Albania has been represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

21 times since its debut in . The current Albanian participating broadcaster in the contest is (RTSH), which determines the country's entry every year through the national selection of Festivali i Këngës, a long-standing song competition organised yearly since 1962. Albanian debut in was successful, with " The Image of You" by Anjeza Shahini, placing 7th. It remained the country's best result until , when "" by Rona Nishliu finished 5th. The country also reached the top ten in , finishing eighth with "" by Shkodra Elektronike. Albania has participated every year since their debut and has participated in the final 12 out of 21 times.

Participation

(RTSH) is a full member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU), thus eligible to participate in the

. It has participated in the contest representing Albania since the country's debut in 2004.

History

2000s

RTSH expressed their intention to participate in the 2002 and 2003 editions. However, they were denied participation due to the large number of countries participating. Nevertheless, it debuted at the in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

with the song " The Image of You" performed by Anjeza Shahini. The country received 106 points in the Grand Final and finished in 7th place, remaining the country's highest placement until 2012. In 2005, due to the country's top 11 placement the previous year, the succeeding entry " Tomorrow I Go" by Ledina Çelo automatically qualified for the Grand Final in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and reached 16th place. The following year, Luiz Ejlli and his song " Zjarr e ftohtë" failed to qualify for the Grand Final in

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, marking the first non-qualification in the country's participation history. The 2007 entry, " Hear My Plea" by Frederik Ndoci, was performed at Festivali I Këngës 45 as "Balada e gurit" (The stone ballad). In the end, the song was finally revamped, mixing it with English and Albanian. In the Semi-Final of the 2007 contest, it received 49 points, placing 17th out of 28 in the Semi-Final, thus failing to qualify for the Final. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 46 was " Zemrën e lamë peng" (Hearts trapped in time) by Olta Boka. However, the result of the juries that selected the winner was controversial and rumours arose that the final two judges intentionally awarded high marks to Boka in order to avoid sending the runners-up, Flaka Krelani and Doruntina Disha, to the contest. Press reactions in Albania were not happy with the decision, and RTSH announced that they would investigate into alleged cheating by the final two judges to award their points. Despite this, Olta Boka's victory remained, and she sang for Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. She qualified for the Final, coming 9th in a field of 19 in the 2nd Semi-Final, and in the Final she received 55 points, coming 17th in a field of 25. Albania was the first country to select both their artist and publicly present their song for Eurovision 2009. The winner was again selected by Festivali I Këngës. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 47 was Kejsi Tola with the song " Më merr në ëndërr" (Take me in your dreams), composed by the same people of Albania's first entry, Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi. The song was performed in English as " Carry Me in Your Dreams". Albania finished 7th out of 19 in the 2nd Semi-Final with 73 points, thus qualifying for the Final. In the Final, Albania scored 48 points, finishing 17th in a field of 25. It placed 11th in the televoting while only 23rd in the jury vote.

2010s

The winner of Festivali I Këngës 48 was decided on 27 December, with

Juliana Pasha Juliana Pasha (born 20 May 1980) is an Albanian singer. In 2010, she won Honorary Citizen Award of Burrel from the mayor of the city. After she went into Eurovision in 2010 she won the first prize in the festival "Kenga Magjike" with the song ca ...

winning over former winner Anjeza Shahini. She represented Albania at Eurovision 2010 in Oslo with the song "It's All about You". The song was a typical up-tempo composition, and has been compared to

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

's " Keeps Gettin' Better" and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

' " Womanizer". Albania came 6th in the first semi-final with 76 points, thus qualifying for the final. In the final, Juliana finished 16th with 62 points which included 12 points from Macedonia. The Albanian participant for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest was chosen in Festivali i Këngës 49 in December 2010. The winner of 2011's Festival of Song was Aurela Gaçe, winning for the third time after 10 years. Her song was named "''Kënga ime''" ("My Song") and it was translated into English with the name " Feel the Passion", published on 12 March 2011, during a show called "''Historia nis këtu''" ("The story begins here") in

RTSH Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; ; formerly TVSH , now mostly referred to as RTSH ) is the national public broadcasting company of Albania. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as we ...

. Albania participated in Semi-Final 1 against 18 other countries, fighting for a place in the grand final in 14 May. However they missed out on qualification for the final for the first time in 4 years, coming 14th. Albania competed in the 2012 competition with the song "Suus", which was performed by Rona Nishliu. The song got through to the final, coming in 5th place overall with 146 points. Rona Nishliu from Kosovo achieved a record result for Albania. Albania competed in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Identitet" which was performed by Adrian Lulgjuraj and Bledar Sejko. This song was chosen as the winner through the Festivali i Këngës. The results depended on the jury voting only. Among the experts in the jury was the Italian Head of Delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest, Nicola Caligiore, who greeted and gave the points in English for all the viewers from the Eurovision.tv webcast. Albania came 15th in the second semi-final of the 2013

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

and did not make it into the grand final. On 28 December 2013, Herciana Matmuja won Festivali i Këngës 52 (the 52nd national final of Albania) and was therefore chosen to represent Albania in Eurovision 2014 with her song ' Zemërimi i një nate'. In the time before Eurovision 2014 she recorded both English and Albanian versions of this song. On 16 March she released the final version of ' One Night's anger' for Eurovision 2014. Albania failed to qualify for the second year in a row. On 28 December 2014,

Elhaida Dani Elhaida Dani (; born 17 February 1993) is an Albanian singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Shkodër, Dani performed in diverse singing competitions and started to play piano as a child. She rose to national recognition in the Albanian-speaking ...

won Festivali i Këngës 53 with the song "Diell", and this would've represented Albania at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

. On 23 February 2015 it was announced that the songwriters had decided to withdraw the song due to "personal and irrevocable reasons", and Dani would perform something else at Eurovision. The following day it was revealed that Dani would perform " I'm Alive". On 27 December 2015 Eneda Tarifa won Festivali i Këngës 54 with her song " Përrallë" which meant she would represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. It was later translated into English and called "Fairytale", and the music video premiered on the evening news on TVSH. Albania failed to qualify, coming only 16th out of 18 in the second semi-final. After failing to qualify once again in 2017 with Lindita and the song "

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

", Albania returned to the grand final in 2018 with the song " Mall" by Eugent Bushpepa. It finished 11th of 26 in the final receiving 184 points, giving Albania its third best result in the contest since their debut. In 2019, Albania selected Jonida Maliqi to represent them with the song " Ktheju tokës". Albania succeeded in qualifying from the second semi-final, making it the first time Albania had qualified twice in a row since 2009 and 2010. In the final, she placed 17th with 90 points.

2020s

For the contest, Albania selected Arilena Ara to represent their country after she won Festivali i Këngës 58 with the song " Shaj" on 22 December 2019. On 9 March 2020, a revamped version of the song named " Fall from the Sky" was released in English. However, the 2020 contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and al ...

. For the contest, RTSH announced that Arilena Ara would not be internally re-selected to represent Albania, and that Festivali i Këngës 59 would go ahead as planned. The national final took place on 23 December 2020 and was won by Anxhela Peristeri with the song "

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

". Anxhela managed to qualify for the final, making it the first time since 2008-2010 that Albania qualified three times in a row. In the final, she placed 21st with 57 points. For the contest, Ronela Hajati won Festivali i Këngës 60 and was selected to represent the country with the song " Sekret". It underwent a revamp ahead of Eurovision which saw lines in English and Spanish being added. However, it failed to qualify for the final, coming 12th out of 17 in the first semi-final. For the contest, Albina Kelmendi and her family finished second in Festivali i Këngës 61, but were selected to represent the country with the song " Duje" by the public. They managed to qualify for the final, finishing 9th with 83 points. In the final, they placed 22nd with 76 points. For the contest, the selection method used in 2023 was retained, with Besa and the song " Zemrën n'dorë" coming first in the televoting of Festivali i Këngës 62. For Eurovision, the song was revamped and renamed "Titan". For the contest, Festivali i Këngës 63 was organised with a revamped format, in which the winner would represent Albania at the 2025 contest in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

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. Diaspora voting was also introduced alongside a new presentation of results. Ultimately, won the festival with "". The duo went on to become the highest scoring Albanian entrants to date, securing 218 points in the 2025 final.

Participation overview

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

{, class="wikitable" !Year !Head of delegation ! , - , 2025 , Edvin Shvarc , {{center, {{cite web, url=https://rtsh.al/miremengjesi-shqiperi-shvarc-shqiperia-ka-magjepsur-eurovisionin-me-shkodren-elektronike/, title=Shkodra Elektronike shkëlqen në Eurovision, kryetari i delegacionit të RTSH: Pritshmëritë në natën finale janë të mëdhad, trans-title=Shkodra Elektronike shines at Eurovision, RTSH head of delegation: Expectations on the final night are high, language=sq, access-date=2025-05-29, website=

, -

Commentators and spokespersons

For the contest's broadcast on Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), various commentators and spokespersons have been hired throughout the years, with Leon Menkshi and Andri Xhahu notably having done the job on eight and thirteen occasions respectively. At Eurovision, after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite their respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen. {, class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center" , + Commentators and spokespersons ! scope="col" , Year ! scope="col" , Commentator ! scope="col" , Spokesperson ! scope="col" class="unsortable" , {{abbr, Ref., Reference , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2003 , {{N/A, ''Unknown'' , {{N/A, Did not participate , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2004 , rowspan=8, {{sortname, Leon, Menkshi, nolink=yes , rowspan=2, {{sortname, Zhani, Ciko, nolink=yes , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2005 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2006 , rowspan=6, {{sortname, Leon, Menkshi, nolink=yes , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2007 , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2008 , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2009 , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2010 , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2011 , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2012 , colspan="2" rowspan="13" , {{sortname, Andri, Xhahu , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2013 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2014 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2015 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2016 , style="text-align: center;" , {{cite web , last=Roxburgh , first=Gordon , publisher=

(EBU) , title=The 42 spokespersons for the 2016 Grand Final , url=https://eurovision.tv/story/the-42-spokespersons-for-the-2016-grand-final , access-date=8 January 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021032457/https://eurovision.tv/story/the-42-spokespersons-for-the-2016-grand-final , archive-date=21 October 2020 , date=14 May 2016 , url-status=dead , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2017 , style="text-align: center;" , {{cite web , last=Jensen , first=Charlotte , publisher=EuroVisionary , title=Voting order and spokespeople for Grand Final 2017 , url=https://eurovisionary.com/voting-order-for-grand-final-2017/ , access-date=8 January 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026171718/https://eurovisionary.com/voting-order-for-grand-final-2017/ , archive-date=26 October 2020 , date=13 May 2017 , url-status=live , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2018 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2019 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2021 , {{center, , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2022 , style="text-align: center;" , {{Cite web , last=Granger , first=Anthony , date=2022-05-10 , title=Albania: Andri Xhahu Spokesperson For Eurovision 2022 , url=https://eurovoix.com/2022/05/10/albania-andri-xhahu-spokesperson-eurovision-2022/ , access-date=2022-05-10 , website=Eurovoix , language=en-GB , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2023 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2024 , style="text-align: center;" , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" , {{Escyr, 2025 , style="text-align: center;" , {{Cite web, last=Granger, first=Anthony, url=https://eurovoix.com/2025/05/13/albania-andri-xhahu-eurovision-2025/, title=Albania: Andri Xhahu Spokesperson & Commentator for Eurovision 2025 , work=Eurovoix, date=13 May 2025, access-date=13 May 2025

Awards

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" , + Barbara Dex Award !scope="col", Year !scope="col", Performer(s) !scope="col", {{abbr, Ref., Reference , - ! scope="row" , {{ESCYr, 2012 , Rona Nishliu , style="text-align: center;" , {{cite web , publisher=

(EBU) , title=Rona Nishliu wins the Barbara Dex Award , url=https://eurovision.tv/story/rona-nishliu-wins-the-barbara-dex-award , access-date=7 January 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107230246/https://eurovision.tv/story/rona-nishliu-wins-the-barbara-dex-award , archive-date=7 January 2021 , date=4 June 2012 , url-status=dead

Photo gallery

File:Anjeza Shahini - Albania 2004 Final.jpg, Anjeza Shahini in Istanbul ({{Escyr, 2004) File:Ndoci 2007 Eurovision.jpg, Frederik Ndoci and Aida Ndoci in Helsinki ({{Escyr, 2007) File:Flickr - proteusbcn - Semifinal 2 Eurovision 2008 (29).jpg, Olta Boka in Belgrade ({{Escyr, 2008) File:Juliana Pasha, Albania.jpg,

in Oslo ({{Escyr, 2010) File:Rona Nishliu Eurovision 2012 Baku Semi-Final.jpg, Rona Nishliu in Baku ({{Escyr, 2012) File:ESC2013 - Albania 01.jpg, Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko in Malmö ({{Escyr, 2013) File:ESC2014 - Albania 01.jpg, Hersi Matmuja in Copenhagen ({{Escyr, 2014) File:20150515 ESC 2015 Elhaida Dani 7496.jpg,

in Vienna ({{Escyr, 2015) File:ESC2016 - Albania 05.jpg, Eneda Tarifa in Stockholm ({{Escyr, 2016) File:ESC2017 - Albania 01.jpg, Lindita in Kyiv ({{Escyr, 2017) File:Eugent Bushpepa (Albania).jpg, Eugent Bushpepa in Lisbon ({{Escyr, 2018) File:Eurovision 2019 Albania.jpg, Jonida Maliqi in Tel Aviv ({{Escyr, 2019) File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Albania - Ronela Hajati.jpg, Ronela Hajati in Turin ({{Escyr, 2022) File:Eurovision 2023 - Jury Semi-final 2 - Albania - Albina & Familja Kelmendi (03).jpg, Albina and Familja Kelmendi in Liverpool ({{Escyr, 2023) File:Besa Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Final Malmö dress rehearsal semi 2 08.jpg, Besa in Malmö ({{Escyr, 2024) File:ESC2025 Albania 16.jpg, Shkodra Elektronike in Basel ({{Escyr, 2025)

Notes

{{Notelist

References

{{Reflist {{Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest, state=collapsed {{Eurovision Song Contest, state=collapsed {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest