} ""My Number One" all over Europe!". http://www.mad.tv/news/?id=18781. (Greek) MAD TV. Retrieved on July 25, 2005.
5. ^ www.ifpi.gr
6. ^ http://www.sverigetopplistan.se/
7. ^ "Helena Paparizou – My Number One – Austriancharts.at" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
8. ^ "Ultratop.be – Helena Paparizou – My Number One" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
9. ^ "Ultratop.be – Helena Paparizou – My Number One" (in French). Ultratop 40. Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
10. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche - musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
11. ^ "Top 50 Singles Chart". IFPI Greece. 2005-07-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20050826052319/http://www.ifpi.gr/chart03.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-01. 
12. ^ "Hungarian Singles chart- My Number One". http://www.mahasz.hu/?menu=slagerlistak&menu2=archivum&lista=kislemez&ev=2005&het=33&submit_=Keres%E9s. 
13. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Helena Paparizou – My Number One" (in Dutch). Mega Single Top 100. Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
14. ^ "Russian Chart- My Number One". http://www.tophit.ru/cgi-bin/trackinfo.cgi?id=3297. 
15. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Helena Paparizou – My Number One". Singles Top 60. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
16. ^ "Helena Paparizou – My Number One – swisscharts.com". Swiss Singles Chart. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
17. ^ "Helena Paparizou Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play for Helena Paparizou. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-08-01.

External links

• Chart History in Billboard
• Dutch Tipparade Chart in 2005
• My Number One history in Dutch Top 100 Singles
• Chart positions of Helena Paparizou's singles & albums

Preceded by "Wild Dances" by Ruslana

Eurovision Song Contest winners 2005

Succeeded by "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi

Preceded by "Shake It" by Sakis Rouvas

Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Succeeded by "Everything" by Anna Vissi