Member station İTV First appearance 2008 Worst result 22nd: 2014 | Appearances 9 (9 finals) Best result 1st: 2011 | |
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National selection events National Final
Land of Fire
2008–2010
Milli Seçim Turu
2011–2013
Böyük Səhnə
2014
Internal Selection
2015–2017 | ||
Azerbaijan made its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, 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 is the last country in the Caucasus to participate: Armenia was the first one, in 2006, followed by Georgia in 2007.
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Azerbaijan since their debut in 2008 has never missed the final. Four years after the country debuted at Eurovision, Azerbaijan won the contest in 2011, setting the record of the lowest average score for a winning song under the current voting system (in place since 1975), with only 5.14 points per country (including Azerbaijan) and 5.26 (without Azerbaijan). Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five consecutive contests, and achieved the Top 5 place finishes each once - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, and runner-up in 2013.
History
Azerbaijan's first try at Eurovision proved to be successful as the country qualified for the final from the first semi-final and came 8th with 132 points in the final evening.
Previously, another broadcaster, AzTV, wanted to participate 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 October 15 it was given permission to take part by the EBU.
Azerbaijan's first Eurovision performance by Elnur and Samir made it in the top ten placed at number 8 with 132 points. In 2009 Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with the song "Always", performed by duo AySel & Arash.
On 14 May 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with a song by Ell & Nikki. 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 5 results with Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012 and Farid Mammadov second with 234 in 2013 but in 2014 Azerbaijan failed to place in the top 10 for the first time since their debut, finishing 22nd, the country's worst result to date.
Popularity of the Contest
Since debuting in 2008 the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the Top 10 at their debut in 2008 and also ending in the Top 5 from 2009-2013, the contest has become a matter of "national pride" and of very high importance. The high importance of the contest within Azerbaijan became evident and world news in 2013 when the countries president himself Ilham Aliyev launched an inquiry into why his country did not award Russia any points in the Eurovision 2013 final. Azerbaijan expects their act to end up in the Top 5 and the country often hires very well established songwriters and producers (most of them are Swedish musicians) to make their entry for the contest. Since 2009 the Eurovision Song Contest has consistently become the most watched television show on Azeri TV even though the contest is broadcast from after midnight local time because of time difference from the Central European Time. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to Azerbaijan’s victory with Ell & Nikki at Eurovision. The duo also became national stars after their Eurovision 2011 win.
The country spent €160 million (300 million Azerbaijani Manat) on hosting the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, including building a completely new arena for the event. As of 2015, this is the largest amount of money any host has ever spent on hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.
Contestants
NOTE: If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
Voting history
As of 2016, Azerbaijan's voting history is as follows:
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories: Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award.