Country Yugoslavia Selection date(s) 4 March 1989 Selected song "Rock me" | Selection process Yugoslav Finals 1989 Selected entrant Riva Final result winner, 137 points | |
Yugoslavia was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, and won the competition for the first time.
Contents
National final
The Yugoslavian national final to select their entry, Yugoslav Final 1989, was held on 4 March at the Grand Hall of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, and was hosted by Dina Čolić and Boško Negovanović.
The winning song was chosen from a selection of 16 songs, by the votes of 8 regional juries. Each TV studio had to choose 1 song that entered straight into the competition and submitted few more songs from which the rest 8 songs were chosen.
At Eurovision
Riva was the twenty-second and last performer on the night of the Contest, following Germany. Their song "Rock Me" won the contest with a score of 137 points. However, according to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History it was a very unexpected win and BBC TV commentator Terry Wogan described it as "the death knell" for the contest.