| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
 | |
| Participating broadcaster | Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR; 2008–present) Formerly
|
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 30 (20 finals) |
| First appearance | 1994 |
| Highest placement | 1st:2001 |
| Host | 2002 |
| Related articles | |
| Eesti Laul | |
| External links | |
| ERR page | |
Estonia's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeEstonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | |
Estonia has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 30 times since making its debut in1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in1993 but aqualification round was installed for seven formerEastern Bloc countries hoping to make their debut in the contest, with Estonia failing to qualify. Estonia has won the contest once, in2001. The current Estonian participating broadcaster in the contest isEesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR).
Estonia's first participation in1994 was unsuccessful, finishing 24th (out of 25). Estonia went on to finish in the top eight in six out of seven contests (1996–2002), with "Kaelakee hääl" byMaarja-Liis Ilus andIvo Linna fifth (1996), Maarja-Liis Ilus returning to finish eighth with "Keelatud maa" (1997), "Diamond of Night" byEvelin Samuel andCamille sixth (1999), and "Once in a Lifetime" byInes fourth (2000), before "Everybody" byTanel Padar,Dave Benton, and2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. With this, Estonia became the first of the new countries that joined Eurovision in the 1990s to win the contest. "Runaway" bySahlene then finished third for the hosts inTallinn in2002.
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Estonia has failed to reach the final on ten occasions and has reached the top ten six times, which is more than any other Baltic country, with "Rändajad" byUrban Symphony sixth (2009), "Kuula" byOtt Lepland sixth (2012), "Goodbye to Yesterday" byElina Born andStig Rästa seventh (2015), "La forza" byElina Nechayeva eighth (2018), "Bridges" byAlika eighth (2023), and "Espresso Macchiato" byTommy Cash third (2025) as Estonia's top ten results.
Eesti Televisioon (ETV) was a full member of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in theEurovision Song Contest since then. It participated in the contest representing Estonia since its39th edition in 1994. Since 2008, after arestructuring that led to the incorporation of ETV into the currentEesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organisation, it is the latter who participates representing Estonia.
Estonia finished 24th (out of 25) on its debut in1994 and was relegated from the following year's contest. Estonia's record at the contest was a successful one from 1996 to 2002, only failing once to make the top 10 (in 1998 when it ended up in 12th place).Maarja-Liis Ilus andIvo Linna's fifth-place in1996 was the first top five ranking for any country, formerly annexed bySoviet Union and therefore unable to participate. Ilus returned to finish eighth in1997.
The country's first win came in2001, whenTanel Padar andDave Benton, along with2XL, sang "Everybody" and received 198 points, therefore making Estonia the first formerlyUSSR-annexed country to win the Contest. The2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital cityTallinn, whereSahlene finished third for the hosts (tied with the UK).
From 2004 to 2008 Estonia failed to qualify to the finals, mostly receiving poor results – during that period its best entry was 11th place in the 2004 semi-final byNeiokõsõ with "Tii", sung in theVõro language.
Despite news that Estonia might withdraw from the2009 contest (set to be held inMoscow, Russia) due to thewar in South Ossetia,Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) confirmed that due to public demand, Estonia would send an entry to Moscow.[1][2] The new national final,Eesti Laul, was introduced to select the Estonian entry. According to Mart Normet, one of the producers and one of the Heads of Delegation, the new contest focuses on promoting Estonian music and creativity, encouraging artistic freedom and originality while avoiding formulaic Eurovision songs. Normet described it as a way to highlight authentic Estonian pop music for local audiences, trusting the taste of Estonian listeners rather than tailoring entries for foreign juries.[3]
The winner wasUrban Symphony with "Rändajad", which had beaten the televoting favourite,Laura, by the votes of a jury.[4][5]
At the second semi-final of the 2009 contest,Urban Symphony qualified Estonia to the final of the contest for the first time since 2003, receiving 115 points and placing 3rd. The group performed 15th in the final, where it received 129 points, placing 6th out of 25 competing entries as well as being the highest placing non-English language song at the 2009 competition.
In 2010, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, with the song "Siren" byMalcolm Lincoln.
In 2011, Estonia was represented byGetter Jaani with the song "Rockefeller Street". She was the bookmakers' pre-contest favorite for victory along with France. She qualified to the final but eventually placed 24th of 25 entries- tying Silvi Vrait's 1994 result for Estonia's worst placing in the final.
Since 2012, Estonia has achieved five more top ten results.Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final of the2012 contest, with his song "Kuula", ending up fourth in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonia's result of 1999 and 2009, placing sixth.Elina Born andStig Rästa finished seventh in2015.Elina Nechayeva andAlika finished eighth in2018 and2023, respectively.Tommy Cash placed third in2025, giving Estonia its best placement since 2002.
| 1 | First place |
| 3 | Third place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| Songs | Language | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | English | 1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2005,2006,2007,2010,2011,2014,2015,2016,2017,2019, |
| 9 | Estonian | 1993,1994,1996,1997,1998,2009,2012,2013,2024 |
| 2 | Italian | 2018,2025 |
| 1 | Võro | 2004 |
| 1 | Serbian | 2008 |
| 1 | German | 2008 |
| 1 | Finnish | 2008 |
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Tallinn | Saku Suurhall | Annely Peebo andMarko Matvere |
| Year | Conductor | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Peeter Lilje | [c] | |
| 1994 | Urmas Lattikas | ||
| 1996 | Tarmo Leinatamm | ||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | Heiki Vahar |
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 performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[6]
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–2008 | Juhan Paadam | |
| 2009–2015 | Heidy Purga & Mart Normet | |
| 2016–2018 | Mart Normet | |
| 2019–2023 | Tomi Rahula | |
| 2024– | Riin Vann |
| Year | Costume designers | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Karolin Kuusik |
| Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Russian commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Did not participate | [14] | |||
| 1987 | [15] | ||||
| 1988 | [16] | ||||
| 1989 | [17] | ||||
| 1990 | [18] | ||||
| 1991 | [19] | ||||
| 1992 | Ivo Linna andOlavi Pihlamägi [et] | No broadcast | [20][21] | ||
| 1993 | Unknown | [22] | |||
| 1994 | Vello Rand | Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) | Urve Tiidus | ||
| 1995 | Jüri Pihel | No broadcast | Did not participate | ||
| 1996 | Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) | Annika Talvik | |||
| 1997 | Helene Tedre | ||||
| 1998 | Reet Linna | Urve Tiidus | |||
| 1999 | Marko Reikop | Vello Rand (Raadio 2) | Mart Sander | ||
| 2000 | Evelin Samuel | ||||
| 2001 | Ilo-Mai Küttim (Elektra) | ||||
| 2002 | |||||
| 2003 | Ines | ||||
| 2004 | Maarja-Liis Ilus | ||||
| 2005 | Mart Juur (Raadio 2) Andrus Kivirähk (Raadio 2) | ||||
| 2006 | Evelin Samuel | ||||
| 2007 | Laura Põldvere | ||||
| 2008 | Sahlene | ||||
| 2009 | Marko Reikop and Olav Osolin(final) | Laura Põldvere | |||
| 2010 | Marko Reikop andSven Lõhmus(final) | Rolf Roosalu | |||
| 2011 | Marko Reikop | Piret Järvis | |||
| 2012 | Ilja Ban, Dmitri Vinogradov and Aleksandra Moorast (Raadio 4) | Getter Jaani | |||
| 2013 | No broadcast | Rolf Roosalu | |||
| 2014 | Lauri Pihlap | ||||
| 2015 | Tanja | ||||
| 2016 | Aleksandr Hobotov | Daniel Levi Viinalass | |||
| 2017 | Aleksandr Hobotov and Julia Kalenda | Jüri Pootsmann | |||
| 2018 | Ott Evestus | ||||
| 2019 | No broadcast | Kelly Sildaru | |||
| 2021 | Sissi Benita | ||||
| 2022 | Tanel Padar | ||||
| 2023 | Ragnar Klavan | ||||
| 2024 | Birgit Sarrap | ||||
| 2025 | Joosep Järvesaar [et] andKristel Aaslaid [et] (Raadio 2) | Kristjan Jakobson |
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Contests | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Countries | |||||||||||
| National selections |
| ||||||||||
| Related topics |
| ||||||||||
