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Finland has participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since its debut in
1961. Finland won the contest for the first – and to date only – time in
2006 with
Lordi and their song "
Hard Rock Hallelujah". The country's best result before then was achieved by
Marion Rung with the song "Tom Tom Tom" in
1973, which placed sixth.
Finland has finished last in the contest eleven 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 eight times. In
2014, the country had its best result in eight years when
Softengine with "Something Better" finished 11th, a result that would be surpassed by
Blind Channel with "
Dark Side", which came sixth in
2021, and later by
Käärijä with "
Cha Cha Cha", which won the public vote and came second overall in
2023, the latter of which is Finland's second best result to date.
History
Before its
2006 victory, Finland was considered by many to be the under-achiever of the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to 2006, Finland had placed last a total of eight times, three times with nul points. Finland's
entry in
1982, "Nuku pommiin" by
Kojo, was one of only fifteen songs to score no points since the modern scoring system was implemented in
1975. Due to poor results, Finland was relegated from taking part in
1995,
1997,
1999,
2001 and
2003.[1][2]
In 2006, Finland won the contest with the band
Lordi and their song "
Hard Rock Hallelujah", an entry that stood out from the
Europop that had dominated the competition. The song scored the highest number of points in the history of the contest, with 292, a record that was later broken by Norway's
Alexander Rybak in
2009.[3]
In
2015, Finland finished last in the first semi-final with the shortest-ever Eurovision song, the one minute and 27 seconds "Aina mun pitää" performed by
Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät.[4] Finland reached the final for the first time in four years in
2018, with
Saara Aalto placing 25th. After a non-qualification in
2019 with
Darude and
Sebastian Rejman,
Blind Channel placed sixth in
2021, followed by a 21st place for
The Rasmus in
2022 and a second place for
Käärijä in
2023, the latter of which is Finland's second best result to date.[5]
All of Finland's entries were in
English between
1973 and
1976, and since
2000 (with the exceptions of
2008,
2010,
2012, 2015 and 2023); both of these periods allowed submissions in any language. Finland's entries in
1990 and 2012 were in
Swedish, which is an
official language in the country alongside Finnish. All of Finland's other songs have been in
Finnish.
Over the years,
Yle has had several experienced radio and television presenters as commentators. The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast in Finland from 1960 to 2001 and from 2021 onwards by Yle TV1 and from 2002 to 2019 by Yle TV2.
^All conductors are of Finnish nationality unless otherwise noted.
^Conducted by George de Godzinsky at the national final.
^Conducted by Risto Hiltunen at the national final.
^Only year between 1966 and 1989 where Finland participated and Ossi Runne was not their conductor; he instead provided television commentary. Runne still conducted at the national final.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101.
ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168.
ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn:
Telos Publishing.
ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^Pajala, Mari (2013). Badenoch, Alexander; Fickers, Andreas; Henrich-Franke, Christian (eds.). "Intervision Song Contests and Finnish Television between East and West". Airy Curtains in the European Ether: Broadcasting and the Cold War. Baden-Baden, Germany:
Nomos: 215–270.
doi:
10.5771/9783845236070-215.
ISBN9783845236070 – via
Academia.edu. Walli was closely involved in YLE's ESC productions; among other things he [...] provided the commentary for all the 1960s ESCs on Finnish television.