Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Moldova
Moldova
Member stationTRM
National selection events
National final
  • O melodie pentru Europa
  • 2005–2006
  • 2008–2019
  • Finala națională
  • 2020
Internal selection
  • 2007
  • 2021–2022
Participation summary
Appearances16 (11 finals)
First appearance2005
Highest placement3rd: 2017
External links
Moldova's page at Eurovision.tv
Song contest current event.png For the most recent participation see
Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Moldova has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times, debuting in 2005. The country's best result is a third-place finish for SunStroke Project in 2017, with their song "Hey, Mamma!".

Moldova's debut in the contest in 2005 was successful, with Zdob și Zdub finishing sixth. The country also reached the top ten with Natalia Barbu (2007) and DoReDoS (2018), finishing tenth both times. In total, Moldova has reached the final eleven times, failing to qualify from the semi-finals in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019.

History[]

SunStroke Project (pictured) placed third with their 2017 entry "Hey, Mamma!".

Following Moldova's 20th-place finish in the 2006 contest, Moldovan broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) announced that it would not participate in 2007, and did not allocate a budget for the 2007 Contest. However, in response to public pressure, TRM filed the preliminary documents to compete and sent Natalia Barbu with song "Fight".[1] She achieved 10th place.

In 2008 Moldova, for the first time in 4 years of participating, failed to make the Final, their jazz number, "A Century of Love", finishing 12th place in a field of 19. In 2009 Moldova achieved 14th place with Nelly Ciobanu. In 2010, saxophonist Sergey Stepanov of SunStroke Project became the internet phenomenon ("Epic Sax Guy") with his 30-second saxophone solo.

In 2011 Zdob și Zdub represented Moldova for a second time in the contest, with the song So Lucky placing 12th in the final. This was the third time that Moldova ended up 10th in the semifinal, the last qualifier for the final. In 2012 and 2013 Moldova achieved 11th place with Pasha Parfeny and Aliona Moon respectively.

In 2014-2016 Moldova failed to qualify for the final coming last in 2014, 11th in 2015 and pre-last in 2016. In 2017, Moldova achieved its best result at the contest, when SunStroke Project finished third in the final with the song "Hey, Mamma!". The streak of top 10 results continued in 2018 with the band DoReDos finishing 10th in Lisbon. However in 2019, Moldova failed to qualify for the first time since 2016, finishing 12th in the semi-final.

In 2020, Natalia Gordienko, who represented Moldova in 2006, was set to represent the country with the song "Prison", however the contest was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. She instead represented Moldova in 2021 with the song "Sugar". She eventually qualified to the grand final and achieved a 13th place with 115 points.[2] Her 17-second note at the end of "Sugar" was reported to be the longest note in Eurovision history.[3]

Participation overview[]

Table key
2
Second place
3
Third place
Last place
X
Entry selected but did not compete
Upcoming
Year Entrant Song Language Final Points Semi Points
Zdob și Zdub "Boonika bate doba" English, Romanian 6 148 2 207
Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R "Loca" English, Spanish 20 22 Top 11 previous year[a]
Natalia Barbu "Fight" English 10 109 10 91
Geta Burlacu "A Century of Love" English Failed to qualify 12 36
Nelly Ciobanu "Hora din Moldova" Romanian, English 14 69 5 106
SunStroke Project and Olia Tira "Run Away" English 22 27 10 52
Zdob și Zdub "So Lucky" English 12 97 10 54
Pasha Parfeny "Lăutar" English 11 81 5 100
Aliona Moon "O mie" Romanian 11 71 4 95
Cristina Scarlat "Wild Soul" English Failed to qualify 16 ◁ 13
Eduard Romanyuta "I Want Your Love" English 11 41
Lidia Isac "Falling Stars" English 17 33
SunStroke Project "Hey, Mamma!" English 3 374 2 291
DoReDoS "My Lucky Day" English 10 209 3 235
Anna Odobescu "Stay" English Failed to qualify 12 85
Natalia Gordienko "Prison" English Contest cancelled[b] X
Natalia Gordienko "Sugar" English 13 115 7 179
Zdob și Zdub and Frații Advahov[4] "Trenulețul" Romanian, English Upcoming

Commentators and spokespersons[]

Year Commentators Spokesperson Ref.
2005 Vitalie Rotaru Elena Camerzan
2006 Svetlana Cocoș
2007 Andrei Porubin
2008 Lucia Danu and Vitalie Rotaru Vitalie Rotaru
2009 Rosalina Rusu and Andrei Sava Sandu Leancă
2010 Marcel Spătari Tania Cerga
2011 Geta Burlacu
2012 Olivia Furtună
2013 Lidia Scarlat
2014 Daniela Babici
2015
2016 Gloria Gorceag
2017 Gloria Gorceag
2018 Djulieta Ardovan Djulieta Ardovan
2019 Doina Stimpovschi and Daniela Crudu Doina Stimpovschi
2021 Doina Stimpovschi Sergey Stepanov

Photo gallery[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  2. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References[]

  1. ^ Royston, Benny (2006-11-26). "Moldova actively seeking performers". ESCToday. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (2020-07-15). "Moldova: Natalia Gordienko confirmed for Eurovision 2021". esctoday.com. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  3. ^ "Moldova's Natalia Gordienko drops her mic during live Eurovision 2021 final performance". Radio Times. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  4. ^ Farren, Neil (2022-01-29). "