Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and 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 in the Eurovision Song Contest
Latvia
Participating broadcasterLatvijas Televīzija (LTV)
Participation summary
Appearances24 (11 finals)
First appearance2000
Highest placement1st: 2002
Host2003
Participation history
Related articles
Supernova
External links
LTV page
Latvia's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

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 Aminata and the song "Love Injected". Her 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, Latvia finally managed to qualify to the final in the 2024 contest with Dons and the song "Hollow".

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 Intars Busulis (2009), Aisha (2010), PeR (2013), Triana Park (2017) and Samanta Tīna (2021).

Participation overview

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All of Latvia's entries have been performed in English, except for three entries. In 2004, Fomins and Kleins performed "Dziesma par laimi" in Latvian, in 2007, Bonaparti.lv performed "Questa notte" in Italian, and in 2009, Intars Busulis, having won Eirodziesma 2009 with "Sastrēgums" in Latvian, performed the song in Russian as "Probka".[3] With the exception of "The Moon Is Rising" by Samanta Tīna in 2021,[a] all Latvian Eurovision entries have been chosen through a national final.

Table key
1First place
2Second place
3Third place
Last place
XEntry selected but did not compete
Upcoming event
YearArtistSongLanguageFinalPointsSemiPoints
2000Brainstorm"My Star"English3136No semi-finals
2001Arnis Mednis"Too Much"English1816
2002Marie N"I Wanna"English1176
2003F.L.Y."Hello from Mars"English245
2004Fomins and Kleins"Dziesma par laimi"LatvianFailed to qualify1723
2005Walters and Kazha"The War Is Not Over"English51531085
2006Vocal Group Cosmos"I Hear Your Heart"English1630Top 11 in 2005 final[b]
2007Bonaparti.lv"Questa notte"Italian16545168
2008Pirates of the Sea"Wolves of the Sea"English1283686
2009Intars Busulis"Probka" (Пробка)RussianFailed to qualify19 ◁7
2010Aisha"What For?"English17 ◁11
2011Musiqq"Angel in Disguise"English1725
2012Anmary"Beautiful Song"English1617
2013PeR"Here We Go"English17 ◁13
2014Aarzemnieki"Cake to Bake"English1333
2015Aminata"Love Injected"English61862155
2016Justs"Heartbeat"English151328132
2017Triana Park"Line"EnglishFailed to qualify18 ◁21
2018Laura Rizzotto"Funny Girl"English12106
2019Carousel"That Night"English1550
2020Samanta Tīna"Still Breathing"EnglishContest cancelled[c] X
2021Samanta Tīna"The Moon Is Rising"EnglishFailed to qualify17 ◁14
2022Citi Zēni"Eat Your Salad"English1455
2023Sudden Lights"Aijā"English1134
2024Dons"Hollow"English1664772

Hostings

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YearLocationVenuePresenters
2003RigaSkonto HallMarija Naumova and Renārs Kaupers
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Heads of delegation

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YearHead of delegationRef.
20122020Zita Kaminska
20212024Guntars Gulbiņš

Commentators and spokespersons

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YearCommentatorSpokespersonRef.
1998Kārlis Streips [lv]Did not participate
1999
2000Lauris Reiniks
2001Renārs Kaupers
2002Ēriks Niedra
2003Ģirts Līcis
2004Lauris Reiniks
2005Marie N
2006Mārtiņš Freimanis
2007Janis Šipkevics
2008Kristīne Virsnīte
2009Roberto Meloni
2010Kārlis Būmeisters
2011Valters Frīdenbergs, Uģis JokstsAisha
2012Valters Frīdenbergs (all), Kārlis Būmeisters (final)Valters Frīdenbergs
2013Anmary
2014Valters and KažaRalfs Eilands
2015Valters Frīdenbergs (all), Toms Grēviņš (final)Markus Riva
2016Toms Grēviņš
2017Aminata Savadogo
2018Toms Grēviņš (all), Magnuss Eriņš (final)Dagmāra Legante
2019Toms Grēviņš, Ketija ŠēnbergaLaura Rizzotto
2021Toms Grēviņš (all), Marija Naumova (final)Aminata Savadogo
2022Toms Grēviņš, Lauris ReiniksSamanta Tīna
2023Toms Grēviņš (all), Lauris Reiniks (final)Jānis Pētersons
2024Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis
Lauris ReiniksMarija NaumovaKetija ŠēnbergaMagnuss EriņšToms GrēviņšKārlis BūmeistarsUģis JokstsValters FrīdenbergsKārlis Streips
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See also

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Notes

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  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.

References

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