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Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan
Participating broadcasterİctimai Televiziya (İTV)
Participation summary
Appearances16 (13 finals)
First appearance2008
Highest placement1st: 2011
Host2012
Participation history
External links
Azerbaijan's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Azerbaijan has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times since making its debut in 2008. The Azerbaijani participant broadcaster in the contest is İctimai Televiziya (İTV). Azerbaijan was the last country in the Caucasus to debut in the contest and the first to win.

Azerbaijan has won the contest once, in 2011, with "Running Scared" performed by Ell and Nikki setting the record for the lowest average score for a winning song under the 12-points voting system, with 5.26 points per country. The country achieved five consecutive top-five results in the contest between 2009 and 2013, finishing third (2009) and fifth (2010) before its 2011 win and fourth (2012) and second (2013) following its win. Azerbaijan has failed to advance from the semi-finals on three occasions, in 2018, 2023, and 2024.

History

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Prior to Azerbaijan's debut in the Eurovision Song Contest, broadcaster Azərbaycan Televiziyası (AzTV) expressed interest in participating in the 2007 contest, but the rules did not allow this as AzTV was not an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). AzTV was denied active EBU membership on 18 June 2007, as it was considered too connected to the Azerbaijani government.[1] On 5 July, İctimai Televiziya (İTV) became a full EBU member,[2] and on 15 October, it was given permission to take part in the contest by the EBU.[3] İTV has participated in the contest representing Azerbaijan since its 53rd edition in 2008. İTV had already broadcast the contest in previous years, purchasing broadcasting rights from the EBU.

Azerbaijan's debut at Eurovision in 2008 proved to be successful, with "Day After Day" performed by Elnur and Samir placing 8th with 132 points. In 2009, Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with "Always" by Aysel and Arash.

Azerbaijan's first Eurovision win came in 2011, when "Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki triumphed.[4][5] With their entry only receiving 5.26 points per voting country, Azerbaijan holds the record of the lowest average score for a winning song under that voting system (in place from 1975 to 2015).

The country managed another two consecutive top five results, with "When the Music Dies" by Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012, and "Hold Me" by Farid Mammadov second with 234 in 2013, but in 2014, Azerbaijan failed to place in the top ten for the first time since their debut, finishing 22nd, the country's lowest result in a Eurovision final to date. Azerbaijan has since failed to reach the top ten on five occasions, coming 12th in 2015, 17th in 2016, 14th in 2017, 20th in 2021, and 16th in 2022. 2018 saw Azerbaijan's first non-qualification, with "X My Heart" by Aisel failing to progress from the first semi-final, followed by "Tell Me More" by TuralTuranX failing to advance from the first semi-final in 2023. "Truth" by Chingiz brought Azerbaijan back to the top ten by finishing eighth in 2019.

Popularity of the contest

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Since Azerbaijan's debut in 2008, the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the top 10 at its debut in 2008 and also ending in the top 5 from 2009 to 2013, the contest became a matter of "national pride". The high importance of the contest within the country became evident in 2013, when the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev launched an inquiry into his country failing to award Russia any points in the 2013 final.[6] Since 2009, the contest has consistently been the most watched show on Azerbaijani television, despite the fact that the contest is broadcast at midnight local time due to the time difference from Central European Time. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to Ell and Nikki's win in 2011.[7][8]

The country spent 300 million (160 million) on hosting the 2012 contest, including building a completely new arena for the event.[9] As of 2024, this is the largest amount of money ever spent by any host country on organising the contest.[10]

Participation overview

[edit]
Table key
1 First place
2 Second place
3 Third place
X Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points
2008 Elnur and Samir "Day After Day" English 8 132 6 96
2009 Aysel and Arash "Always" English 3 207 2 180
2010 Safura "Drip Drop" English 5 145 2 113
2011 Ell and Nikki "Running Scared" English 1 221 2 122
2012 Sabina Babayeva "When the Music Dies" English 4 150 Host country
2013 Farid Mammadov "Hold Me" English 2 234 1 139
2014 Dilara Kazimova "Start a Fire" English 22 33 9 57
2015 Elnur Hüseynov "Hour of the Wolf" English 12 49 10 53
2016 Samra "Miracle" English 17 117 6 185
2017 Dihaj "Skeletons" English 14 120 8 150
2018 Aisel "X My Heart" English Failed to qualify 11 94
2019 Chingiz "Truth" English 8 302 5 224
2020 Efendi "Cleopatra" English Contest cancelled[a] X
2021 Efendi "Mata Hari" English 20 65 8 138
2022 Nadir Rustamli "Fade to Black" English 16 106 10 96
2023 TuralTuranX "Tell Me More" English Failed to qualify 14 4
2024 Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov "Özünlə apar" English, Azerbaijani 14 11
2025 Confirmed intention to participate [11]

Hostings

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Year Location Venue Presenters Image
2012 Baku Baku Crystal Hall Leyla Aliyeva, Eldar Gasimov and Nargiz Birk-Petersen

Awards received

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Marcel Bezençon Awards

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Year Category Song Performer Composer Place Points Host city Ref.
2012 Press Award "When the Music Dies" Sabina Babayeva Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund
4
150
Azerbaijan Baku
2013 Artistic Award "Hold Me" Farid Mammadov Dimitris Kontopoulos
2
234
Sweden Malmö
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Heads of delegation

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Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[14]

Year Head of delegation Ref.
20082011 Adil Karimli
20122014, 2019 Husniyya Maharramova
20152016 Tamilla Shirinova
2018, 2020 Leyla Quliyeva
20212022 Isa Melikov
20232024 Vasif Mammadov
2025 Nurlana Jafarova [az]

Commentators and spokespersons

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The contest is aired on İTV with notable commentators include Azer Suleymanli and Murad Arif.

Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2006 Unknown Did not participate
2007 Murad Arif and Leyla Aliyeva
2008 Husniyya Maharramova and Isa Melikov Leyla Aliyeva
2009 Leyla Aliyeva and Isa Melikov Husniyya Maharramova
2010 Husniyya Maharramova Tamilla Shirinova
2011 Leyla Aliyeva Safura Alizadeh
2012 Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Bagirov
2013 Konul Arifgizi Tamilla Shirinova
2014 Sabina Babayeva
2015 Kamran Guliyev Tural Asadov
2016 Azer Suleymanli
2017
2018
2019 Murad Arif Faig Aghayev
2021 Murad Arif and Husniyya Maharramova Ell and Nikki
2022 Murad Arif None[b]
2023 Azer Suleymanli Narmin Salmanova
2024 Nurlana Jafarova Aysel Teymurzadeh

Stage directors

[edit]
Year Stage director(s) Ref.
2011 Rennie Miro & Filip Adamo
2013 Fokas Evangelinos
2014 Åsa Engman and Nicoline Refsing
2015 Ambra Succi
2016 Roine Söderlundh
2017 Naila Mammadzadeh
2018 Fokas Evangelinos
2019 Mads Enggaard, Konstantin Tomilchenko & Aleksandr Bratkovsky
2020 Mads Enggaard
2021 Mads Enggaard
2023 Mads Enggaard
2024 Yevhenii "Timó" Timokhin [uk]


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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. ^ Narmin Salmanova was supposed to announce the results, but due to alleged technical difficulties, the contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl announced them instead.

References

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