Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
---|---|
Participating broadcaster | Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) |
Participation summary | |
Appearances | 62 |
First appearance | 1961 |
Highest placement | 1st: 1968, 1969 |
Host | 1969 |
Participation history
| |
Related articles | |
External links | |
RTVE page | |
Spain's page at Eurovision.tv | |
For the most recent participation see Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 |
Spain has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in every edition since 1961, in total 62 times. Since 1999, Spain has been one of the "Big Five" countries, along with France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, that are automatically prequalified for the final each year as they are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Spain has won the contest twice, first in 1968 with the song "La La La" sung by Massiel and again in 1969, when Salomé's "Vivo cantando" was involved in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969's four-way tie and the 1970 contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Other good results in the 20th century were four second places with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995, and a third place with Bravo in 1984. The country finished last with nul points three times: in 1962, 1965 and 1983, and also finished last in 1999 and 2017.
Since the start of the 21st century, Spain has reached the top ten seven times, with David Civera (2001) finishing sixth, Rosa (2002) finishing seventh, Beth (2003) finishing eighth, Ramón (2004) finishing tenth, both Pastora Soler (2012) and Ruth Lorenzo (2014) also finishing tenth, and Chanel (2022) finishing third. Spain has also failed to reach the top twenty in ten of the last eighteen contests, including for six consecutive contests (2015–21). Spain is the current participating country with the longest active victory drought, with a total of 55 years (1969–2023).
Spain has regularly changed the selection process used in order to find the country's entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection (sometimes a combination of both formats) has been held by the broadcaster at the time. Between 1977 and 1999, Spain's entries were selected internally by Televisión Española (TVE). Before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín (Passport to Dublin) in 1971, were alternated. [1]
From 2000, Spain has used various selection formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a national final called Eurocanción (Eurosong), where the Spanish representative was selected for the contest. [2] From 2002 to 2004, the reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy ) was used to select the entry, a format that renewed the Spanish audience's interest in the contest [3] and brought three top 10 results in a row, until TVE decided not to host any further editions of the series. In 2005, the national final Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción (Eurovision 2005: Choose Our Song) was organised, where the audience chose their favourite song among a pre-selection made by TVE of unknown artists submitted to them by record labels. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, the selection was made internally for the first time since 1999, with a similar result. In 2007, Spain's entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again.
From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the competitions used by TVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Salvemos Eurovisión (Let's Save Eurovision). A website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much; nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again. [3] For 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Eurovisión 2009: El retorno (Eurovision 2009: The Return), although some changes were introduced in the format. [4] The result was the worst in the 2000s (decade): 24th place. In 2010, a similar format, Eurovisión: Destino Oslo , selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004 (15th). [5]
In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Destino Eurovisión . After a further disappointing result (23rd), for 2012, TVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song. [6] A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004. The same procedure was repeated in 2013, with El Sueño de Morfeo as the established act, which turned out one of the most disappointing results (25th out of 26 entries) in the country's Eurovision history; some critics, however, blamed a less-than-stellar performance of an otherwise solid song. [7] In 2014, TVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called Mira quién va a Eurovisión (Look who's going to Eurovision); five artists were invited to participate by TVE. A top ten result was achieved for the second time in three years.
In 2015, for the first time since 2006, both the artist, Edurne, and the song were selected internally by TVE. On 18 December 2015, TVE announced that it would organise a national final in order to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Six acts competed in the national final named Objetivo Eurovisión, and Barei won the selection process. The same format was used in 2017, and Manel Navarro won the selection process; it turned out Spain's first last-place result since 1999.
In 2017, TVE commissioned a new season of Operación Triunfo, which returned to TVE after thirteen years, and the series served for the fourth time (after 2002, 2003 and 2004) as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2018 contest. [8] [9] The result was disappointing (23rd out of 26 entries), but the 2018 Eurovision final was the most-watched in Spain since 2008. [10] A further season of the talent show chose the Spanish entry for the 2019 contest with another disappointing result (22nd out of 26 entries). [11]
For the 2020 contest, TVE selected the Spanish entry internally, with Blas Cantó and the song "Universo" chosen. [12] Following the cancellation of the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TVE was one of the first four broadcasters (the other were Greece's ERT, Netherlands' AVROTROS and Ukraine's UA:PBC) that confirmed its participation for the 2021 edition with the same artist who would have participated for 2020, in this case Cantó. [13] His 2021 entry "Voy a quedarme" went on to finish in 24th place with six points, marking the sixth time in a row that Spain has finished outside of the top twenty.
For the 2022 contest, it was announced that TVE would use Benidorm Fest, a revamped version of the Benidorm International Song Festival to select the nation's entry among thirteen candidates. [14] [15] [16] The broadcaster signed a contract with the regional government of the Valencian Community to hold the event for four editions. [17] The first Benidorm Fest was won by Chanel with "SloMo", which finished in third place at Eurovision with 459 points, thereby achieving Spain's best Eurovision result since 1995. [18]
Since 1999, Spain, along with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. [19] These countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". Italy returned to the contest in 2011, thus upgrading the countries to members of a "Big Five". [20]
Only three times in the contest's history has a non-winning entry been allowed to perform again, and in two of these instances, the entries in question were Spanish representatives (the other one being the Italian entry in 1958, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno). The first time this happened to a Spanish representative was in the 1990 contest in Zagreb, when Azúcar Moreno opened the contest with the song "Bandido". The orchestra and the recorded backing track began the song out of sync, which caused the singers to miss their cue. The singers left the stage after a few seconds, and no explanation was given at the time. After a few uneasy moments, the music began correctly and the song was performed in full. Azúcar Moreno and "Bandido" went on to place fifth in the final vote tally, though the juries at the time actually awarded their points after watching the dress rehearsal performances, so the restart did not affect Spain's overall result either positively or negatively.
Twenty years later, at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Spain was drawn to perform second in the running order, and Daniel Diges's performance of "Algo pequeñito" was disturbed by Catalan pitch invader Jimmy Jump. However, Diges performed the song in full, despite the invader's intrusion and subsequent removal from the stage by security personnel, receiving warm applause for continuing from the audience at the Telenor Arena. After Serbia's performance, co-presenter Nadia Hasnaoui announced that, according to the rules, Diges would be given a second chance once all the remaining countries had performed. Nonetheless, the juries ranked the dress-rehearsal performance of "Algo pequeñito" 20th out of 25 with 43 points, whereas the televoting results ranked Spain 12th, with 106 points. The combination of jury and televote results gave Spain a 15th-place finish.
1 | First place |
2 | Second place |
3 | Third place |
◁ | Last place |
X | Entry selected but did not compete |
† | Upcoming event |
Artist | Song | Language | At Congratulations | At Eurovision | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Final | Points | Semi | Points | Year | Place | Points | |||
Mocedades | " Eres tú " | Spanish | Failed to qualify | 11 | 90 | 1973 | 2 | 125 |
Year | Location | Venue | Presenter |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | Madrid | Teatro Real | Laura Valenzuela |
Year | Category | Performer | Song | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Fan Award | Beth | "Dime" | 8 | 81 | Riga |
Year | Performer | Host city | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Lydia | Jerusalem |
Year | Conductor [lower-alpha 2] | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1961 | Rafael Ferrer | [24] | |
1962 | Jean Roderes | [lower-alpha 3] | |
1963 | Rafael Ibarbia | ||
1964 | |||
1965 | Adolfo Ventas | ||
1966 | Rafael Ibarbia | ||
1967 | Manuel Alejandro | ||
1968 | Rafael Ibarbia | ||
1969 | Augusto Algueró | [lower-alpha 4] | |
1970 | [25] | ||
1971 | Waldo de los Rios | [lower-alpha 5] | |
1972 | Augusto Algueró | ||
1973 | Juan Carlos Calderón | ||
1974 | Rafael Ibarbia | [lower-alpha 6] | |
1975 | Juan Carlos Calderón | ||
1976 | Joan Barcons | ||
1977 | Rafael Ibarbia | ||
1978 | Ramón Arcusa | ||
1979 | José Luis Navarro | ||
1980 | Javier Iturraide | [26] | |
1981 | Joan Barcons | ||
1982 | Miguel Ángel Varona | ||
1983 | José Miguel Évora | ||
1984 | Eddy Guerin | ||
1985 | Juan Carlos Calderón | ||
1986 | Eduardo Leiva | ||
1987 | |||
1988 | Javier de Juan | ||
1989 | Juan Carlos Calderón | ||
1990 | Eduardo Leiva | ||
1991 | |||
1992 | Javier Losada | ||
1993 | Eduardo Leiva | ||
1994 | Josep Llobell | ||
1995 | Eduardo Leiva | ||
1996 | |||
1997 | Toni Xuclà | ||
1998 | Alberto Estébanez | ||
Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
---|---|---|
1991–2001 | María Teresa Segura | |
2002–2016 | Federico Llano | |
2017–2021, 2024 | Ana María Bordas | |
2022–2023 | Eva Mora |
Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1961 | Federico Gallo | Unknown | Diego Ramírez Pastor | |
1962 | Luis Marsillach | |||
1963 | Julio Rico | |||
1964 | ||||
1965 | Pepe Palau | |||
1966 | Blanca Álvarez Mantilla | |||
1967 | ||||
1968 | José María Íñigo | Joaquín Prat | ||
1969 | José Luis Uribarri | Unknown | ||
1970 | ||||
1971 | Joaquín Prat | No spokesperson | ||
1972 | Julio Rico | |||
1973 | ||||
1974 | José Luis Uribarri | Antolín García | ||
1975 | No radio commentary | José María Íñigo | ||
1976 | ||||
1977 | Miguel de los Santos | Isabel Tenaille | ||
1978 | Matías Prats Luque | |||
1979 | Manuel Almendros | |||
1980 | Alfonso Lapeña | |||
1981 | Isabel Tenaille | |||
1982 | Marisa Naranjo | |||
1983 | José-Miguel Ullán | Rosa Campano | ||
1984 | Matilde Jarrín | |||
1985 | Antonio Gómez | |||
1986 | ||||
1987 | Beatriz Pécker | |||
1988 | ||||
1989 | Tomás Fernando Flores | |||
1990 | Luis Cobos | |||
1991 | Tomás Fernando Flores | María Ángeles Balañac | ||
1992 | José Luis Uribarri | |||
1993 | ||||
1994 | ||||
1995 | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa | |||
1996 | ||||
1997 | ||||
1998 | ||||
1999 | Hugo de Campos | |||
2000 | ||||
2001 | Jennifer Rope | |||
2002 | Nieves Herrero and José María de Juana | Anne Igartiburu | ||
2003 | No radio commentary | |||
2004 | Beatriz Pécker | |||
2005 | Ainhoa Arbizu | |||
2006 | Sonia Ferrer | |||
2007 | Ainhoa Arbizu | |||
2008 | José Luis Uribarri | |||
2009 | Joaquín Guzmán | Iñaki del Moral | ||
2010 | José Luis Uribarri | Ainhoa Arbizu | ||
2011 | José María Íñigo | Elena S. Sánchez | ||
2012 | ||||
2013 | Inés Paz | |||
2014 | Spanish: Paco González and Tiempo de juego team Catalan: Sergi Mas | Carolina Casado | ||
2015 | José María Íñigo and Julia Varela | No radio commentary | Lara Siscar | |
2016 | Jota Abril | |||
2017 | Nieves Álvarez | |||
2018 | Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela | |||
2019 | Daniel Galindo | |||
2021 | Imanol Durán | |||
2022 | Imanol Durán, Sara Calvo and David Asensio | |||
2023 | David Asensio, Imanol Durán, Irene Vaquero and Ángela Fernández | Ruth Lorenzo | ||
2024 | Spanish: Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela Catalan: Sònia Urbano and Xavi Martínez | David Asensio, Sara Calvo, Ángela Fernández, Manu Martín-Albo and Luis Miguel Montes | Soraya Arnelas |
Year | Stage director(s) | Costume designer(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Unknown | André Courrèges | |
1969 | Manuel Pertegaz | ||
1971 | Antonio Nieto | ||
1979 | Undisclosed | ||
1983 | Undisclosed [lower-alpha 7] | ||
1985 | José Ramón de Aguirre | ||
1988 | Francis Montesinos and Antonio Alvarado | ||
1989 | Mercedes Salazar | ||
1990 | Undisclosed [lower-alpha 8] | ||
1993 | Victorio & Lucchino | ||
1999 | Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada | ||
2001 | Zara [lower-alpha 9] | ||
2002 | Poty Castillo | Jorge Pérez [lower-alpha 10] | |
2003 | Marieta Calderón | Etxart & Panno | |
2005 | Poty Castillo | Amparo Macías | |
2008 | Mayte Marcos | Undisclosed | |
2009 | Juan Pedro López | ||
2010 | Carlo Pignatelli | ||
2011 | Lola González | Sara Lage and Maru Calderón | |
2012 | Francis Viñolo | Cañavate | |
2013 | Unknown | Yolancris | |
2014 | Karim Design [lower-alpha 11] | ||
2015 | Tinet Rubira | José Fuentes | |
2016 | Niccolò Piccardi and Florian Boje | Raúl Amor [lower-alpha 10] | |
2017 | Hans Pannecoucke | ||
2018 | Tinet Rubira | Teresa Helbig and Paco Varela | |
2019 | Fokas Evangelinos | Armani, Ana Margo and Guillermo Villanueva | |
2021 | Marvin Dietmann | Jaime Álvarez | |
2022 | Kyle Hanagami | Palomo Spain | |
2023 | Bentor Albelo and Javier Rojo | Paola de Diego | |
2024 | Juan Sebastián and Israel Reyes | TBA | |
The Benidorm International Song Festival, until 2004 simply Benidorm Song Festival, was an annual song contest held in the city of Benidorm, Spain. The contest, based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival, was created to promote Benidorm and Spanish music.
The participation of Spain in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest first began at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Televisión Española (TVE), a division of Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) and member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), were responsible for the selection process of their participation. Spain used a national selection format, broadcasting a show entitled Eurojunior, for their participation at the contests. The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2003 contest was Sergio with the song "Desde el cielo", which finished in second place out of sixteen participating entries, achieving a score of 125 points. Spain did not participate from 2007 to 2018, but returned to the contest in 2019.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Dile que la quiero" written by Alejandro Abad. The song was performed by David Civera. Songwriter Alejandro Abad represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song "Ella no es ella" placing eighteenth in the competition. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) organised the national final Eurocanción 2001 in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Twenty artists and songs competed in the televised show where an in-studio jury and a public televote selected "Dile que la quiero" performed by David Civera as the winner.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Algo pequeñito" written by Jesús Cañadilla, Luis Miguel de la Varga, Alberto Jodar and Daniel Diges. The song was performed by Daniel Diges. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) organised the national final Destino Oslo, La Gala de Eurovisión 2010 in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway. Ten artists and songs selected through an Internet public vote competed in the televised show where an in-studio jury and a public televote selected "Algo pequeñito" performed by Daniel Diges as the winner.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Que me quiten lo bailao" written by Rafael Artesero. The song was performed by Lucía Pérez. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) organised the national final Destino Eurovisión in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. The national final consisted of two heats, a semi-final and a final and involved 24 competing acts. Three acts ultimately qualified to compete in the televised final where an in-studio jury and a public televote selected "Que me quiten lo bailao" performed by Lucía Pérez as the winner.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Quédate conmigo" written by Thomas G:son, Tony Sánchez-Ohlsson and Erik Bernholm. The song was performed by Pastora Soler, who was internally selected by the Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) in December 2011 to represent Spain at the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. The national final Eurovisión: Pastora Soler was organised in order to select the song Soler would perform. Three songs, one selected through an Internet public vote, competed in the televised show where an in-studio jury and a public televote selected "Quédate conmigo" as the winning song.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Dancing in the Rain" written by Ruth Lorenzo, Jim Irvin and Julian Emery. The song was performed by Ruth Lorenzo. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) organised the national final Mira quién va a Eurovisión in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Five artists and songs competed in the televised show where an in-studio jury and a public televote selected "Dancing in the Rain" performed by Ruth Lorenzo as the winner.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Do It for Your Lover" written by Manel Navarro and Antonio Rayo "Rayito". The song was performed by Manel Navarro. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) organised the national final Objetivo Eurovisión 2017 in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Six artists and songs, one of which was selected through the wildcard round Eurocasting, competed in the televised show where an in-studio jury and a public vote selected "Do It for Your Lover" performed by Manel Navarro as the winner.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Tu canción", written by Raúl Gómez and Sylvia Santoro. The song was performed by Amaia Romero and Alfred García. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) used the ninth series of reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Amaia and Alfred with "Tu canción" were selected by the vote of the Spanish public from among nine competing entries.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "La venda", performed by Miki and written by Adrià Salas. The Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) used the tenth series of reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Voy a quedarme" written by Blas Cantó, Leroy Sanchez, Daniel Ortega "Dangelo" and Dan Hammond. The song was performed by Blas Cantó, who was internally selected by the Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) to represent Spain at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands after he was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Universo" before the event's cancellation. Blas Cantó was announced as the Spanish representative on 18 March 2020, while the national final Destino Eurovisión 2021 was organised in order to select the song Cantó would perform. Two songs competed in the televised show where a public vote exclusively selected "Voy a quedarme" as the winning song, receiving 58% of the votes.
"Voy a quedarme" is a song by Spanish singer Blas Cantó, written by Dan Hammond, Leroy Sanchez, Dangelo Ortega, and Cantó himself. It was released as a digital download and for streaming on 10 February 2021. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, held in Rotterdam.
Benidorm Fest is a Spanish song contest organised by the public communication company Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) in collaboration with the Generalitat Valenciana to determine Spain's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, beginning in 2022. It is held in Benidorm, Valencian Community, at the Palau Municipal d'Esports l'Illa de Benidorm. Based on the Benidorm International Song Festival with amendments to accommodate the Eurovision format, the contest consists of two semi-finals and a final, with the winner jointly determined through teams of judges and a public vote.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "SloMo" performed by Chanel. The Spanish broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), together with the Generalitat Valenciana, organised Benidorm Fest in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2022 contest. Benidorm Fest consisted of two semi-finals on 26 and 27 January and the final on 29 January 2022. A total of thirteen artists and songs competed, and the winner was determined by a combination of votes from an expert jury, a demoscopic panel and a televote.
Benidorm Fest 2022 was the first edition of the annual Benidorm Fest, a television song contest held in the homonymous city, organised and broadcast by RTVE. Presented by Alaska, Inés Hernand and Màxim Huerta, the competition was held between 26 and 29 January 2022.
Chanel Terrero Martínez, known simply as Chanel, is a Spanish and Cuban singer, dancer and actress, having worked in several stage musicals. She represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, after having won Benidorm Fest 2022 with her debut single "SloMo". She finished in third place with 459 points, the best placing for Spain since the 1995 contest.
"SloMo" is the debut single by Cuban-Spanish singer Chanel Terrero. The song represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, finishing in third place. The song won the national final of the first edition of Benidorm Fest 2022.
Spain participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Eaea" performed by Blanca Paloma. The Spanish broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), together with the Generalitat Valenciana, organised Benidorm Fest in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2023 contest. 18 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consists of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 4 February 2023, and the winner was determined by a combination of votes from an expert jury, a demoscopic panel and a televote.
Spain is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "Zorra" performed by Nebulossa. The Spanish broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), together with the Generalitat Valenciana, organised Benidorm Fest 2024 in order to select the Spanish entry for the 2024 contest. 16 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final, where the winner was determined by a combination of votes from an expert jury, a demoscopic panel and a televote.
Spain competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which was held on 26 November 2023 in Nice, France. Spanish broadcaster RTVE was responsible for their participation and selected the nation's song and artist by internal selection. Sandra Valero was eventually selected to represent the country with the song "Loviu".