In the previous years, the winners have been Alban Skënderaj, Stine, Greta Koçi and Besa. The winners have all been under 25 years old, which shows the age and talent of participants. Bojken Lako, the Artistic Director of the festival, was happy with the singers of 2009. According to him, the songs were of the same quality as those of the contemporary world stars. R&B rhythms in the style of Rihanna, Rock sounds resembling The Killers or popular music similar to Katy Perry have been blasting in Albanian, driving crazy those more than 6000 young people who attended the Fest at the Sports’ Palace. Sometimes the burning desire to imitate world stars has even produced copycatting - when the cover was blown, the songs and artists in question were thrown out of the competition.
The presenters of the Top Fest were, for the second time in a row, two well known hosts of different tv shows on Top channel for the young generation, Arbana Osmani and Ledion Lico. They considered Top fest a wonderful experience and “A lot of fun”. As they presented the artists, danced, sang and made fun of each other, they were joined on the stage by well-known representatives of Albanian show business, who handed out the awards. Yet, one of the most memorable moments of the show was the French kiss exchanged by two girls performing on stage together with Blero, who received the Award for Best Male Performer.
For the first time this year, the whole show was filmed and televised in High Definition format.
Top Fest Awards 2009:
Great Award of 10.000 Euros - Linda Halimi: Dreaming
Best Male Performer - Blero
Best Female Performer - Jehona Sopi
Best Group - NGR Band
Best Young Artist - Dajana Simoni
Best Hip Hop - F Key
Best Dance - Eliza Hoxha
Digitalb Award - Big Mama
Internet Award - Gili & Enis Patoku
Best Song - Xuxi, Andos
Top Albania Radio Award - Ingrid Gjoni