Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". The country's only Eurovision victory was in 2002, when Marie N won with the song "I Wanna", defeating Malta by 12 points. Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga. The country achieved its third top 10 result in 2005, when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with "The War Is Not Over".
Latvia did not participate in the final from 2009 to 2014, when they failed to qualify from the semi-finals for six consecutive years, including finishing last on three occasions, in 2009, 2010 and 2013.[1][2] In 2015, they qualified for the final for the first time since 2008 with Aminata and the song "Love Injected". In the final she finished sixth, Latvia's fourth top 10 placement and best result in the contest since 2005.
1. ^ The song is in English; however, there are some phrases in Latvian.[4]
2. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 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, 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.