Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

has participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

55 times since its debut in . Finland won the contest for the first – and to date only – time in with

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

's "

Hard Rock Hallelujah "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It was released as a single in 2006, reaching the 1 spot in Finland and reaching the top 10 in eight other European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at No. 25. ...

". The country's best result before then was achieved by

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945 in Helsinki) is a Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring Finland's ...

with the song "Tom Tom Tom" in , which placed sixth. Finland has finished last in the contest eleven times, receiving '' nul points'' in , and . Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final eight times. In , the country had its best result in eight years when Softengine with "Something Better" finished 11th, a result that would be surpassed seven years later by

Blind Channel Blind Channel is a Finnish nu metal band from Oulu. The band define their musical style as "violent pop". They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song " Dark Side", finishing in sixth place. Career In February ...

with " Dark Side", which came sixth in , thereby achieving the country's joint-second best result to date and its first top 10 result since 2006. In , Finland finished last in the first semi-final with the shortest-ever Eurovision entry, "" performed by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät.

History

Before the 2006 victory, Finland was considered by many as the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision. Prior to its triumph, it had placed last a total of eight times, once with '' nul points'' after the introduction of the current scoring method. Finland's entry in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, "" by Kojo, was one of only fifteen songs since the modern scoring system was instituted in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

to earn no points. (

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

had placed last eleven times and scored zero points four times, but had also won twice before 2006). Due to low results, Finland was excluded from the contest in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. In 2006, Finland won with the band

and its song "

", an entry different from the mainstream

europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

that dominated the competition. The song broke records scoring the highest number of points in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, with 292. The record was eventually broken by Norway in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, with 387. In 2015, Finland finished last in the first semi-final with the shortest-ever Eurovision song, the one minute and 27 seconds "" performed by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. Finland reached the final for the first time in four years in 2018, with Saara Aalto placing 25th. After a non-qualification in 2019 with Darude featuring

Sebastian Rejman Sebastian Rejman (born 13 January 1978) is a Finnish singer, actor, and television host. He is the singer and guitarist of the band The Giant Leap. While Giant Leap has been on hiatus, Rejman founded a new band called Sebastian & The 4th Line Ba ...

, Finland gained its joint-second best result to date in 2021, with

placing 6th. All of Finland's entries were in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

between 1973 and 1976 and again since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

(except in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

); both of these periods allowed submissions in any language. Two entries,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

and

, were in Swedish, which is an official language in Finland alongside Finnish. All of Finland's other songs have been in Finnish.

Participation overview

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Related involvement

Conductors

Commentators and spokespersons

Photogallery

File:Eurovisie Songfestival 1962 te Luxemburg, voor Finland Marion Rung, Bestanddeelnr 913-6605.jpg,

in Luxemburg () File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - Viktor Klimenko.jpg, Viktor Klimenko in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

() File:Eurovision Song Contest 1976 rehearsals - Finland - Fredi & Ystävät 7.png,

Fredi Fredi may refer to: * Fredi (Valencian pilota) (born 1957), retired Valencian pilota professional player * Fredi Bobic (born 1971), German football striker * Fredi González (born 1964), Cuban current manager of the Atlanta Braves * Fredi Walker, A ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

() File:Kirka12589.jpg,

Kirka Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (22 September 1950 – 31 January 2007) was one of the most commercially successful Finnish musicians. His career spanned from the late 1960s until his death in 2007. Previously associated with Ilkka Lipsanen's The Islan ...

(pictured in 1989) File:LordiMoscow.jpg,

(pictured in 2005) File:ESC 2007 Finland - Hanna Pakarinen - Leave me alone.jpg, Hanna Pakarinen in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

() File:ESC 2008 - Finland - Teräsbetoni, 1st semifinal.jpg,

Teräsbetoni Teräsbetoni is a Finnish heavy/power metal band. Their first album, ''Metallitotuus'', was released in 2005 and has so far sold more than 32,000 copies. Teräsbetoni has been strongly influenced by bands such as Manowar. The direct translation ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

() File:Waldo's People.jpg,

Waldo's People Waldo's People is a Finnish Eurodance band. The lead singer of the band is Waldo, whose real name is Marko Reijonen. They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, with the song " Lose Control". It won a place for the Eurovision ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

() File:Kuunkuiskaajat.jpg,

Kuunkuiskaajat Kuunkuiskaajat (/kuːn.kuˈi skaːjat/; "Moonwhisperers") is a Finnish female folk duo made up of Värttinä members Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, that represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Työlki ellää". ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

() File:ESC2013 - Finland 01 (crop).jpg,

Krista Siegfrids Kristin "Krista" Siegfrids (born 4 December 1985) is a Finnish pop singer. She represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with her entry " Marry Me". Siegfrids' debut album, named '' Ding Dong!'', was released in May 2013. As a t ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

() File:ESC2014 - Finland 01.jpg, Softengine in

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 ...

() File:20150515 ESC 2015 Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät 6620.jpg, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

() File:ESC2016 - Finland 04.jpg,

Sandhja Sandhja Kuivalainen (born 16 March 1991), known professionally as simply Sandhja, is a Finnish singer. She represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song " Sing It Away". Sandhja was born to an Indo-Guyanese mother and a Fi ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

() File:ESC2017 - Finland 01.jpg,

Norma John Norma John is a Finnish duo consisting of pianist Lasse Piirainen and vocalist Leena Tirronen. Tirronen previously placed third on season one of '' X Factor Suomi''. They represented Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), official ...

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 ...

() File:ESC2018 - Finland 06.jpg, Saara Aalto in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

() File:ESC2019 - Finland.jpg, Darude and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

() File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Finland - The Rasmus (01).jpg,

The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinone ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

()

Notes

References

{{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest