Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times since making its debut in , 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 The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

to debut in the contest and the first to win. Azerbaijan won the contest 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 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

Prior to Azerbaijan's debut, broadcaster

AzTV AzTV or Azerbaijan Television ( az, Azərbaycan Televiziyası) is a state-controlled national television channel in Azerbaijan. It is the oldest television channel in the country, having first broadcast from Baku on 14 February 1956 in what wa ...

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. On 5 July, İTV became a full EBU member, and on 15 October, it was given permission to take part in the contest by the EBU. 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 Always may refer to: Film and television * ''Always'', a 1985 film directed by Henry Jaglom * ''Always'' (1989 film), a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg * ''Always'' (2011 film), a 2011 South Korean film, also known as '' ...

" by Aysel and

Arash Arash the Archer ( fa, آرش کمانگیر ''Āraš-e Kamāngīr'') is a heroic archer-figure of Iranian mythology. According to Iranian folklore, the boundary between Iran and Turan was set by an arrow launched by Arash, after he put his own ...

. Azerbaijan's first Eurovision win came in , when Ell and Nikki triumphed with " Running Scared". 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 Sabina Babayeva ( az, Səbinə Babayeva; born 2 December 1979, Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer. She represented Azerbaijan in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 26 May 2012, with the song "When the Mus ...

finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012, and

Farid Mammadov Farid Mammadov ( az , Fərid Məmmədov; born 30 August 1991, in Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer. He represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song " Hold Me" and came second after Denmark. Biography Early li ...

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. In 2019, Chingiz brought Azerbaijan back in the top ten for the first time since 2013 by finishing eighth with the song "

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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. 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 Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET ...

. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to Ell and Nikki's win in 2011. The country spent () on hosting the 2012 contest, including building a completely new arena for the event. this is the largest amount of money ever spent by any host country on organising the contest.

Participation overview

Hostings

Awards received

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

Stage directors

Photogallery

File:ESC 2008 - Azerbaijan - Elnur and Samir 1st semifinal.jpg, Elnur and Samir in Belgrade () File:Aysel and Arash semifinal.jpg, Aysel and

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Safura Alizadeh Safura Alizadeh Aliyev (born 20 September 1992) is an Azerbaijani pop singer. In 2009, she became the winner of the national contest "Pop Idol" (season 8). In 2010, Safura took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, where she brought Azerbaijan o ...

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Dilara Kazimova Dilara Kazimova ( az , Dilarə Kazımova ; born 20 May 1984) is an Azerbaijani singer and actress. She represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen with the song " Start a Fire". Career Born in Baku, Kazimova studie ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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Elnur Hüseynov Elnur Hüseynov (born 3 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani singer. He was Azerbaijan's representative to perform " Day After Day" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Samir Javadzadeh as duo Elnur and Samir. In 2015, he won the fourth seaso ...

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Samra Rahimli Samra Rahimli ( az, Səmra Rəhimli, born 20 October 1994) is an Azerbaijani singer. In 2015, she competed in ''O Ses Türkiye'' (''The Voice of Turkey'') where she made it to the quarterfinals and in March 2016, she became a finalist on the first ...

in Stockholm () File:Dihaj (Azerbaijan). Photo 348.jpg,

Diana Hajiyeva Diana Hajiyeva ( az, Diana Hacıyeva, , russian: Диана Гаджиева; born 13 June 1989) is an Azerbaijani singer and songwriter. She is a member and the lead vocalist of the group Dihaj, which represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Son ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

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Notes

References

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
br
Eurovision Azerbaijan

''eurovisioncovers.co.uk'' {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest