Moldova 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 ...

19 times, debuting in . The Moldovan participating broadcaster in the contest is (TRM). The country's best result is a third-place finish with " Hey Mamma" by

SunStroke Project The SunStroke Project is a Moldovan musical group composed of Sergei Yalovitsky (vocals, composer), Sergey Stepanov (musician), Sergey Stepanov (saxophonist), and previously Anton Ragoza (violinist, composer) until his departure in 2019. They ach ...

in . Moldova's debut in the contest in 2005 was successful, with "" by

Zdob și Zdub Zdob și Zdub (; , onomatopoeia, onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat) is a Moldovan folk punk band, based in Chișinău. The band Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv ...

finishing sixth. The country also reached the top ten with "Fight" by

Natalia Barbu Natalia Barbu (; born 22 August 1979) is a Moldovan singer and songwriter. She is best known for Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Fight (Natalia Barbu song), Fig ...

(), " My Lucky Day" by DoReDoS (), and "" by Zdob și Zdub and Advahov Brothers (). In total, Moldova has reached the final twelve times, failing to qualify from the semi-finals in , , , , , and . Despite initially confirming participation in the contest, TRM later withdrew, citing economic and artistic challenges.

History

Sunstroke Project Red Carpet Kyiv 2017 2

(TRM) 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 Moldova since its in 2005. Following Moldova's 20th-place finish in the contest, TRM announced that it would not participate in , and did not allocate a budget for the 2007 Contest. However, in response to public pressure, TRM filed the preliminary documents to compete and sent

with song "Fight". She achieved 10th place. In , Moldova, for the first time in its four years of participation, failed to make the final. "A Century of Love", performed by Geta Burlacu, finished in 12th place in the semi-final. In , Moldova achieved 14th place with Nelly Ciobanu. In , saxophonist Sergey Stepanov of

became the internet phenomenon ("Epic Sax Guy") with his 30-second saxophone solo. In ,

represented Moldova for a second time in the contest, with the song "So Lucky" placing 12th in the final. In and respectively, Moldova achieved 11th place with Pasha Parfeny and Aliona Moon respectively. From to , Moldova failed to qualify for the final. The country finished in last position in the 2014 semi-final, 11th in the 2015 semi-final, and pre-last in the 2016 semi-final. In , Moldova achieved its best result at the contest, when

finished third in the final with the song "

Hey, Mamma! "Hey Mamma" (also "Hey, Mamma!") is a song written and performed by the Moldovan group SunStroke Project. It was released as a digital download on 6 February 2017 by Ragoza Music. It Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, represented Moldo ...

". The streak of top 10 results continued in with the band DoReDos finishing 10th in Lisbon. However in 2019, Moldova failed to qualify for the first time since 2016, finishing 12th in the semi-final. In ,

Natalia Gordienko Natalia Gordienko (also spelled Gordienco; ; born 11 December 1987) is a Moldovan singer and dancer. Alongside Arsenium and Connect-R, she represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song " Loca" and placed 20th. She was s ...

, who previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, was selected to represent the country with the song "

Prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

", though the contest was cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Gordienko was then internally selected to represent Moldova in with the song "

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

". She eventually qualified to the grand final and placed in 13th position with 115 points. Her 17-second note at the end of "Sugar" was reported to be the longest note in Eurovision history. For the contest in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, who previously represented the country in and , and the Advahov Brothers were exclusively selected following a live audition round held by the broadcaster. Performing "", the act eventually qualified for the final and ultimately placed seventh with 253 points. The group finished in second place with the public televote in the final, which is Moldova's highest placing in the televote to date. This marked the country's best result since and third highest placing to date. This was followed in by an eighteenth place finish with "", performed by Pasha Parfeni, who previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. In , Moldova failed to qualify for the first time in five years, with

, who previously represented

Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Moldova was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Fight", written by Alex Davia, Alexandru Brașoveanu and Elena Buga, and performed by Natalia Barbu. The Moldovan participating broadcaster, (TRM), internally selected i ...

, finishing in thirteenth place in the semi-final with " In the Middle". On 16 November 2024, TRM confirmed its intention to participate in the contest, holding a live audition round for its national final with 26 entries on 18 January 2025. However, on 22 January, TRM announced its withdrawal from the contest due to economic reasons and the perceived quality of its national final. The broadcaster did not rule out a future return to the contest, stating that it would "review the criteria and methodology for selecting the country's representative for the international stage".

Participation overview

Commentators and spokespersons

For the show's broadcast on TRM, various commentators provided commentary on the contest in the Romanian language. After all points are calculated at the Eurovision Song Contest, the presenters invite a spokesperson from each voting country to announce the results of their vote on-screen.

Photo gallery

File:Zdub.jpg,

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, ...

() File:Natalia gordienko arsenium 2006.jpg,

and Arsenium performing "Loca" in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

() File:ESC 2007 Moldova - Natalia Barbu - Fight.jpg,

performing "Fight" in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

() File:ESC 2008 - Moldova - Geta Burlacu, 1st semifinal.jpg, Geta Burlacu performing "A Century of Love" 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 ...

() File:Nelly Ciobanu.jpg, Nelly Ciobanu in

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() File:Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira, ESC 2010.jpg,

and

Olia Tira Olga Țîra (born 1 August 1988), known professionally as Olia Tira or Flux Light, is a Moldova, Moldovan singer. Early life Tira was born in 1988 into a Soviet Union, Soviet military family in Potsdam, East Germany. She spent a few years there an ...

performing " Run Away" in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

() File:Moldova at ESC 2011.jpg,

performing "So Lucky" in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

() File:ESC2013 - Moldova 10.jpg, Aliona Moon performing "O mie" in

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 ...

() File:ESC2014 - Moldova 01.jpg,

Cristina Scarlat Cristina Scarlat (; born 3 March 1981) is a Moldovan pop singer. She was born in Chișinău and represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Eur ...

performing "Wild Soul" in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

() File:20150515 ESC 2015 Eduard Romanyuta 6011.jpg, Eduard Romanyuta performing " I Want Your Love" in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

() File:ESC2016 - Moldova 12.jpg, Lidia Isac performing "Falling Stars" in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

() File:Sunstroke Project (Moldova). Photo 479.jpg,

performing "

" in

() File:ESC2018 - Moldova 05.jpg, DoReDoS performing " My Lucky Day" in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

() File:Anna Odobescu at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-final 2 dress rehearsal (02).jpg, Anna Odobescu performing "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

" in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

() File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Moldova - Zdob și Zdub & Advahov Brothers.jpg,

and Advahov Brothers performing " Trenulețul" in

() File:Eurovision 2023 - Jury Semi-final 1 - Moldova - Pasha Parfeni (01).jpg, Pasha Parfeni performing " Soarele și luna" in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

() File:Natalia Barbu, Eurovision 2024 1st semi-final rehearsal 10.jpg, Natalia Barbu performing " In the Middle" in

()

Notes

References