won it in 2011
Azerbaijan at Eurovision
Azerbaijan first sang at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and has entered 18 contests. It has won once, in 2011, with “Running Scared” by Ell and Nikki. The contest has been held there once, in Baku in 2012.
- 18
- contests
- 1
- win
- 1
- hosted
- first song
- 2008
- contests
- 18
- wins
- 1 — 2011
- second place
- 1 — 2013
- in the final
- 13 of 18 tries since semi-finals began in 2004
- sung in
- English (18), Azerbaijani (2)
- hosted
- Baku 2012
The win
-
2011, Düsseldorf “Running Scared”
Photos are stills from the contest’s own videos on YouTube. Each one opens that year’s story.
Every song
All 19 entries, newest first. The year opens the story of that contest; the name opens the artist.
| Year | Artist | Song | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Vienna | Jiva | “Just Go” English, Azerbaijani | Out in semi-final 2 (15th of 15) | 2 |
| 2025 Basel | Mamagama | “Run with U” English | Out in semi-final 1 (15th of 15) | 7 |
| 2024 Malmö | Fahree Ilkin Dovlatov | “Özünlə apar” English, Azerbaijani | Out in semi-final 1 (14th of 15) | 11 |
| 2023 Liverpool | TuralTuranX | “Tell Me More” English | Out in semi-final 1 (14th of 15) | 4 |
| 2022 Turin | Nadir Rustamli | “Fade to Black” English | 16th of 25 | 106 |
| 2021 Rotterdam | Efendi | “Mata Hari” English | 20th of 26 | 65 |
| 2020 Rotterdam | Efendi | “Cleopatra” English | Contest cancelled | — |
| 2019 Tel Aviv | Chingiz | “Truth” English | 8th of 26 | 302 |
| 2018 Lisbon | Aisel | “X My Heart” English | Out in semi-final 1 (11th of 19) | 94 |
| 2017 Kyiv | Dihaj | “Skeletons” English | 14th of 26 | 120 |
| 2016 Stockholm | Samra | “Miracle” English | 17th of 26 | 117 |
| 2015 Vienna | Elnur Hüseynov | “Hour of the Wolf” English | 12th of 27 | 49 |
| 2014 Copenhagen | Dilara Kazimova | “Start a Fire” English | 22nd of 26 | 33 |
| 2013 Malmö | Farid Mammadov | “Hold Me” English | 2nd of 26 | 234 |
| 2012 Baku | Sabina Babayeva | “When the Music Dies” English | 4th of 26 | 150 |
| 2011 Düsseldorf | Ell and Nikki | “Running Scared” English | winner! | 221 |
| 2010 Oslo | Safura | “Drip Drop” English | 5th of 25 | 145 |
| 2009 Moscow | Aysel and Arash | “Always” English | 3rd of 25 | 207 |
| 2008 Belgrade | Elnur and Samir | “Day After Day” English | 8th of 25 | 132 |
Points for a song that went out in a semi-final are its semi-final points. Before 2004 there were no semi-finals: every song sang on the one night.
Sent more than once
The two acts Azerbaijan has sent to more than one contest.
- Elnur Hüseynov 2008, 2015
- Samira Efendi 2020 (cancelled), 2021
Hosting
The one contest held in Azerbaijan.
On air at home
The channels that carried the contest in Azerbaijan, year by year, and who commentated where our source names them. Newest first.
- 2026
- İTV Azer Suleymanli and Aysel Zahidgizi
- 2025
- İTV Elnara Khalilova and Aga Nadirov
- 2024
- İTV Nurlana Jafarova
- 2023
- İTV Azer Suleymanli
- 2022
- İTV Murad Arif
- 2021
- İTV Murad Arif and Husniyya Maharramova
- 2019
- İTV Murad Arif
- 2018
- İTV Azer Suleymanli
- 2016
- İTV Azer Suleymanli
- 2015
- İTV, İTV Radio Kamran Guliyev (presenter)
- 2014
- İTV, İTV Radio Konul Arifgizi
- 2013
- İTV Konul Arifgizi
- 2012
- İTV Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Baghirov
- 2011
- İTV Leyla Aliyeva
- 2009
- İTV (semi-final 1) Aysel Teymurzadeh
- 2008
- İTV
- 2007
- İTV
- 2006
- İTV
In our contest stories
Lines about Azerbaijan from our story of each contest. Follow a link for the rest of that night.
- 2008 Two semi-finals
Azerbaijan and San Marino were new.
- 2008 The result
Armenia, fourth, had its best result yet, and Azerbaijan finished eighth at its first attempt.
- 2009 Armenia and Azerbaijan
The film introducing Armenia's song in the first semi-final included a monument that stands in Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory Azerbaijan regards as its own.
- 2009 Armenia and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan complained, and the monument was cut from the film for the final.
- 2011 The result
Azerbaijan's Ell and Nikki took the televote and the combined result with "Running Scared", on 221 points.
- 2012
Azerbaijan won in 2011 and hosted in 2012, in a newly built arena in Baku, under the slogan "Light Your Fire!"
- 2012 The host under scrutiny
Western coverage of the build-up was dominated by Azerbaijan's record on democracy and human rights, and by the suggestion that the money spent on the contest was meant to distract from it.
- 2013 Votes for sale
Before the final, a Lithuanian news site published an undercover video. It appeared to show people working on behalf of Azerbaijan offering money for votes: recruiting groups of ten and handing out SIM cards so that each person could vote many times over.
- 2013 Votes for sale
In 2015 a member of the contest's own steering group went further, and said that Azerbaijan had cheated, in an organised and very expensive way.
- 2021 Thirty-nine
Armenia withdrew because of the crisis at home after its war with Azerbaijan.
- 2022 Six juries
In the second semi-final, six national juries — those of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino — had shown irregular voting patterns.
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. “Not in the line-up” means no song from Azerbaijan was in that year’s contest, whatever the reason. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.