Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
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Participating broadcaster | Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR; 2008–present) Former members
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Participation summary | |
Appearances | 29 (19 finals) |
First appearance | 1994 |
Highest placement | 1st: 2001 |
Host | 2002 |
Related articles | |
Eesti Laul | |
External links | |
ERR page | |
Estonia's page at Eurovision.tv | |
For the most recent participation see Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 |
Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 29 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993 but a qualification round was installed for seven former Eastern Bloc countries hoping to make their debut in the contest, with Estonia failing to qualify. Estonia has won the contest once, in 2001.
Estonia's first participation in 1994 was unsuccessful, finishing 24th (out of 25). Estonia went on to finish in the top eight in six out of seven contests (1996–2002), with Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna fifth (1996), Maarja-Liis Ilus returning to finish eighth (1997), Evelin Samuel and Camille sixth (1999) and Ines fourth (2000), before Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. With this, Estonia became the first of the new countries that joined Eurovision in the 1990s and won the contest. Sahlene then finished third for the hosts in Tallinn in 2002.
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Estonia has failed to reach the final on ten occasions and has reached the top ten five times, with Urban Symphony sixth (2009), Ott Lepland sixth (2012), Elina Born and Stig Rästa seventh (2015), Elina Nechayeva eighth (2018) and Alika eighth (2023). Estonia's total of eleven top ten results is more than any other Baltic country.
Estonia finished 24th (out of 25) on its debut in 1994 and was relegated from the following year's contest.
Estonia's record at the contest was a successful one from 1996 to 2002, only failing once to make the top 10 (in 1998 when it ended up in 12th place). Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna's fifth-place in 1996 was the first top five ranking for any country, formerly annexed by Soviet Union and therefore unable to participate. Ilus returned to finish eighth in 1997.
The country's first win came in 2001, when Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, along with 2XL, sang "Everybody" and received 198 points, therefore making Estonia the first formerly USSR-annexed country to win the Contest. The 2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital city Tallinn, where Sahlene finished third for the hosts (tied with the UK).
From 2004 to 2008 Estonia failed to qualify to the finals, mostly receiving poor results – during that period its best entry was 11th place in the 2004 semi-final by Neiokõsõ with " Tii ", sung in the Võro language.
Despite news that Estonia might withdraw from the 2009 contest (set to be held in Moscow, Russia) due to the war in South Ossetia, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) confirmed that due to public demand, Estonia would send an entry to Moscow. [1] [2] After a new national final, Eesti Laul , was introduced to select the Estonian entry, the winner was Urban Symphony with "Rändajad", which had beaten the televoting favourite, Laura, by the votes of a jury. [3] [4]
At the second semi-final of the 2009 contest, Urban Symphony qualified Estonia to the final of the contest for the first time since 2003, receiving 115 points and placing 3rd. The group performed 15th in the final, where it received 129 points, placing 6th out of 25 competing entries as well as being the highest placing non-English language song at the 2009 competition.
In 2010, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, with the song "Siren" by Malcolm Lincoln.
In 2011, Estonia was represented by Getter Jaani with the song "Rockefeller Street". She was the bookmakers' pre-contest favorite for victory along with France. She qualified to the final but eventually placed 24th of 25 entries- tying Silvi Vrait's 1994 result for Estonia's worst placing in the contest final.
Since 2012, Estonia has achieved four more top ten results. Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final of the 2012 contest, with his song "Kuula", ending up 4th in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonia's result of 1999 and 2009, placing 6th. Elina Born and Stig Rästa finished seventh in 2015. Elina Nechayeva and Alika finished eighth in 2018 and 2023, respectively.
1 | First place |
3 | Third place |
◁ | Last place |
X | Entry selected but did not compete |
† | Upcoming event |
Songs | Language | Years |
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19 | English | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, |
9 | Estonian | 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2024 |
1 | Võro | 2004 |
1 | Serbian | 2008 |
1 | German | 2008 |
1 | Finnish | 2008 |
1 | Italian | 2018 |
Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
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2002 | Tallinn | Saku Suurhall | Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere |
Year | Conductor | Notes | Ref. |
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1993 | Peeter Lilje | [lower-alpha 3] | |
1994 | Urmas Lattikas | ||
1996 | Tarmo Leinatamm | ||
1997 | |||
1998 | Heiki Vahar |
Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
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1997–2008 | Juhan Paadam | |
2009–2015 | Heidy Purga | |
2015–2018 | Mart Normet | |
2019–2023 | Tomi Rahula | |
2024– | Riin Vann | |
Year | Costume designers | Ref. |
---|---|---|
2013 | Karolin Kuusik |
Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Russian commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | Ivo Linna and Olavi Pihlamägi | Unknown | No broadcast | Did not participate | [11] [12] |
1993 | Unknown | [13] | |||
1994 | Vello Rand | Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) | Urve Tiidus | ||
1995 | Jüri Pihel | No broadcast | Did not participate | ||
1996 | Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) | Annika Talvik | |||
1997 | Helene Tedre | ||||
1998 | Reet Linna | Urve Tiidus | |||
1999 | Marko Reikop | Vello Rand (Raadio 2) | Mart Sander | ||
2000 | Evelin Samuel | ||||
2001 | Ilo-Mai Küttim (Elektra) | ||||
2002 | |||||
2003 | Ines | ||||
2004 | Maarja-Liis Ilus | ||||
2005 | Mart Juur (Raadio 2) Andrus Kivirähk (Raadio 2) | ||||
2006 | Evelin Samuel | ||||
2007 | Laura Põldvere | ||||
2008 | Sahlene | ||||
2009 | Marko Reikop and Olav Osolin (final) | Laura Põldvere | |||
2010 | Marko Reikop and Sven Lõhmus (final) | Rolf Roosalu | |||
2011 | Marko Reikop | Piret Järvis | |||
2012 | Ilja Ban, Dmitri Vinogradov and Aleksandra Moorast (Raadio 4) | Getter Jaani | |||
2013 | No broadcast | Rolf Roosalu | |||
2014 | Lauri Pihlap | ||||
2015 | Tanja | ||||
2016 | Aleksandr Hobotov | Daniel Levi Viinalass | |||
2017 | Aleksandr Hobotov and Julia Kalenda | Jüri Pootsmann | |||
2018 | Ott Evestus | ||||
2019 | No broadcast | Kelly Sildaru | |||
2021 | Sissi Benita | ||||
2022 | Tanel Padar | ||||
2023 | Ragnar Klavan | ||||
2024 | Birgit Sarrap |
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Tii" written by Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre and Aapo Ilves. The song was performed by the group Neiokõsõ. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Televisioon (ETV) organised the national final Eurolaul 2004 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Rändajad" written by Sven Lõhmus. The song was performed by the group Urban Symphony. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2009 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. Ten songs competed in the national final and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top two to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Rändajad" performed by Urban Symphony was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Urban Symphony is an Estonian music group. It represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Rändajad", finishing in 6th place with 129 points. In doing this, they achieved Estonia's best placement since 2002.
Sandra Nurmsalu is an Estonian singer, songwriter, and violinist. Recognized within Estonia for her genre-bending style, Nurmsalu has garnered success as both the lead singer of Urban Symphony and as a solo artist.
Eesti Laul is an annual music competition organised by Estonian public broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged every year since 2009. Eesti Laul was introduced in 2009, replacing the former Eurolaul festival which had been used since Estonia's first Eurovision participation in 1993. It is one of the most popular television programmes in Estonia; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the semi-finals averaged 199,000 viewers, and over an estimated 296,000 viewers watched the final.
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Traffic is an Estonian band from Tallinn, Estonia, most notable for being in Eurolaul 2008 and Eesti Laul 2009, 2012, 2014, 2020, 2022 and 2024. They also have several hits in Estonia like "Sekundiga", which reached more than 5 million views on Youtube, "Für Elise/Üks kord veel", both of which are "Eesti Laul" songs.
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Amazing" written by Timo Vendt and Tanja. The song was performed by Tanja. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2014 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final as determined by a jury panel and public vote qualified to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top two to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Amazing" performed by Tanja was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
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Elina Nechayeva is an Estonian soprano. She represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "La forza".
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