Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 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
Member stationLTV
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances20 (10 finals)
First appearance2000
Best result1st: 2002
External links
LTV page
Latvia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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.

Contestants

Latvia has had seventeen Eurovision entries since its debut. All of Latvia's entries have been performed in English, except for three entries. In 2004 Fomins & 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" (Пробка).[3]

To select the 2017 Latvian Eurovision entry, Spotify data was included in national Eurovision vote.[4]

Table key
1
 Winner
2
 Second place
3
 Third place
◁
 Last place
X
 Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
2000
 Brainstorm English "My Star" 3 136 No semi-finals
2001
 Arnis Mednis English "Too Much" 18 16
2002
 Marie N English "I Wanna" 1 176
2003
 F.L.Y. English "Hello From Mars" 24 5
2004
 Fomins and Kleins Latvian "Dziesma par laimi" Failed to qualify 17 23
2005
 Walters and Kazha English "The War Is Not Over" 5 153 10 85
2006
 Vocal Group Cosmos English "I Hear Your Heart" 16 30 Top 11 previous year[lower-alpha 1]
2007
 Bonaparti.lv Italian "Questa notte" 16 54 5 168
2008
 Pirates of the Sea English "Wolves of the Sea" 12 83 6 86
2009
 Intars Busulis Russian "Probka" (Пробка) Failed to qualify 19 ◁ 7
2010
 Aisha English "What For?" 17 ◁ 11
2011
 Musiqq English "Angel in Disguise" 17 25
2012
 Anmary English "Beautiful Song" 16 17
2013
 PeR English "Here We Go" 17 ◁ 13
2014
 Aarzemnieki English[lower-alpha 2] "Cake to Bake" 13 33
2015
 Aminata English "Love Injected" 6 186 2 155
2016
 Justs English "Heartbeat" 15 132 8 132
2017
 Triana Park English "Line" Failed to qualify 18 ◁ 21
2018
 Laura Rizzotto English "Funny Girl" 12 106
2019
 Carousel English "That Night" 15 50
2020
 Samanta Tīna English "Still Breathing" Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 3] X
2021
 Samanta Tīna

Hostings
Year Location Venue Presenters
2003 Riga Skonto Hall Marija Naumova and Renārs Kaupers

Heads of delegation
Year Head of delegation Ref.
2018 Zita Kaminska
[6]

Commentators and spokespersons
Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
1998 UnknownDid not participate
[7]
1999
[7]
2000 Kārlis StreipsLauris Reiniks
2001 Renārs Kaupers
2002 Ēriks Niedra
2003 Ģirts Līcis
[8]
2004 Lauris Reiniks
[9]
2005 Marie N
[10]
2006 Mārtiņš Freimanis
[11]
2007 Janis Šipkevics
2008 Kristīne Virsnīte
[12]
2009 Roberto Meloni
2010 Kārlis Būmeisters
2011 Valters Frīdenbergs, Uģis JokstsAisha
[13]
2012 Valters Frīdenbergs (all), Kārlis Būmeisters (final)Valters Frīdenbergs
[14][15]
2013 Anmary
[16][17]
2014 Valters and KažaRalfs Eilands
[18][19]
2015 Valters Frīdenbergs (all), Toms Grēviņš (final)Markus Riva
[20][21]
2016 Toms Grēviņš
[22][23]
2017 Aminata Savadogo
[24][25]
2018 Toms Grēviņš (all), Magnuss Eriņš (final)Dagmāra Legante
[23][26]
2019 Toms Grēviņš, Ketija ŠēnbergaLaura Rizzotto
[27][28]

Photogallery

Notes
  1. 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.
  2. Contains some phrases in Latvian.[5]
  3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References
  1. "Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Semi-Final (2)". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  2. "Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final 2013 (2)". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. Floras, Stella (2009-03-01). "Latvia: Sastregums to be performed in Russian". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  4. "Latvia to include Spotify data in national Eurovision vote". eng.lsm.lv. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  5. "Aarzemnieki - Latvia — Copenhagen 2014 - Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. "THE VOTING RESULTS OF THE 2ND SEASON OF DEPI EVRATESIL". eurovision.am. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  7. "Diva.lv - Eirovīzijas Dziesmu konkursa Nacionālā atlase". www.diva.lv. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  8. Bakker, Sietse (22 May 2003). "Girts Licis: press conferences and Latvian votes". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  9. Bakker, Sietse (14 May 2004). "And here are the votes from... the spokespersons". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 29 January 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. Philips, Roel (17 May 2005). "The 39 spokespersons!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 19 December 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2006.
  11. Bakker, Sietse (20 May 2006). "Meet the spokespersons for tonight's voting!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 3 June 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  12. "Eirovīzijā triumfē Dima Bilans no Krievijas, Pirāti – vienpadsmitie / divpadsmitie". eirovizija.lv. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  13. "Eirovīziju vairs nekomentēs Streips; Latvijas balsojumu paziņos Aisha" [Streip will no longer commentate on Eurovision; Latvia's vote will be announced by Aisha]. nra.lv (in Latvian). 29 April 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  14. "Anmary šovakar aizstāvēs Latvijas godu Eirovīzijā" [Anmary will defend Latvia's honor at Eurovision tonight]. tvnet.lv (in Latvian). 22 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  15. "Noskaties, kādas dziesmas piedalīsies Eirovīzijas finālā" [See which songs will take part in the Eurovision final]. jauns.lv (in Latvian). 26 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  16. "LTV atklāj, kas komentēs 'Eirovīzijas' tiešraides" [LTV reveals who will commentate on the 'Eurovision' live broadcast]. Delfi (in Latvian). 9 May 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  17. Granger, Anthony (9 May 2013). "Latvia: Anmary Will Announce The Votes". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  18. "'Eirovīziju' atkal komentēs Valters un Kaža" ['Eurovision' will again be commented on by Valters and Kaža]. Delfi (in Latvian). 4 May 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  19. Granger, Anthony (10 May 2014). "ESC'14: Voting Order Announced". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  20. "Eirovīziju komentēs Grēviņš un Frīdenbergs" [Grevins and Friedenberg will commentate on Eurovision]. skaties.lv (in Latvian). 7 May 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  21. Granger, Anthony (23 May 2015). "Latvia: Markus Riva Is This Years Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  22. "Zināmi pirmie desmit 'Eirovīzijas' finālisti; Igaunija no cīņas izstājas" [First ten 'Eurovision' finalists are known; Estonia leaves the battle]. Delfi (in Latvian). 10 May 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  23. Granger, Anthony (21 April 2018). "Latvia: Toms Grēviņš Takes Over As Lead Commentator". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  24. "Zināms, kas komentēs 'Eirovīzijas' tiešraides" [It is known who will commentate on 'Eurovision' live]. Delfi (in Latvian). 27 April 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  25. Granger, Anthony (28 April 2017). "Latvia: Aminata Announced as Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  26. ""May we have your votes please?"". eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  27. "Rit Eirovīzijas dziesmu konkursa fināls; notiek punktu sadalīšana". theworldnews.net (in Latvian). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  28. "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
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