Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Serbia
◄ Serbia and Montenegro
Member station	RTS
National selection events	National final Beovizija 2007–2009 2018–2020 Internal selected composers 2010–2011 2015 Beosong 2013 Internal selection 2012 2016–2017
Participation summary
Appearances	12 (9 finals)
First appearance	2007
Best result	1st: 2007
Worst result	11th SF: 2013, 2017
External links
http://escserbia.com/
Serbia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Serbia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since making its debut in 2007. Serbia previously participated as part of Yugoslavia (both the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1961 to 1991 and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992) and as Serbia and Montenegro (2004–2006). Serbia won the contest on its debut as an Independent country in 2007, with Marija Šerifović and the song "Molitva"; the country's only other top five result is Željko Joksimović's third place in 2012. Serbia's other top ten results are Jelena Tomašević's sixth-place (2008) and Bojana Stamenov's tenth (2015) .

History[edit]

As Serbia was at one time part of Yugoslavia, it had the opportunity to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest after Yugoslavia's debut at the contest in 1961, it debuted the same year as Spain and Finland and became the first and, for three decades, only socialist country to participate in the competition. The best result of Yugoslavia occurred in 1989 when it won with "Rock Me", sung in Serbo-Croatian and English by Riva. Yugoslavia participated regularly until its breakup in 1991/1992.

After a period of absence from 1993 until 2003, Serbia and Montenegro returned to the contest in 2004, they finished in second place with song "Lane moje" performed by Željko Joksimović. By 2006, Serbia and Montenegro split, and with Serbia making its debut entry as an independent nation with the ballad "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. "Molitva" won the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, receiving 268 points, making Serbia the first country to win with debut entry after Switzerland's win at the first edition. Subsequently, Serbia was host of the 2008 contest in its capital Belgrade.

The second Serbian entry, performed in Belgrade was written by past entrant for Serbia as part of Serbia and Montenegro and contest host Željko Joksimović; the song "Oro", an ethnic ballad, performed by Jelena Tomašević came 6th and received 160 points in the overall rankings.

In 2009, Serbia selected Marko Kon and Milaan to represent them in the second semi-final on 14 May; the duo failed to qualify for the final for the first time in Serbia's history in the contest.

In 2010, Milan Stanković was selected to represent the country in the contest with Ovo je Balkan, an upbeat song with ethno elements, and is about a love story set in Belgrade, it qualified for the final and in the end achieved 13th place with 72 points.

In 2011, Nina was selected with her 60's inspired song, Čaroban, she was accompanied with three other singers who would be dancing throughout the performance. In the semi-finals She performed 6th and qualified for the final. In the final, she performed 24th and achieved 14th place.

After finishing second in 2004 when representing Serbia and Montenegro, Željko Joksimović was back in 2012 in Azerbaijan, Baku with the song Nije ljubav stvar. On the second semi-finals he took second place, while he finished third in the final, below second-placed Russia and the winner, Sweden.

Moje 3 represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song "Ljubav je svuda", they would finish 11th in the first semi-final, therefore not qualifying for the final (only 10 contestants were to continue to the final). This was the second time that Serbia did not qualify for the final.

On 22 November 2013, Serbian broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) announced that it would withdraw from the 2014 contest due to financial difficulties and a lack of available sponsorship for a potential Serbian entry.^[1]

In April 2014, Serbia announced that they will broadcast all three shows. In addition, they said that it is likely to return at 2015 and that they will probably hold a national selection to find their representative. On 26 September 2014, it was reported that Serbia had decided to return to the 2015 contest to be held in Austrian capital, Vienna.^[2]

On 15 February 2015 Serbia chose their own representative in emission "Odbrojavanje za Beč". Odbrojavanje za Beč (English: Countdown for Vienna) is the national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015; the selection featured three songs composed by Vladimir Graić, the composer of Serbia's winning entry "Molitva" in 2007. Two of the songs were performed by established Serbian artists Bojana Stamenov and Aleksa Jelić, while one was performed by Danica Krstić, a new talent chosen by Graić through a scouting process.

Bojana Stamenov was selected as the Serbian representative for Vienna through a 50:50 voting system, where both the audience and the jury voted for her song "Ceo svet je moj" (The whole world is mine) to represent Serbia in Austria, it was later announced that she would perform her song in English (a first for a Serbian entry) titled "Beauty Never Lies". Despite being low with the odds and fan votings, Bojana surprised everyone in the first semifinal and became one of the big press and fan favourites, she qualified to the final as the 9th (10 qualified), but managed to achieve another top 10 result for Serbia in the Grand Final, scoring 53 points and the 10th place.

In 2016 RTS selected Sanja Vučić and her song "Goodbye (Shelter)" internally as well, she qualified for the final placing 10th out of 18 and came 18th of 26 in the final receiving. She fared clearly better with the televoters, coming 11th in the final respectively.

Tijana Bogićević was selected as the Serbian representative for Kiev. with the song "In Too Deep". She would finish 11th in the second semi-final, therefore not qualifying for the final (only 10 contestants were to continue to the final); this was the third time that Serbia did not qualify for the final.

In 2018 RTS went back to an national final, Beovizija (which had been used to select their first entrants). Sanja Ilić and Balkanika won with the song "Nova deca." They qualified for the final for the first time in a year, placing 9th out of 18 in their semi-final; they then came 19th of 26 in the final, receiving 113 points. They fared better with the televoters, finishing 12th. Following their success in making the final, RTS confirmed that Beovizija would be maintained as their selection method in 2019. In 2019, RTS decided to host the second edition of the national final. Nevena Božović won with her song Kruna. Placed 7th with 156 points, she qualified for the final, where she then performed 23rd and came 18th out of 26 acts, with 89 points in total.

Contestants[edit]

NOTES:

Voting history[edit]

As of 2019, Serbia's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Hungary 68 2  Russia 67 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 61 4  Italy 58 5  Ukraine 51 Most points received in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Montenegro 114 2  North Macedonia 104 3  Slovenia 99 4  Croatia 88 5   Switzerland 86

Most points given in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Hungary 156 2  North Macedonia 135 3  Russia 100 4  Croatia 89 5  Ukraine 87 Most points received in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Slovenia 185 2  North Macedonia 184 3  Montenegro 179 4  Croatia 156 5   Switzerland 143

Hostings[edit]

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters	Image
2008	Belgrade	Belgrade Arena	Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović

Marcel Bezençon Awards[edit]

Artistic Award (Voted by previous winners)

Winner by OGAE members[edit]

Commentators[edit]

All the events were broadcast on RTS1, except 2013 grand final and 2015 second semi final, which were broadcast on RTS2.

Kosovo entrants[edit]

After Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, its broadcaster RTK was applying for EBU membership, and wished to enter Kosovo independently into Eurovision Song Contest 2009.^[4][5] Kosovo is partially recognized and not a member of the United Nations, and UN membership is required to obtain full EBU membership; as of 2013, RTK has observer status within the EBU and did participate in the Eurovision Young Dancers.^[6][7] Before the declaration of independence, some Kosovo Albanians artists competed in the Festivali i Këngës, the national selection for Albania; the Kosovar singer, Rona Nishliu, ended 5th in the grand final in 2012 and Lindita represented Albania in 2017.

Serbia claims Kosovo as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija; some singers from Kosovo, especially Kosovo Serbs, participate in the Serbian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTS. Nevena Božović represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, firstly as a member of Moje 3 in 2013 and as a solo act in 2019.

Photogallery[edit]

• 

  Marija Šerifović in Helsinki (2007)

• 

  Jelena Tomašević in Belgrade (at the national selection) (2008)

• 

  Marko Kon in Moscow (2009)

• 

  Milan Stanković in Oslo (2010)

• 

  Željko Joksimović in Baku (2012)

• 

  Moje 3 in Malmö (2013)

• 

  Bojana Stamenov in Vienna (2015)

• 

  Sanja Vučić in Stockholm (2016)

• 

  Tijana Bogićević in Kiev (2017)

• 

  Sanja Ilić & Balkanika in Lisbon (2018)

• 

  Nevena Božović in Tel Aviv (2019)

See also[edit]

• Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Serbia and Montenegro in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Kosovo in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Kosovo in the Eurovision Young Dancers

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Points to and from Serbia eurovisioncovers.co.uk