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Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Latvia has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 25 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the song "My Star" performed by the group Brainstorm finished third. Latvia won the contest in 2002, with the song "I Wanna" by Marie N, 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 "The War Is Not Over" by Walters and Kazha finished fifth. The current Latvian participating broadcaster in the contest is Public Broadcasting of Latvia (LSM).

Quick facts Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest, Participating broadcaster ...

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] Latvia qualified for the final for the first time since 2008 at the 2015 contest with the song "Love Injected" by Aminata. Its sixth place in the final is Latvia's fourth top 10 finish and best result in the contest since 2005. Latvia made its 10th appearance in the final in 2016. After failing to qualify for the final from 2017 to 2023, it finally managed to qualify to the final in the 2024 contest with "Hollow" by Dons. The qualification streak was extended by Tautumeitas, whose song "Bur man laimi" became the first Latvian language entry to compete in a Eurovision final.

Latvia has the distinction of having finished last in the Eurovision semi-finals more than any other country. Since its introduction in 2004, Latvia has finished last in five semi-finals, with "Probka" by Intars Busulis (2009), "What For?" by Aisha (2010), "Here We Go" by PeR (2013), "Line" by Triana Park (2017), and "The Moon Is Rising" by Samanta Tīna (2021).

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Participation

Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It participated in the contest representing Latvia since its 45th edition in 2000. Since 2025, after a restructuring that led to the incorporation of LTV into the current Public Broadcasting of Latvia (LSM) organisation, it is the latter who participates representing Latvia.

LTV and LSM have chosen all their entrants in the contest through a national final, with the exception of "The Moon Is Rising" performed by Samanta Tīna in 2021.[a] Since 2015, the Latvian national selection is Supernova. Previously, the national selections were Eirodziesma (2000–2012) and Dziesma (2013–2014).

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Participation overview

Table key
1 First place
2 Second place
3 Third place
Last place
X Entry selected but did not compete
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Hostings

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Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[3]

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Commentators and spokespersons

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Lauris ReiniksMarija NaumovaKetija ŠēnbergaMagnuss EriņšToms GrēviņšKārlis BūmeistersUģis JokstsValters FrīdenbergsKārlis Streips
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See also

Notes

  1. Tīna won Supernova in 2020, but that year's Eurovision was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was later internally selected to represent her country in the following year instead.
  2. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the grand final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's grand final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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References

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