Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest

Azerbaijan has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 15 times since making its debut in 2008, after İctimai Televiziya (İTV) became an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). İTV had broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in previous years, purchasing broadcasting rights from the EBU. Azerbaijan was the last country in the Caucasus to debut in the contest and the first to win.

Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan
Participating broadcasterİctimai Television (İTV)
Participation summary
Appearances15 (13 finals)
First appearance2008
Highest placement1st: 2011
Host2012
External links
Azerbaijan's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Azerbaijan has won the contest once, in 2011, with Ell and Nikki and the song "Running Scared" 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 twice, in 2018 and 2023.

History

Prior to Azerbaijan's debut, broadcaster AzTV expressed interest in participating in 2007, but EBU rules did not allow this as AzTV was not an active member of the 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, 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]

Azerbaijan's debut at Eurovision in 2008 proved to be successful, with 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 the song "Always" by Aysel and Arash.

Azerbaijan's first Eurovision win came in 2011, when Ell and Nikki triumphed with "Running Scared".[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 Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012, and 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 Aisel failing to progress from the first semi-final, followed by TuralTuranX failing to advance from the first semi-final in 2023. Chingiz brought Azerbaijan back to the top ten by finishing eighth with the song "Truth" in 2019.

Popularity of the contest

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 2022, this is the largest amount of money ever spent by any host country on organising the contest.[10]

Participation overview
Table key
1 First place
2 Second place
3 Third place
X Entry selected but did not compete
† Upcoming event
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[lower-alpha 1] Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 2] X
2021 Efendi "Mata Hari" English[lower-alpha 3] 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 Confirmed intention to participate †[11]

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

Awards received

Marcel Bezençon Awards
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]

Heads of delegation
Year Head of delegation Ref.
2008–2011 Adil Karimli
[14]
2012–2014 Husniyya Maharramova
[15]
2015–2016 Tamilla Shirinova
[16]
2018 Leyla Quliyeva
[17]
2019 Husniyya Maharramova
[15]
2020 Leyla Quliyeva
[18]
2021–2022 Isa Melikov
[19][20]
2023 Vasif Mammadov
[21]

Commentators and spokespersons
Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2006 UnknownDid not participate
[22]
2007 Murad Arif and Leyla Aliyeva
[23]
2008 Husniyya Maharramova and Isa MelikovLeyla Aliyeva
[24]
2009 Leyla Aliyeva and Isa MelikovHusniyya Maharramova
[25]
2010 Husniyya MaharramovaTamilla Shirinova
[26]
2011 Leyla AliyevaSafura Alizadeh
[27][28][29]
2012 Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Bagirov
[30]
2013 Konul ArifgiziTamilla Shirinova
[31]
2014 Sabina Babayeva
[32]
2015 Kamran GuliyevTural Asadov
[33][34]
2016 Azer Suleymanli
[35][36]
2017
[37]
2018
[38]
2019 Murad ArifFaig Aghayev
[23][39]
2021 Murad Arif and Husniyya Maharramova Ell and Nikki
[40]
2022 Murad Arif None[lower-alpha 4]
[41][42][43]
2023 Azer SuleymanliNarmin Salmanova
[44][45]
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