Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest

History

Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Moldova since its in 2005. TRM had previously planned to debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in , but the planned entry failed to materialize.

Following Moldova's 20th-place finish in the contest, TRM announced that it would not participate in , and did not allocate a budget for the 2007 Contest. However, in response to public pressure, TRM filed the preliminary documents to compete and sent Natalia Barbu with song "Fight". She achieved 10th place.

In , Moldova, for the first time in its four years of participation, failed to make the final. "A Century of Love", performed by Geta Burlacu, finished in 12th place in the semi-final. In , Moldova achieved 14th place with Nelly Ciobanu. In , saxophonist Sergey Stepanov of SunStroke Project became the internet phenomenon ("Epic Sax Guy") with his 30-second saxophone solo.

In , Zdob și Zdub represented Moldova for a second time in the contest, with the song "So Lucky" placing 12th in the final. In and respectively, Moldova achieved 11th place with Pasha Parfeny and Aliona Moon respectively.

From to , Moldova failed to qualify for the final. The country finished in last position in the 2014 semi-final, 11th in the 2015 semi-final, and pre-last in the 2016 semi-final. In , Moldova achieved its best result at the contest, when SunStroke Project finished third in the final with the song "Hey, Mamma!". The streak of top 10 results continued in with the band DoReDos finishing 10th in Lisbon. However in 2019, Moldova failed to qualify for the first time since 2016, finishing 12th in the semi-final.

In , Natalia Gordienko, who previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, was chosen to represent the country with the song "Prison", though the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gordienko was then internally selected to represent Moldova in with the song "Sugar". She eventually qualified to the grand final and placed in 13th position with 115 points. Her 17-second note at the end of "Sugar" was reported to be the longest note in Eurovision history. For the contest in Turin, Zdob și Zdub, who previously represented the country in and , and the Advahov Brothers were selected exclusively after a live audition round held by the broadcaster. Performing "Trenulețul", the act eventually qualified for the final and ultimately placed seventh with 253 points. The group finished second in the public televote in the final, Moldova's highest placing in the televote to date. This marked the country's best result since 2005 and its third-highest placing to date. This was followed in by an eighteenth-place finish with "Soarele și luna", performed by Pasha Parfeni, who previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. In , Moldova failed to qualify for the first time in five years, with Natalia Barbu, who previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, finishing in thirteenth place in the semi-final with "In the Middle".

On 16 November 2024, TRM confirmed its intention to participate in the contest, holding a live audition round for its national final with 26 entries on 18 January 2025. However, on 22 January, TRM announced its withdrawal from the contest due to economic reasons and concerns about the quality of its national final, It was the first time since the countries debut in 2005 that they were absent. The broadcaster did not rule out a future return to the contest, stating that it would "review the criteria and methodology for selecting the country's representative for the international stage".

On 3 November 2025, TRM announced that the country will return to the contest in . Satoshi is set to represent Moldova at the 2026 contest with the song, Viva, Moldova

Participation overview

Commentators and spokespersons

For the show's broadcast on TRM, various commentators provided commentary on the contest in Romanian. After all the votes are tallied at the Eurovision Song Contest, the hosts invite a spokesperson from each voting country to announce their results on screen.

Photo gallery

File:Zdub.jpg|Zdob și Zdub in Kyiv () File:Natalia gordienko arsenium 2006.jpg|Natalia Gordienko and Arsenium performing "Loca" in Athens () File:ESC 2007 Moldova - Natalia Barbu - Fight.jpg|Natalia Barbu performing "Fight" in Helsinki () File:ESC 2008 - Moldova - Geta Burlacu, 1st semifinal.jpg|Geta Burlacu performing "A Century of Love" in Belgrade () File:Nelly Ciobanu.jpg|Nelly Ciobanu in Moscow () File:Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira, ESC 2010.jpg|SunStroke Project and Olia Tira performing "Run Away" in Oslo () File:Moldova at ESC 2011.jpg|Zdob și Zdub performing "So Lucky" in Düsseldorf () File:ESC2013 - Moldova 10.jpg|Aliona Moon performing "O mie" in Malmö () File:ESC2014 - Moldova 01.jpg|Cristina Scarlat performing "Wild Soul" in Copenhagen () File:20150515 ESC 2015 Eduard Romanyuta 6011.jpg|Eduard Romanyuta performing "I Want Your Love" in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Moldova 12.jpg|Lidia Isac performing "Falling Stars" in Stockholm () File:Sunstroke Project (Moldova). Photo 479.jpg|SunStroke Project performing "Hey, Mamma!" in Kyiv () File:ESC2018 - Moldova 05.jpg|DoReDoS performing "My Lucky Day" in Lisbon () File:Anna Odobescu at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final 2 dress rehearsal (02).jpg|Anna Odobescu performing "Stay" in Tel Aviv () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Moldova - Zdob și Zdub & Advahov Brothers.jpg|Zdob și Zdub and Advahov Brothers performing "Trenulețul" in Turin () File:Eurovision 2023 - Jury Semi-final 1 - Moldova - Pasha Parfeni (01).jpg|Pasha Parfeni performing "Soarele și luna" in Liverpool () File:Natalia Barbu, Eurovision 2024 1st semi-final rehearsal 10.jpg| Natalia Barbu performing "In the Middle" in Malmö ()

Notes

References

Bibliography

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