Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Estonia
Estonia
Member stationERR
National selection events
National final
Internal selection
  • 1993 (artist)
Participation summary
Appearances26 (16 finals)
Host2002
First appearance1994
Highest placement1st: 2001
External links
ERR page
Estonia's page at Eurovision.tv
Song contest current event.png For the most recent participation see
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 26 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993, however 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 & 2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. This made Estonia the first former Soviet country to win the contest and the second eastern European country to win, after Yugoslavia in 1989. 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 nine occasions and has reached the top ten four times, with Urban Symphony sixth (2009), Ott Lepland sixth (2012), Elina Born and Stig Rästa seventh (2015) and Elina Nechayeva eighth (2018). Estonia's total of ten top ten results, is more than any other Baltic country.

History[]

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 a former Soviet country. 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 former USSR country to win the Contest and the second country of eastern Europe after Yugoslavia. 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 the "Tii" (The Way), sung in the Võro language, a southern-Estonian dialect.

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" (Nomads[3] or Travellers), which had beaten the televoting favourite, Laura, by the votes of a jury.[4][5]

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 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 three 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 and Elina Nechayeva finished eighth in 2018.

Participation overview[]

Table key
1
 Winner
3
 Third place
◁
 Last place
X
 Entry selected but did not compete
†
 Upcoming
Year Entrant Song Language Final Points Semi Points
1993
 Janika Sillamaa "Muretut meelt ja südametuld" Estonian Failed to qualify[a] X 5 47
1994
 Silvi Vrait "Nagu merelaine" Estonian 24 2 No semi-finals
1996
 Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna "Kaelakee hääl" Estonian 5 94 5 106
1997
 Maarja-Liis Ilus "Keelatud maa" Estonian 8 82 No semi-finals
1998
 Koit Toome "Mere lapsed" Estonian 12 36
1999
 Evelin Samuel & Camille "Diamond of Night" English 6 90
2000
 Ines "Once in a Lifetime" English 4 98
2001
 Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL "Everybody" English 1 198
2002
 Sahlene "Runaway" English 3 111
2003
 Ruffus "Eighties Coming Back" English 21 14
2004
 Neiokõsõ "Tii" Võro Failed to qualify 11 57
2005
 Suntribe "Let's Get Loud" English 20 31
2006
 Sandra Oxenryd "Through My Window" English 18 28
2007
 Gerli Padar "Partners in Crime" English 22 33
2008
 Kreisiraadio "Leto svet" Serbian, German, Finnish 18 8
2009
 Urban Symphony "Rändajad" Estonian 6 129 3 115
2010
 Malcolm Lincoln "Siren" English Failed to qualify 14 39
2011
 Getter Jaani "Rockefeller Street" English 24 44 9 60
2012
 Ott Lepland "Kuula" Estonian 6 120 4 100
2013
 Birgit Õigemeel "Et uus saaks alguse" Estonian 20 19 10 52
2014
 Tanja "Amazing" English Failed to qualify 12 36
2015
 Elina Born & Stig Rästa "Goodbye to Yesterday" English 7 106 3 105
2016
 Jüri Pootsmann "Play" English Failed to qualify 18 ◁ 24
2017
 Koit Toome & Laura "Verona" English 14 85
2018
 Elina Nechayeva "La forza" Italian 8 245 5 201
2019
 Victor Crone "Storm" English 20 76 4 198
2020
 Uku Suviste "What Love Is" English Contest cancelled[b] X
2021
 Uku Suviste "The Lucky One" English Failed to qualify 13 58
2022
 TBD 12 February 2022 †[6] Upcoming †

Hostings[]

Year Location Venue Presenters
2002 Tallinn Saku Suurhall Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere

Related involvement[]

Conductors[]

Year Conductor Notes Ref.
1993 Peeter Lilje [c]
1994 Urmas Lattikas
1996 Tarmo Leinatamm
1997
1998 Heiki Vahar

Heads of delegation[]

Year Head of delegation Ref.
1997–2008 Juhan Paadam
[7]
2009–2015 Heidy Purga
[8]
2015–2018 Mart Normet
[9]
2019– Tomi Rahula
[10]

Costume designers[]

Year Costume designers Ref.
2013 Karolin Kuusik
[11]

Commentators and spokespersons[]

Year Television commentator Radio commentator Russian commentator Spokesperson Ref.
1994 Vello Rand Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) No broadcast Urve Tiidus
1995 Jüri Pihel No broadcast Did not participate
1996 Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) Annika Talvik
1997 Helene Tedre
1998 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 Daniel Levi Viinalass
2017 Aleksandr Hobotov and Jüri Pootsmann
2018 Ott Evestus
2019 No broadcast Kelly Sildaru
2021 Sissi [12][13]

Photogallery[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Estonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1993, when there was a pre-qualifying round for seven countries hoping to make their debut in the contest. The official Eurovision site does not count 1993 in Estonia's list of appearances.
  2. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. ^ Conducted the Estonian entry at Kvalifikacija za Millstreet.

References[]

  1. ^ Floras, Stella (2008-08-22). "Estonia: Minister discusses possible boycott of Eurovision in Moscow". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  2. ^ Floras, Stella (2008-09-17). "Estonia will participate in 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  3. ^ "Estonia: Staging modern fairytale". 2009-04-26. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  4. ^ Calleja Bayliss, Marc (2009-03-07). "Urban Symphony to represent Estonia in Moscow". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  5. ^ Webb, Glen (2009-03-07). "Urban Symphony win Eesti Laul in Estonia". EBU. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  6. ^ "Eesti Laul 2022 konkurss on avatud". err.ee (in Estonian). ERR. 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  7. ^ "FOTOD: Legendaarne eurolaulu produtsent Juhan Paadam köitis oma mälestused üheks suureks raamatuks". kroonika.delfi.ee. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  8. ^ "FOTOD: Legendaarne eurolaulu produtsent Juhan Paadam köitis oma mälestused üheks suureks raamatuks". kroonika.delfi.ee. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  9. ^ Welsh, Eleanor (22 January 2018). "Estonia: Head of Delegation Mart Normet to step down after Lisbon 2018". esctoday.com. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  10. ^ Maddalozzo, Riccardo (23 June 2018). "Estonia: ERR appoints Tomi Rahula as new head of Eesti Laul". escxtra.com. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  11. ^ Eleanor Cooper (May 4, 2013). "Estonia: Birgit reveals her outfit for Malmö". esctoday.com.
  12. ^ ERR (2021-05-18). "Eurovisiooni lauluvõistlus 2021 | ETV". ERR (in Estonian). Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  13. ^ ERR (2021-05-18). "Евровидение-2021 | ETV+". ERR (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-05-07.
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