Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Ukraine | |
|---|---|
| |
| Member station | Suspilne
Former members
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| National selection events | Internal selection
National final
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| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 16 (16 finals) |
| Host | 2005, 2017 |
| First appearance | 2003 |
| Highest placement | 1st: 2004, 2016 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| Ukraine's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeUkraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 | |
Ukraine has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times since making its debut in 2003. Ukraine has won the contest twice: in 2004 with "Wild Dances" by Ruslana, and in 2016 with the song "1944" by Jamala, thus becoming the first Eastern European country to win the contest twice. Ukraine hosted the 2005 and 2017 contests in Kyiv.
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country outside of the "Big Five" to have qualified for the final of every contest they have competed in.[1] Ukraine has a total of seven top five placements, with Verka Serduchka (2007) and Ani Lorak (2008) both finishing second, Zlata Ognevich third (2013), Mika Newton fourth (2011) and Go_A fifth (2021). The only countries with more top five results in the 21st century are Sweden (11) and Russia (10).
History[]
Ukraine made its debut in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov finished 14th. Ukraine won the contest at the second attempt in 2004, when Ruslana won with the song "Wild Dances", defeating second-placed Serbia and Montenegro by 17 points, 280 to 263.
On 19 September 2014, Ukrainian broadcaster NTU announced that it would sit out the 2015 contest because of financial difficulties in relation to the war in Donbas.[2] However, Ukraine broadcast the contest despite not taking part.[3] On 23 May 2015, NTU pledged to bring Ukraine back to the contest for 2016. On 16 September 2015, it was announced that Ukraine would return to the contest in 2016.[4]
On its return to the contest in 2016, Ukraine became the first Eastern European country to win the contest twice, when Jamala won with her song "1944". The televote was won by Russia and the jury vote by Australia; Ukraine was second in both, but won with an overall total of 534 points, with Australia second with 511 points and Russia third with 491 points. In 2017, as host country, Ukraine was pre-qualified for the final, however they achieved their worst result to date – 24th with 36 points.
In 2019, as in previous years, UA:PBC delegated the national selection of its Eurovision entry to the private broadcaster STB. Juries and public vote determined Maruv's "Siren Song" as the winner. In the following days, UA:PBC failed to reach a deal with Maruv due to disagreements on conditions of her taking part in the Ukrainian delegation. UA:PBC then offered the Eurovision ticket to the runner-ups in the national selection, Freedom Jazz, Kazka and Brunettes Shoot Blondes who all refused. As a result, UA:PBC withdrew from the 2019 contest on 27 February 2019.
In 2020, Go_A won the national selection Vidbir and was set to represent Ukraine with the song "Solovey", however the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were instead internally selected to represent the country the following year with the song "Shum", with which they finished 5th in the final, thereby achieving Ukraine's first top 5 result since their victory in 2016. Go_A were the runners-up of the public vote, behind eventual winner Italy, with 267 points, including a maximum of 12 points from five countries. The Eurovision version of the song took the lead in the global Spotify Viral 50 daily list on 24 May 2021, where it stayed until 1 June, and led the weekly list on the week of 27 May.[5] It entered the Billboard Global 200 on the week of 5 June, at position 158, becoming the first ever Ukrainian-language song to chart there.[6]
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country to have qualified for the final of every Eurovision they have competed in (they were absent from the 2015 and 2019 contests).[note 1] Ukraine has a total of ten top ten placements (among those are seven top five placements). The country has an average score of 172 points per contest, 298 if including the semi-finals. Ukraine's participation and success in the contest has been acknowledged as a factor in the country's growing soft power and international image.[7]
Participation overview[]
The following lists Ukraine's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest along with their result.[8]
1
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Winner |
2
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Second place |
3
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Third place |
X
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Entry selected but did not compete |
†
|
Upcoming |
| Year | Entrant | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olexandr | "Hasta la vista" | English[a] | 14 | 30 | No semi-finals | ||
| Ruslana | "Wild Dances" | English, Ukrainian | 1 | 280 | 2 | 256 | |
| GreenJolly | "Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато) | Ukrainian, English[b] | 19 | 30 | Host country[c] | ||
| Tina Karol | "Show Me Your Love" | English | 7 | 145 | 7 | 146 | |
| Verka Serduchka | "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" | German, English, Ukrainian, Russian | 2 | 235 | Top 10 previous year[d] | ||
| Ani Lorak | "Shady Lady" | English | 2 | 230 | 1 | 152 | |
| Svetlana Loboda | "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" | English | 12 | 76 | 6 | 80 | |
| Alyosha | "Sweet People" | English | 10 | 108 | 7 | 77 | |
| Mika Newton | "Angel" | English | 4 | 159 | 6 | 81 | |
| Gaitana | "Be My Guest" | English | 15[e] | 65 | 8 | 64 | |
| Zlata Ognevich | "Gravity" | English | 3 | 214 | 3 | 140 | |
| Mariya Yaremchuk | "Tick-Tock" | English | 6 | 113 | 5 | 118 | |
| Jamala | "1944" | English, Crimean Tatar | 1 | 534 | 2 | 287 | |
| O.Torvald | "Time" | English | 24 | 36 | Host country[c] | ||
| Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | English | 17 | 130 | 6 | 179 | |
| Go_A | "Solovey" (Соловей) | Ukrainian | Contest cancelled[f] X | ||||
| Go_A | "Shum" (Шум) | Ukrainian | 5 | 364 | 2 | 267 | |
| To be recast †[9][g] | Upcoming † | ||||||
Selection process[]
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Hostings[]
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Kyiv | Palace of Sports | Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko |
| 2017 | International Exhibition Centre | Volodymyr Ostapchuk, Oleksandr Skichko and Timur Miroshnychenko |
Awards[]
Marcel Bezençon Awards[]
| Year | Category | Song | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Artistic Award[h] | "Wild Dances" | Ruslana | 1 | 280 |  Istanbul
|
|
| 2007 | Press Award | "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (Данцінґ Лаша Тумбай) | Verka Serduchka | 2 | 235 |  Helsinki
|
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| 2008 | Artistic Award[h] | "Shady Lady" | Ani Lorak | 2 | 230 |  Belgrade
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| 2016 | Artistic Award[i] | "1944" | Jamala | 1 | 534 |  Stockholm
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Barbara Dex Award[]
| Year | Performer | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Verka Serduchka | Helsinki
|
Related involvement[]
Heads of delegation[]
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2007—2016 | Victoria Romanova | |
| 2017—2021 | Oksana Skibinska |
Jury members[]
A five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals is made up for every participating country for the semi-finals and Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own country's contribution. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[17]
| Year | 1st member | 2nd member | 3rd member | 4th member | 5th member | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roman Nedzelskiy | Oleksandr Ponomaryov | Irena Zagorodnyuk | Iryna Rozental | Oleksandr Zlotnyk | ||
| Oleksandr Zlotnyk | Kateryna Komar | Kostiantyn Mishukov | Alla Popova | Olena Valovyk | ||
| Oleksandr Ksenofontov | Maria Burmaka | Valentin Koval | Valeria Chachibaya | Andre France | ||
| Yurii Rybchynsky | Illaria | Serhiy Grachov | Yana Pryadko | Serhiy Gagarin | ||
| Vitaliy Klimov | Denys Zhupnyk | Arthur Danielyan | Alla Moskovka | Khrystyna Soloviy | ||
| Oleksandr Ponomaryov | Illaria | Igor Kondratiuk | Alla Moskovka | Alyona Alyona |
Commentators and spokespersons[]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2020) |
| Year | NTU/Suspilne commentator | STB commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Pavlo Shylko, Mariya Orlova | No broadcast | No broadcast | Did not participate | |
| 2003 | Pavlo Shylko, Dmytro Kryzhanivskyi | Lyudmyla Hariv | |||
| 2004 | Rodion Pryntsevskyi | Pavlo Shylko | |||
| 2005 | Yaroslav Chornenkyi | Galyna Babiy | Mariya Orlova | ||
| 2006 | Pavlo Shylko | No broadcast | Igor Posypaiko | ||
| 2007 | Timur Miroshnychenko | Kateryna Osadcha | |||
| 2008 | Marysya Horobets | ||||
| 2009 | |||||
| 2010 | Iryna Zhuravska | ||||
| 2011 | Timur Miroshnychenko, Tetiana Terekhova | Olena Zelinchenko | Ruslana | ||
| 2012 | Oleksiy Matias | ||||
| 2013 | |||||
| 2014 | Zlata Ognevich | ||||
| 2015 | No broadcast | Did not participate | |||
| 2016 | Olena Zelinchenko | Verka Serduchka | |||
| 2017 | Tetiana Terekhova, Andrii Horodyskyi | Zlata Ognevich | |||
| 2018 | Timur Miroshnychenko (all shows) Mariya Yaremchuk (semi-final 1) Alyosha (semi-final 2) Jamala (final) |
Serhiy Prytula | Nata Zhyzhchenko | ||
| 2019 | Timur Miroshnychenko | No broadcast | Did not participate | ||
| 2021 | Olena Zelinchenko (UR1) Anna Zakletska, Dmytro Zakharchenko (Radio Promin) |
Tayanna | [29][30] |
Stage directors[]
Costume designers[]
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Gallery[]
Ruslana performing "Wild Dances" in Istanbul (2004)
Tina Karol performing "Show Me Your Love" in Athens (2006)
Verka Serduchka performing "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" in Helsinki (2007)
Ani Lorak performing "Shady Lady" in Belgrade (2008)
Svitlana Loboda performing "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" in Moscow (2009)
Alyosha performing "Sweet People" in Oslo (2010)
Zlata Ognevich performing "Gravity" in Malmö (2013)
Maria Yaremchuk performing "Tick-Tock" in Copenhagen (2014)
Mélovin performing "Under the Ladder" in Lisbon (2018)
See also[]
- Ukraine in the Bala Turkvision Song Contest
- Ukraine in the Eurovision Dance Contest
- Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
- Ukraine in the Turkvision Song Contest
Notes and references[]
Notes[]
- ^ No country has always participated in the final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. Ukraine, despite having always reached the final, skipped the contest in 2015 and 2019. Additionally, the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom) are also not counted in this list since they receive automatic qualification to the final.
- ^ Contains a few words in Spanish
- ^ The song also contained phrases in Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish.
- ^ a b If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
- ^ 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.
- ^ In 2012, Cyprus and Ukraine tied with 65 points each in the final. Due to the implementation of the "count-back" tie-breaker rule, Ukraine finished 15th, ahead of Cyprus, because Ukraine received points from more countries in the final than Cyprus.
- ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- ^ Following controversy regarding an alleged breach of the rules barring Ukrainian artists who have performed in Russia or Crimea from competing in the Ukrainian national selection, the winner of the selection, Alina Pash, has withdrawn her candidacy.[10]
- ^ a b Voted by previous winners.
- ^ Voted by commentators.
References[]
- ^ jjs1990 (29 May 2018). "Who has the BEST (and WORST) qualification rate at EUROVISION?". Eurovision Ireland. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^ Nocito, Eric (19 September 2014). "Ukraine withdraws from Eurovision 2015!". ESCReporter.com. ESC Reporter. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- ^ «Євробачення–2015» українці дивилися найгірше за останні вісім років
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (16 September 2015). "Ukraine: NTU confirms participation in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ "Spotify Charts". www.spotifycharts.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- ^ "Billboard Global Excl. US Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- ^ Dickinson, Peter (1 June 2021). "Why Eurovision is Ukraine's soft power secret weapon". Atlantic Council. Atlantic Council. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
- ^ "Ukraine – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (16 February 2022). WIKI