Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Participating broadcaster	İTV
Participation summary
Appearances	13 (12 finals)
First appearance	2008
Highest placement	1st: 2011
Host	2012
External links
	Eurovision Azerbaijan
	For the most recent participation see; Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Azerbaijan has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 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 won the contest in 2011, with Ell & 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 their 2011 win and fourth (2012) and second (2013) following their win. In 2018, Azerbaijan failed to advance from the semi-finals for the first time.

History

Azerbaijan's first try at Eurovision proved to be successful as the country qualified for the final from the first semi-final and came 8th with 132 points in the final evening.

Previously, another broadcaster, AzTV, wanted to participate 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 by the EBU.^[3]

Azerbaijan's first Eurovision performance by Elnur and Samir placed 8th with 132 points. In 2009 Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with the song "Always", performed by duo AySel & Arash.

On 14 May 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with a song by Ell & Nikki.^[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 5 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 10 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 come in the top ten on four occasions, coming 12th in 2015, 17th in 2016, 14th in 2017 and 20th in 2021. 2018 saw Azerbaijan's first non-qualification, with "X My Heart" by Aisel failing to make it past the first semi-final. In 2019, Chingiz brought Azerbaijan back in the top 10 for the first time since 2013 by finishing 8th with the song "Truth".

Popularity of the contest

Since debuting in 2008, the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the Top 10 at their debut in 2008 and also ending in the Top 5 from 2009 to 2013, the contest has become a matter of "national pride" and of very high importance. The high importance of the contest within Azerbaijan became evident and world news in 2013 when the country's president Ilham Aliyev launched an inquiry into why his country did not 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 from after midnight local time due to the time difference from Central European Time. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to their victory with Ell & Nikki in 2011.^[7]^[8]

The country spent €160 million (300 million Azerbaijani Manat) on hosting the 2012 contest, including building a completely new arena for the event.^[9] As of 2021, this is the largest amount of money any host has ever spent on hosting the contest.

Participation overview

Table key
1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming

Year	Entrant	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
2008	Elnur & Samir	"Day After Day"	English	8	132	6	96
2009	Aysel & Arash	"Always"	English	3	207	2	180
2010	Safura	"Drip Drop"	English	5	145	2	113
2011	Ell & Nikki	"Running Scared"	English	1	221	2	122
2012	Sabina Babayeva	"When the Music Dies"	English	4	150	Host country^[a]
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^[b]	Contest cancelled^[c] X
2021	Efendi	"Mata Hari"	English^[d]	20	65	8	138
2022	Appeared on list of participants †^[10]

Hostings

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

Awards received

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	Baku	^[11]
2013	Artistic Award	"Hold Me"	Farid Mammadov	Dimitris Kontopoulos	2	234	Malmö	^[12]

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2008–2011	Adil Karimli	^[13]
2012–2014	Husniye Maharramova [az]	^[14]
2015–2016	Tamilla Shirinova	^[15]
2018	Leyla Quliyeva	^[16]
2019	Husniye Maharramova	^[14]
2020	Leyla Quliyeva	^[17]
2021	Isa Melikov	^[18]

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
2006	Unknown	Did not participate	^[19]
2007	Murad Arif and Leyla Aliyeva	Did not participate	^[20]
2008	Husniye Maharramova and Isa Melikov	Leyla Aliyeva	^[21]
2009	Leyla Aliyeva and Isa Melikov	Husniye Maharramova	^[22]
2010	Husniye Maharramova	Tamilla Shirinova
2011	Leyla Aliyeva	Safura Alizadeh	^[23]
2012	Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Bagirov	Safura Alizadeh	^[24]
2013	Konul Arifgizi	Tamilla Shirinova
2014	Konul Arifgizi	Sabina Babayeva
2015	Kamran Guliyev	Tural Asadov
2016	Azer Suleymanli		^[25]
2017
2018			^[26]
2019	Murad Arif	Faig Aghayev	^[20]^[27]
2021	Murad Arif and Husniya Maharramova	Ell & Nikki

Stage directors

Year	Stage director(s)	Ref.
2011	Rennie Miro & Filip Adamo	^[28]
2013	Fokas Evangelinos	^{[citation needed]}
2014	Åsa Engman and Nicoline Refsing	^[29]
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	^[30]^[31]
~~2020~~	~~Mads Enggaard~~	^[32]
2021	Mads Enggaard	^[33]

Photogallery

Elnur & Samir in Belgrade (2008)
Aysel & Arash in Moscow (2009)
Safura Alizadeh in Oslo (2010)
Ell & Nikki in Düsseldorf (2011)
Sabina Babayeva on homesoil in Baku (2012)
Farid Mammadov in Malmö (2013)
Dilara Kazimova in Copenhagen (2014)
Elnur Hüseynov in Vienna (2015)
Samra Rahimli in Stockholm (2016)
Diana Hajiyeva in Kyiv (2017)
Aisel in Lisbon (2018)
Chingiz in Tel Aviv (2019)
Efendi in Rotterdam (2021)

Notes

^ If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
^ Contains the Japanese mantra "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō".
^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^ Contains one repeated chant in Azerbaijani

References

^ Kuipers, Michael (18 June 2007). "Azerbaijan not joining after all". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 20 June 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
^ "News Eurovision Finland 2007 Новости Евровидения 2007 Финляндия". Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
^ "Eurovision Song Contest | Belgrade (Serbia) 2008 – Articles". Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
^ "Azerbaijan's Eurovision rebirth". Agence France-Presse. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
^ Sperling, Daniel. "Azerbaijan win Eurovision Song Contest 2011". Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
^ "Eurovision: Azerbaijan probes Russian 'nul points'". BBC News. 20 May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
^ "Ell & Nikki (2011) IN POST STAMPS". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
^ "Stamps on Azerbaijan's Eurovision-2011 win issued". Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
^ Petersen, Christian (3 December 2014). "Eurovision 2014 was the second most expensive ever". eurovisionworld.com. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
^ "REVEALED: the 41 countries joining Eurovision in Turin 2022". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
^ "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2012". eurovision.tv. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
^ "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2013". eurovision.tv. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
^ Granger, Anthony. "AySel to represent Azerbaijan".
^ ^a ^b Granger, Anthony (26 January 2019). "Azerbaijan: Husniye Maharramova Returns as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
^ Granger, Anthony (22 September 2016). "Azerbaijan: Tamilla Shirinova Dropped as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
^ Granger, Anthony (7 December 2018). "Azerbaijan: Head of Delegation Dismisses Report of Artist Reveal in Two Weeks". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
^ Granger, Anthony (28 January 2020). "Azerbaijan: Leyla Quileyeva Returns As Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
^ Granger, Anthony (16 August 2020). "Azerbaijan: Isa Melikov Named Head of Delegation for Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
^ Kuipers, Michael (17 May 2007). "Azerbaijan to debut in 2008?". esctoday.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b Granger, Anthony (28 April 2019). "Azerbaijan: Murad Arif Returns To Commentary Booth After Thirteen Years". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ ""May we have your votes please?"". eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
^ "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
^ "Eurovision winning stage directors to direct Carousel's performance in Tel Aviv". escxtra.com. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^ "An acrobatic performance for Azerbaijan". Eurovision.tv. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^ "Євробачення-2019: Костянтин Томільченко поставив номер для учасника від Азербайджану". stb.ua. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^ "High-tech staging for Chingiz at Eurovision Song Contest 2019". frontpictures.com (in Ukrainian). 15 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^ "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^ "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

External links

Eldar & Nigar – Eurovision 2011 Winners (official video)
Eldar & Nigar – Azerbaijani entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany
Safura – Azerbaijani entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway
Eurovision Azerbaijan
Eurovision Azerbaijan
Points to and from Azerbaijan eurovisioncovers.co.uk

[note3-10] If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.

[11] Contains the Japanese mantra "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō".

[12] The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[13] Contains one repeated chant in Azerbaijani

[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. "Azerbaijan win Eurovision Song Contest 2011". 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.

[7] "Ell & Nikki (2011) IN POST STAMPS". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2013.

[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.

[participant_list-14] "REVEALED: the 41 countries joining Eurovision in Turin 2022". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.

[15] "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2012". eurovision.tv. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

[16] "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2013". eurovision.tv. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

[karimli-17] Granger, Anthony. "AySel to represent Azerbaijan".

[maharramova-18] Granger, Anthony (26 January 2019). "Azerbaijan: Husniye Maharramova Returns as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.

[19] Granger, Anthony (22 September 2016). "Azerbaijan: Tamilla Shirinova Dropped as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.

[20] Granger, Anthony (7 December 2018). "Azerbaijan: Head of Delegation Dismisses Report of Artist Reveal in Two Weeks". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.

[21] Granger, Anthony (28 January 2020). "Azerbaijan: Leyla Quileyeva Returns As Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 28 January 2020.

[22] Granger, Anthony (16 August 2020). "Azerbaijan: Isa Melikov Named Head of Delegation for Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 August 2020.

[az_2008-23] Kuipers, Michael (17 May 2007). "Azerbaijan to debut in 2008?". esctoday.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

[arif-24] Granger, Anthony (28 April 2019). "Azerbaijan: Murad Arif Returns To Commentary Booth After Thirteen Years". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

[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] 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.

[28] 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.

[29] 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.

[30] ""May we have your votes please?"". eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

[31] "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

[32] "Eurovision winning stage directors to direct Carousel's performance in Tel Aviv". escxtra.com. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[33] "An acrobatic performance for Azerbaijan". Eurovision.tv. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

[34] "Євробачення-2019: Костянтин Томільченко поставив номер для учасника від Азербайджану". stb.ua. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[35] "High-tech staging for Chingiz at Eurovision Song Contest 2019". frontpictures.com (in Ukrainian). 15 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[36] "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

[37] "🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Mads Enggaard Staging Director For Efendi's Eurovision Performance". Eurovoix. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

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