It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the 2000 contest with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers.

The winner was Estonia with the song "Everybody", performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL, and written by Ivar Must and Maian Kärmas.

The three largest cities in Denmark – Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense – all made bids to host the contest.

[1] However, the venue's scale meant that many audience members could not see the stage, and for many entries the hall appeared to be too big.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal and Slovenia returned after being relegated from the previous year's event.

In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order.

[5] Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia returned after being excluded from participating in the 2000 contest, while Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Macedonia, Romania, Switzerland, the seven countries with the lowest average result in the past five contests, were relegated.

[5][16] A compilation album featuring all 23 competing entries was released on 5 May 2001 by EMI Records and CMC International.

This submission was required to include a sound recording of the entry and backing track for use during the contest, a video presentation of the song on stage being performed by the artists, and the text of the song lyrics in its original language and translations in French and English for distribution to the participating broadcasters, their commentators and juries.

[5] Countries which were unable to hold a televote due to technological limitations were granted an exception, and their points were determined by an assembled jury of eight individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, comprised additionally of an equal number of men and women, and below and above 30 years of age.

The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded.

The table below outlines the participating countries, the order in which they performed, the competing artists and songs, and the results of the voting.

The winner was Estonia represented by the song "Everybody", composed by Ivar Must, written by Maian Kärmas and performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL.

[19] Prior to the contest Greece were hotly tipped to win by the bookmakers, Sweden the second favourites, with France, Slovenia and host country Denmark expected to round out the top 5.

[24] The majority of participating countries held a televote, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points.

[5] Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their viewers.

[82] Controversy also surrounded the Swedish song, "Listen To Your Heartbeat", which was repeatedly accused as a plagiarism of the Belgian entry for the 1996 contest, "Liefde is een kaartspel".

[2] Although enjoyable, people complained about it being a little bit "rude" as there was some swearing during the performance, both at the beginning and end of "Barbie Girl".