Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest

Spain has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest in every edition since Template:Escyr, in total 64 times. The current Spanish participating broadcaster in the contest is (RTVE). Spain is one of the "Big Five" countries, along with Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, and the United Kingdom, that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to their participating broadcasters being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Spain has won the contest twice, first in Template:Escyr with the song "La La La" performed by Massiel and again in Template:Escyr, when "Vivo cantando" by Salomé was involved in a four-way tie with Template:Esccnty, the Template:Esccnty and the Template:Esccnty. The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969's four-way tie and the Template:Escyr contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Other good results in the 20th century were four second places with "" by Karina in Template:Escyr, "" by Mocedades in Template:Escyr, "" by Betty Missiego in Template:Escyr, and "" by Anabel Conde in Template:Escyr, and a third place with "Lady, Lady" by Bravo in Template:Escyr. The country finished last with nul points three times: in Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr, and Template:Escyr, and also finished last in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr.

Since the start of the 21st century, Spain has reached the top ten seven times, with "" by David Civera (Template:Escyr) finishing sixth, "Europe's Living a Celebration" by Rosa (Template:Escyr) finishing seventh, "" by Beth (Template:Escyr) finishing eighth, "" by Ramón (Template:Escyr) finishing tenth, both "" by Pastora Soler (Template:Escyr) and "Dancing in the Rain" by Ruth Lorenzo (Template:Escyr) also finishing tenth, and "SloMo" by Chanel (Template:Escyr) finishing third. Spain has also failed to reach the top twenty in ten of the last eighteen contests, including for six consecutive contests (2015–21). With "Eaea" by Blanca Paloma placing 17th in Template:Escyr, Spain became the first country to finish in all possible positions in the final (1st–26th). Spain is the current participating country with the longest active victory drought, spanning over a total of 56 years (1969–2025).

Participation

(TVE) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Spain since its Template:Escyr in 1961. Since 2007, after a restructuring that led to the incorporation of TVE into the current (RTVE) corporation, it is the latter who participates representing Spain.

Selection process

Spain has regularly changed the selection process used in order to find the country's entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection (sometimes a combination of both formats) has been held by the broadcaster at the time. Between 1977 and 1999, Spain's entries were selected internally by TVE. Before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín (Passport to Dublin) in 1971, were alternated.

From 2000, Spain has used various selection formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a national final called Eurocanción (Eurosong), where the Spanish representative was selected for the contest. From 2002 to 2004, the reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) was used to select the entry, a format that renewed the Spanish audience's interest in the contest and brought three top 10 results in a row, until TVE decided not to host any further editions of the series. In 2005, the national final Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción (Eurovision 2005: Choose Our Song) was organised, where the audience chose their favourite song among a pre-selection made by TVE of unknown artists submitted to them by record labels. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, the selection was made internally for the first time since 1999, with a similar result. In 2007, Spain's entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again.

From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the competitions used by RTVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Template:Esccnty (Let's Save Eurovision). A website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much; nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again. For 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Template:Esccnty (Eurovision 2009: The Return), although some changes were introduced in the format. The result was the worst in the 2000s (decade): 24th place. In 2010, a similar format, Template:Esccnty, selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004 (15th).

In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Template:Esccnty. After a further disappointing result (23rd), for 2012, RTVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song. A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004. The same procedure was repeated in 2013, with El Sueño de Morfeo as the established act, which turned out one of the most disappointing results (25th out of 26 entries) in the country's Eurovision history; some critics, however, blamed a less-than-stellar performance of an otherwise solid song. In 2014, RTVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called Template:Esccnty (Look who's going to Eurovision); five artists were invited to participate by RTVE. A top ten result was achieved for the second time in three years.

In 2015, for the first time since 2006, both the artist, Edurne, and the song were selected internally by RTVE. On 18 December 2015, RTVE announced that it would organise a national final in order to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Six acts competed in the national final named Objetivo Eurovisión, and Barei won the selection process. The same format was used in 2017, and Manel Navarro won the selection process; it turned out Spain's first last-place result since 1999.

In 2017, RTVE commissioned a new season of Operación Triunfo, which returned to TVE after thirteen years, and the series served for the fourth time (after 2002, 2003 and 2004) as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2018 contest. The result was disappointing (23rd out of 26 entries), but the 2018 Eurovision final was the most-watched in Spain since 2008. A further season of the talent show chose the Spanish entry for the 2019 contest with another disappointing result (22nd out of 26 entries).

For the 2020 contest, RTVE selected the Spanish entry internally, with Blas Cantó and the song "Universo" chosen. Following the cancellation of the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RTVE was one of the first four broadcasters (the other were Greece's ERT, Netherlands' AVROTROS and Ukraine's UA:PBC) that confirmed its participation for the 2021 edition with the same artist who would have participated for 2020, in this case Cantó. His 2021 entry "Voy a quedarme" went on to finish in 24th place with six points, marking the sixth time in a row that Spain has finished outside of the top twenty.

For the 2022 contest, it was announced that RTVE would use Benidorm Fest, a revamped version of the Benidorm International Song Festival to select the nation's entry among thirteen candidates. The broadcaster signed a contract with the regional government of the Valencian Community to hold the event for four editions. The first Benidorm Fest was won by Chanel with "SloMo", which finished in third place at Eurovision with 459 points, thereby achieving Spain's best Eurovision result since 1995.

Spain and the "Big Five"

Since 1999, Spain, along with Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, and the Template:Esccnty, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. The participating broadcasters from these countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". Template:Esccnty returned to the contest in 2011, resulting in the countries becoming members of a "Big Five".

Interrupted performances

Only three times in the contest's history has a non-winning entry been allowed to perform again, and in two of these instances, the entries in question were Spanish representatives (the other one being the Italian entry in 1958, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno). The first time this happened to a Spanish representative was in the 1990 contest in Zagreb, when Azúcar Moreno opened the contest with the song "Bandido". The orchestra and the recorded backing track began the song out of sync, which caused the singers to miss their cue. The singers left the stage after a few seconds, and no explanation was given at the time. After a few uneasy moments, the music began correctly and the song was performed in full. Azúcar Moreno and "Bandido" went on to place fifth in the final vote tally, though the juries at the time actually awarded their points after watching the dress rehearsal performances, so the restart did not affect Spain's overall result either positively or negatively.

Twenty years later, at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Spain was drawn to perform second in the running order, and Daniel Diges's performance of "Algo pequeñito" was disturbed by Catalan pitch invader Jimmy Jump. However, Diges performed the song in full, despite the invader's intrusion and subsequent removal from the stage by security personnel, receiving warm applause for continuing from the audience at the Telenor Arena. After Serbia's performance, co-presenter Nadia Hasnaoui announced that, according to the rules, Diges would be given a second chance once all the remaining countries had performed. Nonetheless, the juries ranked the dress-rehearsal performance of "Algo pequeñito" 20th out of 25 with 43 points, whereas the televoting results ranked Spain 12th, with 106 points. The combination of jury and televote results gave Spain a 15th-place finish.

Participation overview

Table key

1	First place
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming event

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
Template:Escyr	Conchita Bautista	""	Spanish	9	8	No semi-finals
Template:Escyr	Víctor Balaguer	""	Spanish	13 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	José Guardiola	""	Spanish	12	2
Template:Escyr	Nelly with Tim and Tony	""	Spanish	12	1
Template:Escyr	Conchita Bautista	""	Spanish	15 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Raphael	""	Spanish	7	9
Template:Escyr	Raphael	""	Spanish	6	9
Template:Escyr	Massiel	"La La La"	Spanish	1	29
Template:Escyr	Salomé	""	Spanish	1	18
Template:Escyr	Julio Iglesias	"Gwendolyne"	Spanish	4	8
Template:Escyr	Karina	""	Spanish	2	116
Template:Escyr	Jaime Morey	""	Spanish	10	83
Template:Escyr		""	Spanish	2	125
Template:Escyr	Peret	""	Spanish	9	10
Template:Escyr	Sergio and Estíbaliz	""	Spanish	10	53
Template:Escyr	Braulio	""	Spanish	16	11
Template:Escyr	Micky	""	Spanish	9	52
Template:Escyr	José Vélez	""	Spanish	9	65
Template:Escyr	Betty Missiego	""	Spanish	2	116
Template:Escyr		""	Spanish	12	38
Template:Escyr	Bacchelli	""	Spanish	14	38
Template:Escyr	Lucía	""	Spanish	10	52
Template:Escyr	Remedios Amaya	""	Spanish	19 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Bravo	"Lady, Lady"	Spanish	3	106
Template:Escyr	Paloma San Basilio	""	Spanish	14	36
Template:Escyr	Cadillac	"Valentino"	Spanish	10	51
Template:Escyr	Patricia Kraus	""	Spanish	19	10
Template:Escyr		"La chica que yo quiero (Made in Spain)"	Spanish	11	58
Template:Escyr	Nina	""	Spanish	6	88
Template:Escyr		""	Spanish	5	96
Template:Escyr	Sergio Dalma	""	Spanish	4	119
Template:Escyr	Serafín	""	Spanish	14	37
Template:Escyr	Eva Santamaría	""	Spanish	11	58
Template:Escyr	Alejandro Abad	""	Spanish	18	17	No semi-finals
Template:Escyr	Anabel Conde	""	Spanish	2	119
Template:Escyr	Antonio Carbonell	""	Spanish	20	17	14	43
Template:Escyr	Marcos Llunas	""	Spanish	6	96	No semi-finals
Template:Escyr	Mikel Herzog	""	Spanish	16	21
Template:Escyr	Lydia	""	Spanish	23 ◁	1
Template:Escyr	Serafín Zubiri	""	Spanish	18	18
Template:Escyr	David Civera	""	Spanish	6	76
Template:Escyr	Rosa	"Europe's Living a Celebration"	Spanish	7	81
Template:Escyr	Beth	""	Spanish	8	81
Template:Escyr	Ramón	""	Spanish	10	87	Member of the "Big Four"
Template:Escyr		""	Spanish	21	28
Template:Escyr		"Bloody Mary"	Spanish	21	18
Template:Escyr	D'Nash	"I Love You Mi Vida"	Spanish	20	43
Template:Escyr	Rodolfo Chikilicuatre	""	Spanish, English	16	55
Template:Escyr	Soraya Arnelas	""	Spanish	24	23
Template:Escyr	Daniel Diges	""	Spanish	15	68
Template:Escyr	Lucía Pérez	""	Spanish	23	50	Member of the "Big Five"
Template:Escyr	Pastora Soler	""	Spanish	10	97
Template:Escyr	ESDM	""	Spanish	25	8
Template:Escyr	Ruth Lorenzo	"Dancing in the Rain"	English, Spanish	10	74
Template:Escyr	Edurne	""	Spanish	21	15
Template:Escyr	Barei	"Say Yay!"	English	22	77
Template:Escyr	Manel Navarro	"Do It for Your Lover"	Spanish, English	26 ◁	5
Template:Escyr	Amaia and Alfred	""	Spanish	23	61
Template:Escyr	Miki	""	Spanish	22	54
Template:Escyr	Blas Cantó	""	Spanish	Contest cancelledTemplate:Efn X
Template:Escyr	Blas Cantó	""	Spanish	24	6
Template:Escyr	Chanel	"SloMo"	Spanish, English	3	459
Template:Escyr	Blanca Paloma	"Eaea"	Spanish	17	100
Template:Escyr	Nebulossa	""	Spanish	22	30
Template:Escyr	Melody	""	Spanish	24	37
Template:Escyr	Confirmed intention to participate †

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Artist	Song	Language	At Congratulations				At Eurovision
			Final	Points	Semi	Points	Year	Place	Points
	""	Spanish	Failed to qualify		11	90	Template:Escyr	2	125

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenter
Template:Escyr	Madrid	Teatro Real	Laura Valenzuela

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Song	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Fan Award	"Dime"	Beth	8	81	Template:Flagicon Riga

Barbara Dex Award

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Lydia	Template:Flagicon Jerusalem

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	ConductorTemplate:Efn	Notes	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ferrer
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Jean Roderes	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ibarbia
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Adolfo Ventas
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ibarbia
Template:Escyr	Manuel Alejandro
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ibarbia
Template:Escyr	Augusto Algueró	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Waldo de los Rios	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr	Augusto Algueró
Template:Escyr	Juan Carlos Calderón
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ibarbia	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr	Juan Carlos Calderón
Template:Escyr	Joan Barcons
Template:Escyr	Rafael Ibarbia
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	José Luis Navarro
Template:Escyr	Javier Iturraide
Template:Escyr	Joan Barcons
Template:Escyr	Miguel Ángel Varona
Template:Escyr	José Miguel Évora
Template:Escyr	Eddy Guerin
Template:Escyr	Juan Carlos Calderón
Template:Escyr	Eduardo Leiva
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Javier de Juan
Template:Escyr	Juan Carlos Calderón
Template:Escyr	Eduardo Leiva
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Javier Losada
Template:Escyr	Eduardo Leiva
Template:Escyr	Josep Llobell
Template:Escyr	Eduardo Leiva
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Toni Xuclà
Template:Escyr	Alberto Estébanez

Heads of delegation

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.

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	María Teresa Segura
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Ana María Bordas
Template:Escyr	César Vallejo

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Television commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill	Unknown	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Julio Rico
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Blanca Álvarez Mantilla
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		José María Íñigo	Joaquín Prat
Template:Escyr	José Luis Uribarri	Unknown
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Joaquín Prat		No spokesperson
Template:Escyr	Julio Rico
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	José Luis Uribarri		Antolín García
Template:Escyr		No radio commentary	José María Íñigo
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr			Matías Prats Luque
Template:Escyr			Template:Ill
Template:Escyr			Alfonso Lapeña
Template:Escyr			Isabel Tenaille
Template:Escyr			Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	José-Miguel Ullán		Rosa Campano
Template:Escyr			Matilde Jarrín
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	Luis Cobos
Template:Escyr	Tomás Fernando Flores		María Ángeles Balañac
Template:Escyr	José Luis Uribarri
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr			Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr			Hugo de Campos
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr			Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Nieves Herrero and José María de Juana	Anne Igartiburu
Template:Escyr		No radio commentary
Template:Escyr	Beatriz Pécker
Template:Escyr			Template:Ill
Template:Escyr			Sonia Ferrer
Template:Escyr			Ainhoa Arbizu
Template:Escyr	José Luis Uribarri
Template:Escyr	Template:Ill		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	José Luis Uribarri		Ainhoa Arbizu
Template:Escyr	José María Íñigo		Elena S. Sánchez
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr			Inés Paz
Template:Escyr		Spanish: Paco González and Template:Ill team Catalan: Template:Ill	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	José María Íñigo and Julia Varela	No radio commentary	Template:Ill
Template:Escyr			Template:Ill
Template:Escyr			Nieves Álvarez
Template:Escyr	Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela
Template:Escyr		Daniel Galindo
Template:Escyr		Imanol Durán
Template:Escyr		Imanol Durán, Sara Calvo and David Asensio
Template:Escyr		David Asensio, Imanol Durán, Irene Vaquero and Ángela Fernández	Ruth Lorenzo
Template:Escyr	Spanish: Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela Catalan:Template:Efn Sònia Urbano and Template:Ill	Spanish: David Asensio, Sara Calvo, Ángela Fernández, Manu Martín-Albo and Luis Miguel Montes Catalan: Sònia Urbano and Xavi Martínez	Soraya Arnelas
Template:Escyr		Spanish: David Asensio, Sara Calvo, and Luis Miguel Montes Catalan: Sònia Urbano and Xavi Martínez	Chanel

Stage directors and costume designers

Year	Stage director(s)	Costume designer(s)	Ref.
Template:Esccnty	Unknown	André Courrèges
Template:Esccnty		Manuel Pertegaz
Template:Esccnty		Antonio Nieto
Template:Esccnty		Undisclosed
Template:Esccnty		UndisclosedTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty		Jesús del Pozo
Template:Esccnty		José Ramón de Aguirre
Template:Esccnty		Template:Ill and Template:Ill
Template:Esccnty		Mercedes Salazar
Template:Esccnty		UndisclosedTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty		Template:Ill
Template:Esccnty	Leonor Parrilli	Javier Larraizar
Template:Esccnty	Unknown	Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada
Template:Esccnty		ZaraTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty	Poty Castillo	Jorge PérezTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty	Marieta Calderón	Etxart & Panno
Template:Esccnty	Poty Castillo	Amparo Macías
Template:Esccnty	Mayte Marcos	Undisclosed
Template:Esccnty		Juan Pedro López
Template:Esccnty		Template:Ill
Template:Esccnty	Lola González	Sara Lage and Maru Calderón
Template:Esccnty	Francis Viñolo	Cañavate
Template:Esccnty	Unknown	Yolancris
Template:Esccnty		Karim DesignTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty	Template:Ill	José Fuentes
Template:Esccnty	Niccolò Piccardi and Florian Boje	Raúl AmorTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty	Hans Pannecoucke
Template:Esccnty	Tinet Rubira	Template:Ill and Paco Varela
Template:Esccnty	Fokas Evangelinos	Armani, Ana Margo and Guillermo Villanueva
Template:Esccnty	Nicoline Refsing	Victoria NogalesTemplate:Efn
Template:Esccnty	Marvin Dietmann	Jaime Álvarez
Template:Esccnty	Kyle Hanagami	Template:Ill
Template:Esccnty	Bentor Albelo and Javier Rojo	Paola de Diego
Template:Esccnty	Juan Sebastián and Israel Reyes	Michael Costello
Template:Esccnty	Mario Ruiz	Gustavo Adolfo Tarí

Photo gallery

• Conchita Bautista in Naples (Template:Escyr)
  Conchita Bautista in Naples (Template:Escyr)
• Julio Iglesias in Amsterdam (Template:Escyr)
  Julio Iglesias in Amsterdam (Template:Escyr)
• Trigo Limpio in The Hague (Template:Escyr)
  Trigo Limpio in The Hague (Template:Escyr)
• Ramón in Istanbul (Template:Escyr)
  Ramón in Istanbul (Template:Escyr)
• D'Nash in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
  D'Nash in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
• Rodolfo Chikilicuatre in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
  Rodolfo Chikilicuatre in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
• Daniel Diges in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
  Daniel Diges in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
• El Sueño de Morfeo in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  El Sueño de Morfeo in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Ruth Lorenzo in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
  Ruth Lorenzo in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
• Edurne in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
  Edurne in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
• Barei in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
  Barei in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
• Manel Navarro in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
  Manel Navarro in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
• Amaia and Alfred in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
  Amaia and Alfred in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
• Miki in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
  Miki in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
• Blanca Paloma in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
  Blanca Paloma in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
• Nebulossa in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  Nebulossa in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Melody in Basel (Template:Escyr)
  Melody in Basel (Template:Escyr)

See also

• Spain in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Spain in the OTI Festival – A competition organised by (OTI) between 1972 and 2000.