Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 28 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993 but a qualification round was installed for seven former Eastern Bloc countries hoping to make their debut in the contest, with Estonia failing to qualify. Estonia has won the contest once, in 2001.

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Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR; 2008–present) Former members Eesti Televisioon (ETV; 1993–2007)
Participation summary
Appearances	28 (19 finals)
First appearance	1994
Highest placement	1st: 2001
Host	2002
Participation history 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Related articles
Eesti Laul
External links
ERR page
Estonia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

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Estonia's first participation in 1994 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 Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna fifth (1996), Maarja-Liis Ilus returning to finish eighth (1997), Evelin Samuel and Camille sixth (1999) and Ines fourth (2000), before Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. With this, Estonia became the first of the new countries that joined Eurovision in the 1990s and won the contest. Sahlene then finished third for the hosts in Tallinn in 2002.

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 five times, with Urban Symphony sixth (2009), Ott Lepland sixth (2012), Elina Born and Stig Rästa seventh (2015), Elina Nechayeva eighth (2018) and Alika eighth (2023). Estonia's total of eleven top ten results is more than any other Baltic country.

Estonia finished 24th (out of 25) on its debut in 1994 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 and Ivo Linna's fifth-place in 1996 was the first top five ranking for any country, formerly annexed by Soviet Union and therefore unable to participate. Ilus returned to finish eighth in 1997.

The country's first win came in 2001, when Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, along with 2XL, sang "Everybody" and received 198 points, therefore making Estonia the first formerly USSR-annexed country to win the Contest. The 2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital city Tallinn, where Sahlene 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 by Neiokõsõ with "Tii", sung in the Võro language.

Despite news that Estonia might withdraw from the 2009 contest (set to be held in Moscow, Russia) due to the war in South Ossetia, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) confirmed that due to public demand, Estonia would send an entry to Moscow.^[1][2] After a new national final, Eesti Laul, was introduced to select the Estonian entry, the winner was Urban Symphony with "Rändajad", which had beaten the televoting favourite, Laura, by the votes of a jury.^[3][4]

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" by Malcolm Lincoln.

In 2011, Estonia was represented by Getter 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 contest final.

Since 2012, Estonia has achieved four more top ten results. Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final of the 2012 contest, with his song "Kuula", ending up 4th in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonia's result of 1999 and 2009, placing 6th. Elina Born and Stig Rästa finished seventh in 2015. Elina Nechayeva and Alika finished eighth in 2018 and 2023, respectively.

• Neiokõsõ in Istanbul (2004)
• Sandra Oxenryd in Athens (2006)
• Gerli Padar in Helsinki (2007)
• Kreisiraadio in Belgrade (2008)
• Urban Symphony in Moscow (2009)
• Malcolm Lincoln in Oslo (2010)
• Birgit Õigemeel in Malmö (2013)
• Tanja in Copenhagen (2014)
• Elina Born and Stig Rästa in Vienna (2015)
• Jüri Pootsmann in Stockholm (2016)
• Koit Toome and Laura in Kyiv (2017)
• Elina Nechayeva in Lisbon (2018)
• Victor Crone in Tel Aviv (2019)
• Stefan in Turin (2022)
• Alika in Liverpool (2023)
• 5miinust and Puuluup in Malmö (2024)

• Estonia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Estonia in the Eurovision Young Dancers
• Estonia in the Eurovision Young Musicians