Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

RTVSLO

First participation

1993

Number of participations

25 (as of 2019)

Highest ranking

7 ( 1995 , 2001 )

Highest Score

167 ( 2019 SF )

Lowest Score

5 ( 2004 SF )

Points average (since first post)

41.44 (as of 2019)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

1.08 (as of 2019)

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

Participation before 1993

→ Main article : Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest

Before 1993, Slovenia indirectly participated in the competition as a republic of Yugoslavia . A total of six Yugoslavian contributions were made by the Slovenian broadcaster TV Ljubljana at the time.

• 1961 - The Serbian singer Ljiljana Petrović reached 8th place with the first Yugoslav contribution Neke davne zvezde in Cannes .
• 1962 - Lola Novaković from Serbia made it to 4th place with Ne pali svetla u sumrak in Luxembourg .
• 1966 - Berta Ambrož came 7th with Brez besed in Luxembourg .
• 1967 - Lado Leskovar reached 8th place with Vse rože sveta in Vienna .
• 1970 - Eva Sršen only made it to 11th place with Pridi dala ti bom cvet in Amsterdam .
• 1975 - The last Slovenian representative, the Pepel group in Kri , came only 13th with Dan ljubezni in Stockholm .

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl only achieved 15th place in 2019, but scored a new high for the country with 105 points

Slovenia participated in the ESC for the first time in 1993 as an independent state. After the country was able to win the Eastern European preliminary decision, the entry at the ESC only ended up in 22nd place. After this unsuccessful debut, the country had to sit out in 1994. The country was only allowed to participate again in 1995, where it achieved its best placement in the competition to date. The singer Darja Švajger landed in 7th place with her song Prisluhni mi and got 84 points, the highest score for the country to date. After this success, however, another disappointing result followed in 1996. The singer Regina only landed at number 21 out of 23. In 1997 things went up again, because the country reached number 10. In 1998, the Slovenian contribution only reached number 18. In 1999, however, Darja Švajger missed the best place to date In 1995, Landes achieved another place in the top ten with 11th place. Due to the rather weak phase from 1996 to 1998, the country had to suspend in 2000.

In 2001, when the country returned, the singer Nuša Derenda took 7th place, also the best Slovenian result in the competition. Since the singer Darja Švajger scored more points in 1995, the 2001 ranking is Slovenia's second-best result. After that, the country's competition went steadily downhill. In 2002, an average 13th place was achieved, while in 2003 only 23rd place was achieved. In 2004, when the semi-finals were introduced, Slovenia only achieved the penultimate place there and was eliminated in the semi-finals. With five points, Slovenia's participation in 2004 is the lowest number of points achieved in the competition to date. In 2005 and 2006 the Slovenian entries failed to qualify for the final either. It wasn't until 2007 that the country made it back to the finals after the singer Alenka Gotar took 7th place in the semifinals with her song Cvet z juga . In the final, the contribution reached 15th place. From 2008 to 2010 the final was always missed, even if the contribution from 2008 narrowly missed the final qualification with 11th place in the semifinals. It was not until 2011 that things slowly improved for the country in competition.

In 2011, the singer Maja Keuc reached 3rd place in the semifinals with her song No One , with Slovenia qualifying for the final for the first time since 2007. In the final, she achieved 13th place, the best result in nine years. With 96 points she also got a new high score for the country. In 2012, on the other hand, the Slovenian contribution only landed on the penultimate place in the semifinals, which meant that the final was missed again. In 2013 and 2014, the participation was unclear for a long time due to financial reasons, but in the end the country took part. In 2013, however, the country achieved its worst result in the competition to date, as the singer Hannah Mancini ended up in last place in the semi-finals. In 2014, the country made it back to the finals for the first time in three years, albeit with a tenth place in the semi-finals. In the final it was only enough for the penultimate place. In 2015, the country qualified for the finals for the first time two years in a row. After finishing 5th in the semi-finals, the duo Maraaya reached 14th place in the final. In 2016, however, the country missed the final for the first time since 2013. Also in 2017 when Omar Naber, who failed in the semi-finals for Slovenia in 2005, again failed to reach the final, the country only ended up in last place in the semi-finals. In 2018 the singer Lea Sirk made it to 8th place in the semi-finals, leading Slovenia into the final for the first time in three years. In the end, however, she only finished 22nd. In 2019, Slovenia was able to qualify for the final again and took 15th place with the duet Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl and a new maximum number of 105 points.

Overall, only six of the 25 entries ended up in the left half of the table. In addition, the country has already missed the semi-finals ten times, making it one of the countries that have been eliminated most often in the semi-finals. Only Switzerland was eliminated more often (eleven times) in the semi-finals. With one last place, a few lower places and only three places in the top ten, Slovenia is one of the less successful countries in the competition.

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
1993	1 x ribbon	Tih deževen dan M: Cole Moretti; T: Tomaž Kosec	Slovenian	A quiet, rainy day	22/25	9	1/7	54	Slovenski izbor za Pesem Evrovizije 1993
1994	Not qualified
1995	Darja Švajger	Prisluhni mi M: Primož Peterca, Sašo Fajon; T: Primož Peterca	Slovenian	listen to me	7/23	84	Qualified directly for the final		Slovenski izbor za Pesem Evrovizije 1995
1996	Regina	Dan najlepših sanj M / T: Aleksander Kogoj	Slovenian	The day of the most beautiful dream	21/23	16	19/29	30th	EMA 1996
1997	Tanja Ribič	Zbudi se M: Saša Lošić; T: Zoran Predin	Slovenian	Wake up	10/25	60	Qualified directly for the final		EMA 1997
1998	Vili Resnik	Naj bogovi slišijo M: Matjaž Vlašič; T: Urša Vlašič	Slovenian	Let the gods hear it	18/25	17th			EMA 1998
1999	Darja Švajger	For a Thousand Years M: Sašo Fajon; T: Primož Peterca	English	For a thousand years	11/23	50			EMA 1999
2000	Not qualified
2001	Nuša Derenda	Energy M: Matjaž Vlašič; T: Urša Vlašič, Lucienne Lonchina	English	energy	7/23	70	Qualified directly for the final		EMA 2001
2002	Sestre	Samo ljubezen M: Robert Pešut ; T: Barbara Pešut	Slovenian	Just love	13/24	33			EMA 2002
2003	Karmen Stavec	Nanana M: Martin Štibernik; T: Karmen Stavec	English	Well well	23/26	7th			EMA 2003
2004	platinum	Stay Forever M: Simon Gomilšek; T: Diana Lečnik	English	Stay forever	Eliminated		21/22	5	EMA 2004
2005	Omar Naber	Stop M: Omar Naber, Urša Vlašič; T: Omar Naber	Slovenian	stop	Eliminated		12/25	69	EMA 2005
2006	Anžej Dežan	Mr. Nobody M: Matjaž Vlašič; T: Urša Vlašič	English	Mr. Nobody	Eliminated		16/24	49	EMA 2006
2007	Alenka Gotar	Cvet z juga M / T: Andrej Babić	Slovenian	Flower of the south	15/24	66	7/28	140	EMA 2007
2008	Rebeka Dremelj	Vrag naj vzame M: Josip Miani-Pipi; T: Amon	Slovenian	To hell with that	Eliminated		11/19	36	EMA 2008
2009	Quartissimo feat. Martina	Love Symphony M: Andrej Babić, Aleksandar Valenčić; T: Andrej Babić	English	Love symphony	Eliminated		16/19	14th	EMA 2009
2010	Roka Žlindre & Kalamari	Narodnozabavni rock M: Marino Legović; T: Leon Oblak	Slovenian	Popular folk rock	Eliminated		16/17	6th	EMA 2010
2011	Maja Keuc	No One M: Matjaž Vlašič; T: Urša Vlašič	English	Nobody	13/25	96	3/19	112	EMA 2011
2012	Eva Boto	Verjamem M: Vladimir Graić; T: Igor Pirković	Slovenian	I think	Eliminated		17/18	31	Misija Evrovizija 2012
2013	Hannah Mancini	Straight into Love M / T: Hannah Mancini	English	Straight into love	Eliminated		16/16	8th	internal selection
2014	Tinkara Kovač	Spet (Round and Round) M: Raay; T: Tinkara Kovač, Hannah Mancini, Tina Piš	English, Slovenian	Again (round and round)	25/26	9	10/15	52	EMA 2014
2015	Maraaya	Here for You M / T: Raay, Marjetka Vovk, Charlie Mason	English	Here for you	14/27	39	5/17	92	EMA 2015
2016	ManuElla	Blue and Red M / T: Marjan Hvala, Manuella Brečko, Leon Oblak	English	blue and red	Eliminated		14/18	57	EMA 2016
2017	Omar Naber	On My Way M / T: Omar Naber	English	On road	Eliminated		17/18	36	EMA 2017
2018	Lea Sirk	Hvala, Ne! M / T: Lea Sirk, Tomy DeClerque	Slovenian, Portuguese	No thanks!	22/26	64	8/18	132	EMA 2018
2019	Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl	Sebi M / T: Zala Kralj , Gašper Šantl	Slovenian	Oneself	15/26	105	6/17	167	EMA 2019
2020	Ana Soklič	Voda M: Ana Soklič , Bojan Simončič; T: Ana Soklič	Slovenian	water	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				EMA 2020
2021	Ana Soklič								internal selection

National preliminary decisions

Almost all Slovenian entries, except in 2013, were chosen through a national preliminary decision. This usually takes place under the title Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) or as EMA Evrovizija . Only in 1993, 1995 and 2012 did the preliminary round take place under the title Slovenski izbor za Pesem Evrovizije (1993, 1995) and Misija Evrovizija . As a rule, the preliminary round took place on an evening with between 12 and 17 participants. In 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2018, a semi-final took place before the national final. In 2007, 2008 and 2017 there were two semi-finals each, while in 2004 there were even four semi-finals.

In 2012, a casting show similar to the German system "Our Star for ..." was held for the first time, called Misija Evrovizija (Mission Eurovision) and stretched over several weeks. In 2013, RTVSLO decided to participate at short notice for financial reasons and could therefore not hold a preliminary decision due to lack of time.

There were controversies about the voting in 2006: A jury decided with a weighting of 1/3, all callers by phone and all votes by SMS. Saša Lendero received the most telephone and SMS votes, but not a single point from the jury. The Atomik Harmonik group took second place in the tele and SMS voting, but received no point from the jury either.

languages

Up to and including 1998, all entries were presented in Slovenian according to the rules. From 1999 onwards, the singing was mainly in English, namely in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2019 and 2020, however, the Contributions presented in Slovenian. In 2009 and 2014 the participant titles were sung in Slovenian and English. The 2018 contribution is special in that Lea Sirk introduced the last lines of Hvala ne in Portuguese, after which the rest of the text of the song was sung in Slovenian.

For a long time there was a rule that all contributions had to be sung in Slovene for the preliminary decision, so that there is also a Slovene version of almost all songs in English, and vice versa there is an English version of all other contributions in Slovene. In 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2010 German versions were also published.

Of the Slovenian contributions from the Yugoslav period, the texts 1961 and 1962 were in Serbo-Croatian and those from 1966, 1967, 1970 and 1975 in Slovenian.

Scoring

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

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  Croatia 125 2  Sweden 117 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 100 4th  Serbia 099 5  Denmark 081

Most in the final received points space country Points 1  Croatia 81 2  Bosnia and Herzegovina 61 3  Serbia 38 4th  Russia 35 5  North Macedonia 33

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  Serbia 185 2  Croatia 184 3  Sweden 177 4th  Bosnia and Herzegovina 151 5  Denmark 122

Most total obtained points space country Points 1  Croatia 135 2  Bosnia and Herzegovina 110 3  Serbia 097 4th  Montenegro 091 5  North Macedonia 073

Award of the highest rating

Since 1993 Slovenia has awarded the maximum number of points to 15 different countries, six of them to Croatia. In the semi-finals, however, Slovenia awarded the maximum number of points to eleven different countries, six of them to Serbia.

Highest rating (final) year country Place (final) 1993  Ireland 1 1994 Not qualified 1995  Croatia 6th 1996  Ireland 1 1997  Russia 15th 1998  Croatia 5 1999  Croatia 4th 2000 Not qualified 2001  Estonia 1 2002  Croatia 11 2003  Russia 3 2004  Serbia and Montenegro 2 2005  Croatia 11 2006  Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 2007  Serbia 1 2008  Serbia 6th 2009  Norway 1 2010  Denmark 4th 2011  Bosnia and Herzegovina 6th 2012  Serbia 3 2013  Denmark 1 2014  Austria 1 2015  Sweden 1 2016  Ukraine (J) 1  Serbia (T) 18th 2017  Portugal (J) 1  Croatia (T) 13 2018  Sweden (J) 7th  Serbia (T) 19th 2019  Czech Republic (J) 11  North Macedonia (T) 7th 2020 Competition canceled

Highest rating (semi-finals) year country Place (semifinals) 2004  Serbia and Montenegro 1 2005  Croatia 4th 2006  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 2007  Serbia 1 2008  Bosnia and Herzegovina 9 2009  Serbia 10 2010  Croatia 13 2011  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 2012  Serbia 2 2013  Ukraine 3 2014  North Macedonia 13 2015  Sweden 1 2016  Belgium (J) 3  Serbia (T) 10 2017  Australia (J) 6th  Portugal (T) 1 2018  Sweden (J) 2  Serbia (T) 9 2019  Czech Republic (J) 2  Serbia (T) 7th 2020 Competition canceled

Impressions

• 

  Alenka Gotar 2007

• 

  Rebeka Dremlj 2008

• 

  Ansambel Žlindra and Kalamari 2010

• 

  Eva Boto 2012

• 

  Hannah Mancini 2013

• 

  Tinkara Kovač 2014

• 

  Maraaya 2015

• 

  ManuElla 2016

• 

  Omar Naber 2017

• 

  Lea Sirk 2018

• 

  Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ esctoday.com
2. ↑ geocities.ws
3. ^ Diggiloo