Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Finland | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Member station | YLE |
| National selection events |
Euroviisut (1961-2011) UMK: Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (2012-) |
| Appearances | |
| Appearances | 47 (43 finals) |
| First appearance | 1961 |
| Best result | 1st: 2006 |
| Worst result | Last: 1963, 1965, 1968, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2009 |
| External links | |
| YLE page | |
| Finland's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Finland first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, and has participated a total of 47 times. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Previously, its best showing was Marion Rung’s song "Tom Tom Tom" in 1973, which was placed 6th.
Contents |
History [edit]
Before the 2006 victory, Finland was considered by many as the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision. It has placed last a total of nine times and scored "nul points" (zero points) three times. Finland's entry in 1982, "Nuku pommiin" by Kojo, was one of only fifteen songs since the modern scoring system was instituted in 1975 to earn no points. (Norway has placed last eleven times and scored zero points four times, but it has also won three times.)
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Finland was arguably the country most affected by the various relegation schemes designed to limit the number of participants allowed to participate in each year's contest. Due to low results, Finland was excluded from the contest in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Before 2006, there even was a popular joke circulating in Finland, where a man frees a genie from a bottle:
- Genie: Thanks for freeing me! I will now grant you one wish.
- Man: Bring the Finnish Karelia back to Finland!
- Genie: That's too big a wish, maybe a smaller one?
- Man: OK, let Finland win the Eurovision Song Contest even once!
- Genie: Hmm... let me see that map again...
First Victory [edit]
In 2006, Finland finally gained victory, with an entry radically different from the mainstream europop that dominates the competition: a hard rock song, played by a monster band in an over-the-top fashion. The band Lordi and its song Hard Rock Hallelujah broke records scoring the highest number of points in Eurovision Song Contest history (292) but its title was taken by Norway in 2009 (387).
Language [edit]
All of Finland's entries were in English between 1973 and 1976 and again since 2000 (except in 2008, 2010 and 2012); both of these periods allowed submissions in any language. Two entries, 1990 and 2012, were in Swedish, which is an official language in Finland alongside Finnish. All of Finland's other songs have been in Finnish.
Voting Patterns [edit]
In voting patterns, Finland has traditionally supported and been supported by the other Nordic countries. In recent years also the Baltic nations, such as Estonia and Latvia have been favoured by Finland, and the other way around. In 2004, Finland's first-place vote went to Sweden; in 2005, it contributed 12 points to Norway; in 2006, it was Russia's turn to get the 12 points, but it was Serbia who got their top score in 2007. The first time in Eurovision history that Sweden gave Finland 12 points was in 2006 for Lordi's song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". In 2007, they repeated this, giving 12 points to Hanna Pakarinen with "Leave Me Alone". Finland has also given notably high points to Italy, a country that had not competed from 1998 to 2010, but returned in 2011.
Contestants [edit]
As of the 2012 contest, there have been 46 Finnish entries in the contest: 32 in Finnish, 13 in English and 2 in Swedish.
* In 2009, Finland qualified through the jury selection.
- XX on the semi-finals denotes auto-qualification. This could be the result of one of the following two reasons; if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. The other reason being that back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten with Spain and the United Kingdom finishing after 15th place, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.
- XX on the finals denotes an unsuccessful attempt at qualifying to the final.
Voting history (1975-2012) [edit]
Finland has given the most points to...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sweden |
155 |
| 2 |  Israel |
125 |
| 3 |  Italy |
118 |
| 4 |  France |
107 |
| 5 |  United Kingdom |
104 |
Finland has received the most points from...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden |
99 |
| 2 |  Norway |
81 |
| 3 |  Iceland |
73 |
| 4 |  Estonia |
61 |
| 5 |  Greece |
59 |
NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals since 2004.
Since introducing the semi-finals in 2004 [edit]
Finland has given the most points to...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Estonia |
77 |
| 2 | Sweden |
69 |
| 3 | Iceland |
67 |
| 4 |  Russia |
54 |
| 5 | Norway |
46 |
Finland has received the most points from...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland |
71 |
| 2 | Sweden |
66 |
| Estonia |
66 | |
| 3 | Norway |
47 |
| 4 |  Denmark |
37 |
| 5 |  Andorra |
35 |
NOTE: The tables with points from 2004 include points awarded in both finals and semi-finals where the highest point from the final/semi-final is picked.
Hostings [edit]
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 |  Helsinki |
Hartwall Areena | Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi |
Marcel Bezençon Awards [edit]
Press Award
| Year | Song | Performer | Final Result | Points | Host city |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Hard Rock Hallelujah" | Lordi | 1st | 292 | Athens |
| 2011 | "Da Da Dam" | Paradise Oskar | 21st | 57 | Düsseldorf |
Fan Award
| Year | Performer | Song | Final Result |
Points | Host city |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Laura Voutilainen | "Addicted to You" | 20th | 24 | Tallinn |
Commentators and spokespersons [edit]
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (March 2012) |
| Year(s) | Finnish Commentator | Dual Finnish Commentator | Trio Finnish Commentator | Spokesperson | Swedish Commentator | Dual Swedish Commentator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Aarno Walli | No Dual Commentator | No Trio Commentator | Did Not Participate | No broadcast | No broadcast |
| 1961 | Poppe Berg | |||||
| 1962 | ||||||
| 1963 | ||||||
| 1964 | ||||||
| 1965 | ||||||
| 1966 | ||||||
| 1967 | ||||||
| 1968 | ||||||
| 1969 | Aarre Elo | |||||
| 1970 | No Broadcast | Did not participate | ||||
| 1971 | Heikki Seppälä | No Spokesperson | ||||
| 1972 | ||||||
| 1973 | Erkki Pohjanheimo | |||||
| 1974 | Matti Paalosmaa | Aarre Elo | ||||
| 1975 | Heikki Seppälä | Kaarina Pönniö | ||||
| 1976 | Vesa Nuotio | Erkki Vihtonen | ||||
| 1977 | Erkki Toivanen | Kaarina Pönniö | ||||
| 1978 | ||||||
| 1979 | Anja-Maija Leppänen | |||||
| 1980 | Heikki Harma | Aarre Elo | ||||
| 1981 | Ossi Runne | No Dual Commentator | Annemi Genetz | |||
| 1982 | Erkki Toivanen | Solveig Herlin | ||||
| 1983 | Erkki Pohjanheimo | |||||
| 1984 | Heikki Seppälä | |||||
| 1985 | Heikki Harma | Kari Lumikero | Annemi Genetz | |||
| 1986 | Solveig Herlin | |||||
| 1987 | Erkki Toivanen | No Dual Commentator | ||||
| 1988 | Erkki Pohjanheimo | |||||
| 1989 | Heikki Harma | |||||
| 1990 | Erkki Pohjanheimo | Ossi Runne | ||||
| 1991 | N/A | Heidi Kokki | ||||
| 1992 | Kati Bergman | Solveig Herlin | ||||
| 1993 | Kirsi-Maria Niemi | |||||
| 1994 | ||||||
| 1995 | Olli Ahvenlahti | Did not participate | ||||
| 1996 | Sanna Kojo | Solveig Herlin | ||||
| 1997 | Aki Sirkesalo | Olli Ahvenlahti | Did not participate | |||
| 1998 | Maria Guzenina | Sami Aaltonen | Marjo Wilska | |||
| 1999 | Jani Juntunen | No Dual Commentator | Did not participate | |||
| 2000 | Pia Mäkinen | |||||
| 2001 | Asko Murtomäki | Did not participate | ||||
| 2002 | Maria Guzenina | Marion Rung | ||||
| 2003 | Did not participate | |||||
| 2004 | Markus Kajo | Anna Stenlund | ||||
| 2005 | Jaana Pelkonen | Heikki Paasonen | Jari Sillanpää | |||
| 2006 | Nina Tapio | Thomas Lundin | No Dual Commentator | |||
| 2007 | Ellen Jokikunnas | Laura Voutilainen | ||||
| 2008 | Jaana Pelkonen | Mikko Peltola | Mikko Leppilampi | |||
| 2009 | Jari Sillanpää | Tobias Larsson | ||||
| 2010 | No Trio Commentator | Johanna Pirttilahti | ||||
| 2011 | Tarja Närhi | Susan Aho | Eva Frantz | Johan Lindroos | ||
| 2012 | Tobias Larsson | Mr. Lordi | ||||
| 2013 | Juuso Mäkilähde | Aino Töllinen | Kristiina Wheeler |
See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- National Final 2009
- Points to and from Finland eurovisioncovers.co.uk
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