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Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan
Participating broadcasterİctimai Television (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 Television (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

[edit]

Prior to Azerbaijan's debut in the Eurovision Song Contest, broadcaster Azerbaijan Television (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 Television (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

[edit]

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

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

Awards received

[edit]

Marcel Bezençon Awards

[edit]
Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
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
[12]
2013 Artistic Award "Hold Me" Farid Mammadov Dimitris Kontopoulos
2
234
 Sweden Malmö
[13]
[edit]

Heads of delegation

[edit]

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.
2008–2011 Adil Karimli
[15]
2012–2014, 2019 Husniyya Maharramova
[16]
2015–2016 Tamilla Shirinova
[17]
2018, 2020 Leyla Quliyeva
[18]
2021–2022 Isa Melikov
[19][20]
2023–2024 Vasif Mammadov
[21]
2025 Nurlana Jafarova [az]
[22]

Commentators and spokespersons

[edit]

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

Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2006 Unknown Did not participate
[23]
2007 Murad Arif and Leyla Aliyeva
[24]
2008 Husniyya Maharramova and Isa Melikov Leyla Aliyeva
[25]
2009 Leyla Aliyeva and Isa Melikov Husniyya Maharramova
[26]
2010 Husniyya Maharramova Tamilla Shirinova
[27]
2011 Leyla Aliyeva Safura Alizadeh
[28][29][30]
2012 Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Bagirov
[31]
2013 Konul Arifgizi Tamilla Shirinova
[32]
2014 Sabina Babayeva
[33]
2015 Kamran Guliyev Tural Asadov
[34][35]
2016 Azer Suleymanli
[36][37]
2017
[38]
2018
[39]
2019 Murad Arif Faig Aghayev
[24][40]
2021 Murad Arif and Husniyya Maharramova Ell and Nikki
[41]
2022 Murad Arif None[b]
[42][43][44]
2023 Azer Suleymanli Narmin Salmanova
[45][46]
2024 Nurlana Jafarova Aysel Teymurzadeh
[47][48]

Stage directors

[edit]
Year Stage director(s) Ref.
2011 Rennie Miro & Filip Adamo
[49]
2013 Fokas Evangelinos
[citation needed]
2014 Åsa Engman and Nicoline Refsing
[50]
2015 Ambra Succi
[citation needed]
2016 Roine Söderlundh
[citation needed]
2017 Naila Mammadzadeh
[citation needed]
2018 Fokas Evangelinos
[citation needed]
2019 Mads Enggaard, Konstantin Tomilchenko & Aleksandr Bratkovsky
[51][52]
2020 Mads Enggaard
[53]
2021 Mads Enggaard
[54]
2023 Mads Enggaard
[55]
2024 Yevhenii "Timó" Timokhin [uk]
[56]


[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  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

[edit]
  1. ^ Kuipers, Michael (18 June 2007). "Azerbaijan not joining after all". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 20 June 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  2. ^ "News Eurovision Finland 2007 Новости Евровидения 2007 Финляндия". Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
  3. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest | Belgrade (Serbia) 2008 – Articles". Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  4. ^ "Azerbaijan's Eurovision rebirth". Agence France-Presse. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  5. ^ Sperling, Daniel (14 May 2011). "Azerbaijan win Eurovision Song Contest 2011". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Eurovision: Azerbaijan probes Russian 'nul points'". BBC News. 20 May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
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  8. ^ "Stamps on Azerbaijan's Eurovision-2011 win issued". Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  9. ^ Petersen, Christian (3 December 2014). "Eurovision 2014 was the second most expensive ever". eurovisionworld.com. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  10. ^ "Revealed: Eurovision budgets are getting smaller". MoneyTransfers.com. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  11. ^ Granger, Anthony (3 August 2024). "Azerbaijan: Eurovision 2025 Participation Confirmed With Call for Submissions". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2012". eurovision.tv. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2013". eurovision.tv. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Heads of Delegation". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  15. ^ Granger, Anthony (18 January 2009). "AySel to represent Azerbaijan".
  16. ^ Granger, Anthony (26 January 2019). "Azerbaijan: Husniye Maharramova Returns as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. ^ Granger, Anthony (22 September 2016). "Azerbaijan: Tamilla Shirinova Dropped as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  18. ^ Granger, Anthony (7 December 2018). "Azerbaijan: Head of Delegation Dismisses Report of Artist Reveal in Two Weeks". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  19. ^ Granger, Anthony (16 August 2020). "Azerbaijan: Isa Melikov Named Head of Delegation for Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  20. ^ Robyn, Gallagher (16 February 2022). "Azerbaijan: The Voice winner Nadir Rüstemli will sing at Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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  23. ^ Kuipers, Michael (17 May 2007). "Azerbaijan to debut in 2008?". esctoday.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
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  25. ^ Floras, Stella (7 May 2008). "Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan: Elnur, Samir & Ruslana in Istanbul". "ESCToday.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  26. ^ Montebello, Edward (8 February 2011). "Malta: Azerbaijani TV host is a jury member". "ESCToday.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  27. ^ Klier, Marcus (23 March 2009). "Eurovision Live: Draw of the running order". ESCToday. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  28. ^ Schacht, Andreas (14 May 2011). "The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final!". "Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  29. ^ "Кто будет объявлять баллы на "Евровидении 2011" от Азербайджана?". Day.Az. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  30. ^ "Leyla Əliyeva: "Yoldaşımla İctimai Televiziyada tanış olmuşuq, o rejissor, mən aparıcıyam"". Modern.az. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  31. ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (26 May 2012). "Running order for the voting tonight". "Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  32. ^ "'Eurovision 2013' Mahnı Müsabiqəsinin birinci yarımfinalı (1-ci hissə)" ['Eurovision 2013' song contest in the first semi-final (part 1)] (in Azerbaijani). İctimai Television. 15 May 2013. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  33. ^ ""Eurovision 2014": Azərbaycan təmsilçisi finalda yarışmaq hüququnu qazanıb" ["Eurovision 2014": The representative of Azerbaijan won the right to compete in the finals]. İctimai Television (in Azerbaijani). 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  34. ^ Vranis, Michalis (23 May 2015). "Big Poll Commentators: Here are the Semi-final 1 results". ESCToday. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  35. ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (23 May 2015). ""Good evening Vienna" – Voting order revealed". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  36. ^ Cavadsoy, Şahin (9 May 2016). "AZƏRBAYCAN DİLİNDƏ "EUROVİSİON"U O, ŞƏRH EDƏCƏK". primetime.az (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  37. ^ ""Eurovision 2016" yarışmasının 1-ci yarımfinalı İTV-də canlı yayımlanacaq". trend.az (in Azerbaijani). Trend News Agency. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  38. ^ Jensen, Charlotte (13 May 2017). "Voting order and spokespeople for Grand Final 2017". eurovisionary.com. Eurovisionary. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  39. ^ ""May we have your votes please?"". eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  40. ^ "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  41. ^ "İTV "Eurovision-2021"də şərhçilərinin adını açıqladı". AzVision (in Azerbaijani). 8 May 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  42. ^ Granger, Anthony (10 May 2022). "Azerbaijan: Narmin Salmanova Spokesperson For Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  43. ^ Jabbarov, Elvin (1 May 2022). "AVROVİZİYA 2022 ŞƏRHÇİSİ MURAD ARİF OLACAQ". 12XAL (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  44. ^ Grace, Emily (6 May 2022). "Azerbaijan: Murad Arif To Commentate On Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  45. ^ Mammadli, Hussein (4 May 2023). "Avrovi̇zi̇ya 2023 şərhçİmi̇z Azər Süleymanli olacaq" [Azer Suleymanli will be our Eurovision 2023 commentator]. 12xal (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  46. ^ Mammadli, Hussein (4 May 2023). "Avrovi̇zi̇ya 2023-də Azərbaycanin səsləri̇ni̇ Nərmi̇n Salmanova açiqlayacaq" [Narmin Salmanova will provide the votes of Azerbaijan in Eurovision 2023]. 12xal (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  47. ^ @ictimaieurovision (4 April 2024). "Avroviziya 2024 Mahnı Müsabiqəsinin Azərbaycandakı səsi TV və radio aparıcısı Nurlana Cəfərova olacaq!" [TV and radio presenter Nurlana Jafarova will be the voice of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Azerbaijan!] (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 4 April 2024 – via Instagram.
  48. ^ Van Dijk, Sem Anne. "Azerbaijan: Aysel Teymurzadeh Spokesperson for Eurovision 2024". Eurovoix. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  49. ^ "Eurovision winning stage directors to direct Carousel's performance in Tel Aviv". escxtra.com. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  50. ^ "An acrobatic performance for Azerbaijan". Eurovision.tv. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  51. ^ "Євробачення-2019: Костянтин Томільченко поставив номер для учасника від Азербайджану". stb.ua. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  52. ^ "High-tech staging for Chingiz at Eurovision Song Contest 2019". frontpictures.com (in Ukrainian). 15 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  53. ^ "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  54. ^ "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  55. ^ Mammadova, Elmira (26 March 2023). "Azərbaycanın Mads ilə əməkdaşlığı davam edir". INFE Azerbaijan (in Azerbaijani). Retrieved 26 March 2023.[permanent dead link‍]
  56. ^ Conte, Davide (2 April 2024). "Azerbaijan: Timó Will Be Creative Director for 'Özünlə Apar' Staging". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
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