AZERBAIJAN duo Ell and Nikki upset the odds to win their country a first-ever Eurovision title on Saturday in Duesseldorf's Espirit Arena.
Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal, to give them their proper names, finished on 221 points, winning the contest with three rounds to go.
Great Britain could claim some credit for the Azerbaijani victory with Baku-born Nigar now living in Enfield in North London, but the United Kingdom's own competitor, boyband Blue, finished down in midtable.
Returning entrant Italy - who had not competed since 1997 - did well on its comeback, finishing runners-up on 189 points, four points clear of third-placed Sweden.
And 2004 winner Ukraine was third on 159 points - ahead of Denmark's appeal to the British vote with its group name, A Friend In London.
Remarkably, it was Bosnia-Herzegovina - down in sixth - who picked up the most instances of 12 points (five) in a much more even contest as compared to the previous two years.
In 2009, Norwegian Alexander Rybak smashed the record with 387 points for a margin of 169 over his nearest rival while last year's winner Lena Mayer of Germany was also comfortably clear of second-place.
Lena returned to the Eurovision fold this year - not only performing the opening act, as is custom, but hoping for a double-victory as Germany's entrant again.
Sadly for her, this year's song 'Taken By A Stranger' had none of the catchy bounce of 'Satellite' from last year and Lena was forced to settle for 10th.
That was still one place clear of the representatives from Blue, who proved they could not restore Eurovision glory with their entry, 'I Can'.
In fairness to Duncan James, Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe and Antony Costa, they did better on the scorecard than many recent British acts with the UK having finished bottom three times in the last six years.
But their uninspiring ballad, which had only reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart, always seemed destined for midtable fodder.
At least the UK had a bright start in the voting. Indeed, the UK were top after two rounds thanks to douze points from Bulgaria - but it proved to be the last maximum of the night for the Blue boys.
There was perhaps some consolation taken from Latvia's five points to the UK in the final round, an award which took the British to a nice, round 100 points.
Inevitably, Ireland's Jedward caught the mood of Eurovision a little better with a raucous performance of their latest single 'Lipstick'.
The popularity in the UK of Jedward - 19-year-old twin brothers John and Edward Grimes - from their role in last year's X Factor was clear as the UK gave Ireland 12 points, a move which was not reciprocated.
The Irish also got maximums from Scandanavian pair Denmark and Sweden, the song having since gone to the number one in the official charts of the latter.
However, it was not enough to give Ireland a seventh crown and the brothers had to settle for 119 points and eighth place, 102 behind winners Azerbaijan.
And so, thanks to the efforts of Ell and Nikki, next year's extravaganza will be held in Baku, at the crossroads of Southeastern Europe and Western Asia. Iran is one of the four countries to border the former Soviet state.
The unusual venue certainly adds an extra element to next year's contest which, thanks to acts like Jedward, remains as fun to watch as ever.
FINAL RESULT
01 AZERBAIJAN - 'Running Scared' by Ell and Nikki 221 points
02 ITALY - 'Madness of Love' by Raphael Gualazzi 189
03 SWEDEN - 'Popular' by Eric Saade 185
04 UKRAINE - 'Angel' by Mika Newton 159
05 DENMARK - 'New Tomorrow' by A Friend In London 134
06 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - 'Love In Rewind' by Dino Merlin 125
07 GREECE - 'Watch My Dance' by Loukas Giorkas feat Stereo Mike 120
08 IRELAND - 'Lipstick' by Jedward 119
09 GEORGIA - 'One More Day' by Eldrine 110
10 GERMANY - 'Taken By A Stranger' by Lena 107
11 UNITED KINGDOM - 'I Can' by Blue 100
12 MOLDOVA - 'So Lucky' by Zdob si Zdib 97
13 SLOVENIA - 'No One' by Maja Keuc 96
14 SERBIA - 'Caroban' by Nina 85
15 FRANCE - 'Sognu' by Amaury Vassili 82
16 RUSSIA - 'Get You' by Alexey Vorobyov 77
17 ROMANIA - 'Change' by Hotel FM 77
18 AUSTRIA - 'The Secret Is Love' by Nadine Beiler 64
19 LITHUANIA - 'C'est ma vie' by Evelina Sasenko 63
20 ICELAND - 'Coming Home' by Sjonni's Friends 61
21 FINLAND - 'Da Da Dam' by Paradise Oskar 57
22 HUNGARY - 'What About My Dreams?' by Kati Wolf 53
23 SPAIN - 'Que me quiten lo bailao' by Lucia Perez 50
24 ESTONIA - 'Rockefeller Street' by Getter Jaani 44
25 SWITZERLAND - 'In Love For A While' by Anna Rossinelli 19
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Preview
SERBIA, Russia, Switzerland, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Lithuania, Azerbaijan and Greece all qualified in the first semi final at the Espirit Arena in Duesseldorf on Tuesday.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, Ukraine, Moldova, Sweden, Slovenia, Romania, Estonia and Denmark qualified on Thursday along with six-time winners Ireland who are represented this year by former X Factor contestants Jedward.
The main five broadcasters in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) - France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom - received an automatic bye to tonight's Final.
The UK is represented by boyband Blue while last year's champion Lena has taken the unusual step of personally defending her crown for Germany. Coverage on BBC1 begins at 8pm.
TONIGHT'S RUNNING ORDER
from the Espirit Arena in Duesseldorf
01 FINLAND - 'Da Da Dam' by Paradise Oskar
02 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - 'Love in Rewind' by Dino Merlin
03 DENMARK - 'New Tomorrow' by A Friend in London
04 LITHUANIA - 'C'est ma vie' by Evelina Sasenko
05 HUNGARY - 'What About My Dreams?' by Kati Wolf
06 IRELAND - 'Lipstick' by Jedward
07 SWEDEN - 'Popular' by Eric Saade
08 ESTONIA - 'Rockefeller Street' by Getter Jaani
09 GREECE - 'Watch My Dance' by Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike
10 RUSSIA - 'Get You' by Alexey Vorobyov
11 FRANCE - 'Sognu' by Amaury Vassili
12 ITALY - 'Madness of Love' by Raphael Gualazzi
13 SWITZERLAND - 'In Love for a While' by Anna Rossinelli
14 UNITED KINGDOM - 'I Can' by Blue
15 MOLDOVA - 'So Lucky' by Zdob si Zdub
16 GERMANY - 'Taken by a Stranger' by Lena
17 ROMANIA - 'Change' by Hotel FM
18 AUSTRIA - 'The Secret Is Love' by Nadine Beiler
19 AZERBAIJAN - 'Running Scared' by Ell and Nikki
20 SLOVENIA - 'No One' by Maja Keuc
21 ICELAND - 'Coming Home' by Sjonni's Friends
22 SPAIN - 'Que me quiten lo bailao' by Lucia Perez
23 UKRAINE - 'Angel' by Mika Newton
24 SERBIA - 'Caroban' by Nina
25 GEORGIA - 'One More Day' by Eldrine
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