Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest

Hungary has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since making its debut in . Hungary attempted to participate in but failed to qualify from ''Kvalifikacija za Millstreet'', a special qualifying competition set up for seven former Eastern Bloc countries.

Hungary's first contest in 1994 remains its most successful, with Friderika Bayer finishing in fourth place. The country's only other top five result is András Kállay-Saunders' fifth-place in . Their other top ten results are Magdi Rúzsa finishing ninth in , ByeAlex tenth in , and Joci Pápai eighth in , giving Hungary a total of five top ten placements.

History

The country's first entry would have been "Árva reggel", performed by Andrea Szulák, in , but a qualification round was installed just for former Eastern Bloc countries, and the song did not manage to qualify to the grand final. The first official participation was of " Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?", performed by Friderika Bayer, in . Hungary received the maximum score of 12 points from the first three countries to vote. However, as the competition progressed, it attracted fewer votes, and finished in fourth place.

The entry was not as successful, garnering only 3 points, narrowly beating last-place Germany. In Hungary again failed to qualify when "Fortuna", performed by Gjon Delhusa did not qualify from the pre-qualification round.

Hungary withdrew after the contest. It had planned to return in 2004, but ultimately did not take part in the contest. They eventually returned in , where they finished in 12th place in the final with " Forogj, világ!", performed by NOX. However, Hungary withdrew again in , returning in with "Unsubstantial Blues", the first Hungarian entry in English, performed by Magdi Rúzsa, the winner of the 3rd season of the Hungarian talent show Megasztár. The song came 9th in Helsinki, receiving 128 points in the final.

After coming last in the semi-final in the contest, Magyar Televízió (MTV), the Hungarian broadcaster, confirmed Hungary's participation at the contest in Moscow. After MTV's original choice was revealed to have been released before 1 October 2008, breaking contest rules, it was decided that " Dance with Me", performed by Zoltán Ádok, would be Hungary's entry, after MTV's second choice to represent Hungary declined. The song placed 15th in the second semi-final, failing to qualify for the grand final for the second time since the introduction of the semi-finals in .

In October 2009, MTV confirmed that they would not participate in the contest due to financial limitations in the company which would prevent them from sending an entry to the contest in Bærum, Norway. Duna TV broadcast the event live and applied for EBU membership to send a representative to Düsseldorf in 2011. However, during the EBU's 65th conference, Duna TV's bid to become an active member was rejected. In December 2010, it was confirmed that MTV had agreed to return to the 2011 edition. MTV internally selected the song "What About My Dreams?", performed by Kati Wolf. The song placed 7th in the first semi-final with 72 points, and was the first entry representing Hungary to qualify for the final since . In the final, the song placed 22nd with 53 points.

In , MTV organised a national final, '' A Dal'', to select the Hungarian entry for the contest in Baku. The song " Sound of Our Hearts", performed by Compact Disco, was selected. The song placed 10th in the first semi-final with 52 points, and 24th in the final with 19 points. As of 2019, ''A Dal'' has been used as the Hungarian selection process every year since.

In , Hungary reached the top 10, when the song "Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)", performed by ByeAlex, placed 10th with 84 points. Hungary reached the top 5 in , when the song "Running", performed by András Kállay-Saunders, placed 5th with 143 points, achieving the best result Hungary has had since their first participation in 1994.

Hungary made it to the top ten once again in , when the song " Origo", performed by Joci Pápai, placed 8th with 200 points, achieving their best result in three years. Pápai represented Hungary again in with the song "", but failed to qualify for the final, marking Hungary's first non-qualification since 2009.

Hungary did not appear on the final list of participants for the later-cancelled contest; they have been absent from the contest since. MTVA stated that they would "support the valuable productions created by the talents of Hungarian pop music directly" instead of participating in the contest. The withdrawal came during a rise of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA; while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website ''Index.hu'' speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate.

Participation overview

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Barbara Dex Award

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

Gallery

Image:ESC 2007-Magdi Rusza-IMG 1375.jpg, Magdi Rúzsa in Helsinki ()
Image:Csézy, Hungary, Eurovision 2008, 2nd semifinal.jpg, Csézy in Belgrade ()
Image:Hungary at ESC 2011.jpg, Kati Wolf in Düsseldorf ()
Image:ESC2013 - Hungary 01.jpg, ByeAlex in Malmö ()
Image:ESC2014 - Hungary 02.jpg, András Kállay-Saunders in Copenhagen ()
Image:20150515 ESC 2015 Boggie cropped.jpg, Boggie in Vienna ()
Image:ESC2016 - Hungary 07.jpg, Freddie in Stockholm ()
image:Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Semi Final 2 Rehearsals. Photo 216.jpg, Joci Pápai in Kyiv ()
image:ESC2018 - Hungary 10.jpg, AWS in Lisbon ()
image:ESC2019-Hungary.jpg, Joci Pápai in Tel Aviv ()

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Points to and from Hungary
''eurovisioncovers.co.uk''

{{Authority control

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest