Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Participation

Radio-televizija Srbije (RTS) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 2006, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It has participated in the contest representing Serbia since its in 2007.

Before the country became independent on 5 June 2006, entries from Serbia had participated in the contest as part of and later . Four Yugoslav entrants in the contest came from the former SR Serbia: , , , and ), and one of Serbia and Montenegro's entrants came from the former Republic of Serbia ().

History

2000s

Serbia made its debut in the contest as an independent nation with the ballad "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. "Molitva" won the , receiving 268 points, making Serbia the first country to win with a debut entry after Switzerland's win at the first edition. Subsequently, Serbia was host of the 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, marking it the first time Serbia failed to qualify for the final since the introduction of semi-finals.

2010s

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 1960s 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 returned to compete in with the song "Nije ljubav stvar". On the second semi-final 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 in Malmö with the song "Ljubav je svuda". They would finish 11th in the first semi-final, therefore not qualifying for the final. This was the second time that Serbia did not qualify for the final. On 22 November 2013, RTS announced that it would not participate in the due to financial difficulties and a lack of available sponsorship for a potential Serbian entry. They did, however, broadcast all three shows.

On 26 September 2014, it was reported that Serbia had decided to return to the contest to be held in Austrian capital, Vienna. On 15 February 2015 Serbia chose their own representative in the TV show "Odbrojavanje za Beč". Odbrojavanje za Beč (English: Countdown for Vienna) was the national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the . 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 with 9th place in Semi-Final 1, but managed to achieve another top 10 result for Serbia in the Grand Final, scoring 53 points and the 10th place.

In March 2016, RTS internally decided for Sanja Vučić to represent Serbia in Stockholm, Sweden with the song "Goodbye (Shelter)". In the , she performed in the second semi-final, qualifying through. In the grand final, Vučić placed 18th by scoring 115 points. The , Serbia was represented by Tijana Bogićević in Kyiv, Ukraine, again chosen by the national broadcaster. She failed to qualify from the second semi-final by finishing 11th.

In February 2018, Sanja Ilić and the world music group Balkanika were declared the winners of the returning Beovizija contest. They performed in the second semi-final of the , hosted in Lisbon, Portugal. In the final, Sanja Ilić and Balkanika finished in 19th place with 113 points. Subsequently, the Beovizija 2019 was won by Nevena Božović and "Kruna", who therefore represented Serbia in Tel Aviv, Israel. Božović, who qualified from the first semi-final, scored 89 points in the final and thus placed 18th.

2020s

On March 1, 2020, girl group Hurricane won ** with "" and were supposed to compete in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The was, however, eventually cancelled due the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, RTS selected Hurricane internally to represent Serbia in the . Hurricane performed their new entry, "Loco loco", in the second semi-final, going through. In the final they went on to place 15th with 102 points.

The following year, ** was replaced by the newly-established national selection contest, **. The contest's first edition, held in March 2022, was won by Konstrakta and "", who was therefore chosen to represent Serbia in the , hosted in Turin, Italy. Konstrakta qualified from the semi-final 2. In the final she placed 5th with 312 points. "" became the most successful Serbian entry since 2012. Furthermore, Konstrakta also won the Artistic Marcel Bezençon Award and two Eurovision Awards - the Most Innovative Staging and the Best Lyrics.

At the beginning of March 2023, RTS organized **, where Luke Black with "" was declared the winner and Serbian representative in Liverpool, United Kingdom. In Liverpool, Luke finished in 24th place in the finals with 30 points.

** was held to select the Serbian representative in 2024, resulting as Teya Dora with the song "Ramonda". In Malmö, Teya finished in 17th place in the finals with 54 points.

** was held to select Serbia's entry for the 2025 contest, with Princ winning with the song "Mila". The entry failed to qualify from the semi-finals, finishing in 14th place with 28 points. This marked Serbia's first non-qualification since 2017, ending a six-year streak of reaching the final. As of 2025, it remains their worst result to date.

On 15th September 2025, RTS announced that ** is planned to select Serbia's entry for the 2026 contest, therefore confirming their intention to participate.

Participation overview

Prior to and 's dissolution, artists from the Serbian federal unit represented Yugoslavia in , , and as a republic unit in and .

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Barbara Dex Award

Related involvement

Heads of delegations

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.

Jury members

Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own. The modern incarnation of jury voting was introduced beginning with the , and , the juries' votes constitute just under 50% of the overall result in the final alongside televoting.

Broadcasts

Viewership

Commentators and spokespersons

For the show's broadcast on RTS, various commentators have provided commentary on the contest in the Serbian language. At the Eurovision Song Contest after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen.

From until , Serbia competed as part of Yugoslavia, and from to as part of Serbia and Montenegro. The Serbian affiliates of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT) first and Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT) later broadcast the contest there with Serbian commentary.

Other shows

Kosovan entrants

After Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, its broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) was applying for EBU membership, and wished to enter Kosovo independently into the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Kosovo is partially recognised 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 has participated in the Eurovision Young Dancers once. Several Kosovo Albanian artists have competed in Festivali i Këngës, the national selection for Albania organised by RTSH. The most notable Kosovo Albanian participants to date are Rona Nishliu, Lindita, and Albina Kelmendi and her family, who represented Albania in , and , respectively.

Several Kosovo Serb artists have competed in the Serbian national selections organised by RTS. Kosovo-born Nevena Božović represented Serbia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, first as a member of Moje 3 in and later as a solo artist in .

Photo gallery

File:ESC 2007 Serbia - Marija Serifovic - Molitva.jpg|Marija Šerifović in Helsinki () File:Jelena Tomasevic.jpg|Jelena Tomašević in Belgrade (at the national selection for the ) File:Esc serbia.jpg|Marko Kon in Moscow () File:Milan Stankovic 01.JPG|Milan Stanković in Oslo () File:Željko Joksimović 2012 Eurovision.jpg|Željko Joksimović in Baku () File:ESC2013 - Serbia 10.jpg|Moje 3 in Malmö () File:20150515 ESC 2015 Bojana Stamenov -3.jpg|Bojana Stamenov in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Serbia 07.jpg|Sanja Vučić in Stockholm () File:Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Semi Final 2 Rehearsals. Photo 182.jpg|Tijana Bogićević in Kyiv () File:ESC2018 - Serbia 04.jpg|Sanja Ilić and Balkanika in Lisbon () File:Eurovision 2019 Serbia.jpg|Nevena Božović in Tel Aviv () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Serbia - Konstrakta.jpg|Konstrakta in Turin () File:Eurovision 2023 - Jury Semi-final 1 - Serbia - Luke Black (03).jpg|Luke Black in Liverpool () File:Teya Dora Eurosvison Song Contest 2024 Final Malmö dress rehearsal semifinal 1.jpg|Teya Dora in Malmö () File:Princ at ESC2025 for Serbia 11.jpg|Princ in Basel ()

Notes

References

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