Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Finland
Member station	Yle
National selection events	National Final Euroviisukarsinta 1961–1969 1971–1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004–2011 Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2012–2017
Participation summary
Appearances	51 (44 finals)
First appearance	1961
Best result	1st: 2006
Worst result	Last: 1963, 1965, 1968, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2009, 2015 SF
External links
YLE page
Finland's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 51 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Previously, its best showing was Marion Rung’s song "Tom Tom Tom" in 1973, which was placed 6th.

Finland has finished last in the contest ten times, receiving "nul points" in 1963, 1965 and 1982. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final seven times. In 2014, the country had its best result for eight years when Softengine finished 11th. In 2015 Finland finished last in Semi Final One with the shortest ever Eurovision entry "Aina mun pitää" that only lasts 1 minute and 25 seconds by PKN (Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät).

History

Before the 2006 victory, Finland was considered by many as the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision. Prior to its triumph, it had placed last a total of eight times, once with "nul points" after the introduction of the current scoring method. Finland's entry in 1982, "Nuku pommiin" by Kojo, was one of only fifteen songs since the modern scoring system was instituted in 1975 to earn no points. (Norway had placed last eleven times and scored zero points four times, but had also won twice before 2006).

Due to low results, Finland was excluded from the contest in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003.

First victory

In 2006, Finland won with The band Lordi and its song Hard Rock Hallelujah, an entry different from the mainstream Europop that dominated the competition. The song broke records scoring the highest number of points in Eurovision Song Contest history (292).The record was eventually broken by Norway in 2009 (387).

Language

All of Finland's entries were in English between 1973 and 1976 and again since 2000 (except in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015); both of these periods allowed submissions in any language. Two entries, 1990 and 2012, were in Swedish, which is an official language in Finland alongside Finnish. All of Finland's other songs have been in Finnish.

Voting patterns

In voting patterns, Finland has traditionally supported and been supported by the other Nordic countries. In recent years also the Baltic nations, such as Estonia and Latvia have been favoured by Finland, and the other way around. In 2004, Finland's first-place vote went to Sweden; in 2005, it contributed 12 points to Norway; in 2006, it was Russia's turn to get the 12 points, but it was Serbia who got their top score in 2007. The first time in Eurovision history that Sweden gave Finland 12 points was in 2006 for Lordi's song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". In 2007, they repeated this, giving 12 points to Hanna Pakarinen with "Leave Me Alone". Finland has also given notably high points to Italy, a country that had not competed in various periods, especially from 1998 to 2010, but returned in 2011.

The jury vote also seems to aversely affect Finnish results, given that three of its non-qualifications (2010, 2015, and 2017) were on account of the juries when the televote alone would have comfortably carried them through to the Grand Final otherwise. Finland's best results, including their victory, came during all-televote years.

Contestants

Table key

NOTES:

a. ^ In 2009, Finland qualified through the back-up jury selection.

b. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.

Voting history

As of 2017, Finland's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Sweden 256 2  Italy 157 3  United Kingdom 143 4  Israel 141 5  Norway 128 Most points received in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Sweden 120 2  Norway 115 3  Iceland 78 4  Ireland 74 5  United Kingdom 70

Most points given in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Sweden 295 2  Norway 181 3  Israel 168 4  Italy 157 5  Estonia 156 Most points received in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Sweden 185 2  Norway 174 3  Iceland 145 4  Estonia 127 5  Ireland 103  United Kingdom 103

Hostings

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Press Award

Fan Award

Commentators and spokespersons

Photogallery

• 
  Viktor Klimenko at Naples (1965)
• 
  Hanna Pakarinen at Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Teräsbetoni at Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Waldo's People at Moscow (2009)
• 
  Kuunkuiskaajat at Oslo (2010)
• 
  Krista Siegfrids at Malmö (2013)
• 
  Softengine at Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät at Vienna (2015)
• 
  Sandhja at Stockholm (2016)
• 
  Norma John at Kiev (2017)

See also

• Finland in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Finland in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Finland in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

References

External links

• National Final 2009
• Points to and from Finland eurovisioncovers.co.uk