Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

First participation

2000

Number of participations

20 (as of 2019)

Highest ranking

1 ( 2002 )

Highest Score

186 ( 2015 )

Lowest Score

5 ( 2003 )

Points average (since first post)

64.58 (as of 2018)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

1.79 (as of 2018)

This article deals with the history of Latvia as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest .

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

Marie N won the competition for Latvia in 2002

While Estonia and Lithuania sought to take part in the ESC as early as 1993, Latvia only took part in 2000 for the first time, but every year since then.

When it first participated in 2000, Latvia took third place with the band Brainstorm, which was one of the most successful debuts in the competition. Two years later, Marie N was the surprise winner with the self-composed title I Wanna, despite poor betting odds . The following year the competition took place in Riga, hosted by the previous year's winner and brainstorm singer Renārs Kaupers. Latvia achieved one of the worst results of a host: the FLY group  finished third from bottom with only five points - all from Estonia .

In 2005 Valters & Kaža achieved fifth place in the final. In the semifinals, the duo qualified for the final in just tenth place. If only the 15 countries that were eliminated in the semi-finals had voted, Latvia would have won.

In 2007 Latvia reached the finals again with the band Bonaparti.lv . Between the semi-finals and the final, the rumor arose that the group had won the semi-finals. In fact, the group only reached fifth place and only sixteenth in the final, making it the least successful semi-final qualifier.

In 2009 and 2010, Latvia became the first country to finish twice in a row last in its semi-finals. This low phase hit the country again in 2011 and 2012, but only in the jury voting. In 2013 and 2017 they finished last overall in the semifinals and have been by far the most unsuccessful country since the introduction of the two semifinals. After another failed attempt in 2014, 2015 was the first time since 2008 to qualify for the final. With the sixth place they got the best result since 2005 and with 186 points the highest number of points in Latvian ESC history. In 2016, Latvia was able to qualify for the final and reached 15th place in 2017, but in 2018 and 2019 they failed again in the semifinals. In 2017 they even finished last in the semifinals. In 2018, however, you would have qualified for the final if there had been pure jury voting.

A total of 5 out of 18 entries ended up in the top half of the table, there was one win and four top 10 placements. Nevertheless, Latvia is one of the more unsuccessful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest. The country was also significantly more successful at the beginning of its debut than it is today.

List of posts

Color legend: - 1st place. - 2nd place. - 3rd place. - Equal points with last place. - Eliminated in the semifinals / in the qualification / in the Eastern European preliminary decision. - no participation / not qualified. - Cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest.      

year	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	translation	final		Semi-final / qualification		National preliminary decision
					space	Points	space	Points
2000	Brainstorm	My Star M / T: Renārs Kaupers	English	My star	3/24	136	Qualified directly for the final		Eirodziesma 2000
2001	Arnis Mednis	Too Much M: Arnis Mednis ; T: Arnis Mednis , Gustav's thirds	English	Too much	18/23	16			Eirodziesma 2001
2002	Marie N	I Wanna M: Marie Naumova ; T: Marie Naumova , Marats Samauskis	English	I want	1 / 24th	176			Eirodziesma 2002
2003	FLY	Hello From Mars M / T: Mārtiņš Freimanis , Lauris Reiniks	English	Hello from Mars	24/26	5			Eirodziesma 2003
2004	Fomins & Kleins	Dziesma par laimi M: Tomass Klein ; T: Guntars Račs	Latvian	A song about happiness	Eliminated		17/22	23	Eirodziesma 2004
2005	Valters & Kaža	The War Is Not Over M / T: Mārtiņš Freimanis	English	The war is not over	5/24	153	10/25	85	Eirodziesma 2005
2006	Cosmos	I Hear Your Heart M: Andris Sējāns , Reinis Sējāns ; T: Molly-Ann Leikin, Guntars Račs	English	I hear your heart	16/24	30th	Qualified directly for the final		Eirodziesma 2006
2007	Bonaparti.lv	Questa notte M: Kjell Jennstig; T: Francesca Russo, Torbjörn Wassenius, Kjell Jennstig	Italian	Tonight	16/24	54	5/28	168	Eirodziesma 2007
2008	Pirates of the Sea	Wolves Of The Sea M / T: Jonas Liberg, Johan Sahlen, Claes Andreasson, Torbjorn Wassenius	English	Sea wolves	12/25	83	6/19	86	Eirodziesma 2008
2009	Intars busulis	Probka M: Kārlis Lācis; T: Jānis Elsbergs, Sergej Timofejev	Russian	traffic jam	Eliminated		19/19	7th	Eirodziesma 2009
2010	Aisha	What for? (Only Mr God Knows Why) M: Jānis Lūsēns; T: Guntars Račs	English	What for? (God only knows why)	Eliminated		17/17	11	Eirodziesma 2010
2011	Musiqq	Angel in Disguise M / T: Marats Ogļezņevs	English	Angel in disguise	Eliminated		17/19	25th	Eirodziesma 2011
2012	Anmary	Beautiful Song M: Rolands Ūdris; T: Ivars Makstnieks	English	Nice song	Eliminated		16/18	17th	Eirodziesma 2012
2013	By	Here We Go M: Ralfs Eilands , Arturas Burke; T: Ralfs Eilands	English	Here we come	Eliminated		17/17	13	Dziesma 2013
2014	Aarzemnieki	Cake to Bake M / T: Guntis Eilands	English, Latvian	Bake a cake	Eliminated		13/16	33	Dziesma 2014
2015	Aminata	Love Injected M / T: Aminata Savadogo	English	Injected love	6/27	186	2/17	155	Supernova 2015
2016	Justs	Heartbeat M / T: Aminata Savadogo	English	Heartbeat	15/26	132	8/18	132	Supernova 2016
2017	Triana Park	Line M: Agnese Rakovska , Kristaps Ērglis , Kristians Rakovskis; T: Agnese Rakovska	English	line	Eliminated		18/18	21st	Supernova 2017
2018	Laura Rizzotto	Funny Girl M / T: Laura Rizzotto	English	Funny girl	Eliminated		12/18	106	Supernova 2018
2019	Carousel	That Night M: Mārcis Vasiļevskis , Sabīne Žuga ; T: Sabīne Žuga	English	Tonight	Eliminated		15/18	50	Supernova 2019
2020	Samanta Tina	Still Breathing M: Samanta Tīna ; T: Aminata Savadogo	English	Still breathing	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				Supernova 2020
2021	Samanta Tina								internal selection

National qualifications

So far, all Latvian participants have been selected in a national preliminary round. The Eirodziesma took place from 2000 to 2012 . In the first two years, telephone voting was already used to make a decision, but only 1/15 in 2000 and 1/5 in 2001. Since 2002, votes have been taken exclusively by telephone. Starting in 2005, the preliminary decision was expanded to include two semi-finals with 10 participants each, and the five best have competed in the final ever since.

In 2013 and 2014, however, the broadcast took place under the name Dziesma .

Latvia has been using the supernova as a preliminary decision since 2015 . The format should promote young and innovative musicians. In fan circles , the so-called Rīgas Bebrs (Riga beaver) who appeared during commercial breaks has cult status, but his appearances can only be followed via online stream.

languages

Most of the Latvian contributions were sung in English, including the three most successful contributions in 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2015. Dziesma par laimi by the duo Fomins & Kleins, which was eliminated in the 2004 semi-finals, was the only Latvian contribution that was presented entirely in the national language . This title was recorded by the original interpreters in nine additional languages, namely English, Finnish, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Estonian, Lithuanian and Belarusian. This represents a record among Eurovision Song Contest entries.

The contribution Questa notte from 2007 was sung entirely in Italian. Other non-Italian-speaking countries already used this language during Italy's absence from the ESC from 1998 to 2010; the Cypriot contribution in 2000 and the Romanian contribution in 2006 were partly sung in this language. This title was also recorded in Spanish.

The contribution Probka in 2009 has been completely presented in Russian. In addition, two verses and part of the chorus of Cake to Bake in 2014 were in Latvian.

Commercial success

Like Marie N, the Brainstorm group is still very successful in Latvia. However , the winning title I Wanna was a little hit and was only released in Latvia, as a result, the title was the least commercially successful winning title of all time. Aminata, who represented Latvia in Vienna in 2015, achieved quite good sales success. With the song Love Injected she reached number 51 in the German, number 19 in the Austrian and number 74 in the Swiss charts.

Competitions held

year	city	venue	Moderation
2003	Riga	Discount hall	Marie N & Renārs Kaupers

Scoring

The following countries received the most points from or awarded the most points to Latvia (as of 2019):

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  Russia 152 2  Sweden 108 3  Ukraine 96 4th  Estonia 95  Lithuania 90

Most in the final received points space country Points 1  Lithuania 91 2  Estonia 88 3  Ireland 66 4th  United Kingdom 47 5  Germany 34  Norway 34

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  Russia 222 2  Estonia 190 3  Lithuania 167 4th  Sweden 165 5  Ukraine 164

Most total obtained points space country Points 1  Lithuania 180 2  Estonia 148 3  Ireland 125 4th  United Kingdom 82 5  Ukraine 60

Award of the highest rating

Since 2000, Latvia has awarded the maximum number of points to 13 different countries, five of which to Russia.

Sustaining land
year	country	space
2000	Denmark	1
2001	Estonia	1
2002	Estonia	3
2003	Russia	3
2004	Ukraine	1
2005	Switzerland	8th
2006	Russia	2
2007	Ukraine	2
2008	Russia	1
2009	Norway	1
2010	Germany	1
2011	Italy	2
2012	Sweden	1
2013	Russia	5
2014	Netherlands	2
2015	Sweden	1
2016	Ukraine (J)	1
	Russia (T)	3
2017	Portugal (J)	1
	Belgium (T)	4th
2018	Sweden (J)	7th
	Lithuania (T)	12
2019	Netherlands (J)	1
	Russia (T)	3

various

• It was by chance that Latvia took part at all in 2002. Actually, the country would not have been eligible to participate because of its poor performance in 2001, and with the withdrawal of Portugal, Latvia caught up.
• Latvia got the most points in the competition from Lithuania, with an average of 10.0. Latvia gave its other Baltic neighbor Estonia the most points : 9.6.
• In 2001 Latvia received exactly 16 points, eight from Estonia and eight from Lithuania.
• I Wanna was still called I Wonna in the preliminary round , but the entire text as well as the title were revised again for the studio version.
• In the years 2010 to 2012, Latvia was always last in the jury voting. In 2013, the country was third from bottom, but again in 17th place overall.
• Based on the average of all participations, Latvia is the most successful Baltic country at the ESC.

Impressions

• 

  Bonaparti.lv 2007

• 

  Pirates of the Sea 2008

• 

  Aisha 2010

• 

  PeR 2013

• 

  Aarzemnieki 2014

• 

  Aminata 2015

• 

  Justs 2016

• 

  Triana Park 2017

• 

  Laura Rizzotto 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ esctoday.com
2. ↑ diggiloo.net