Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Lithuania
Member station Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT)
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances 19 (13 finals)
First appearance 1994
Best result 6th: 2006
Worst result Last: 1994, 2005 SF
Nul points: 1994
External links
Lithuania's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest (known in Lithuania as Eurovizijos dainų konkursas) 19 times since its debut in 1994, where Ovidijus Vyšniauskas finished last, receiving nul points. Lithuania withdrew from the contest, not returning until 1999. LT United's sixth place in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners" is Lithuania's best result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for a second time in 2016, when Donny Montell finished ninth with "I've Been Waiting for This Night".

History

2000s

Having been relegated from the 2000 contest the country returned in 2001 with Skamp and "You Got Style", the first Lithuanian song to include English. They received 35 points, placing 13th. However the following year, Aivaras could only manage to come second last with 12 points.

Since the semi-finals were introduced Lithuania again came last with Laura and the Lovers and "Little by Little". The following year the Lithuanian broadcaster Lietuvos Nacionalinis Radijas ir Televizija (LRT) sent LT United to the 2006 contest with the football chant-like song "We Are the Winners". They took Lithuania to the final for the first time since 2002, coming sixth in the final with 162 points, Lithuania's best placing as of 2018.

The following year Lithuania automatically qualified for the final, however 4Fun could not replicate LT United's success, coming 21st with only 28 points, 12 of which came from Ireland. In 2008 Jeronimas Milius failed to reach the final, coming 16th of 19 competing nations in the second semi-final.

Lithuania threatened to boycott the 2009 contest "if Russia continues to showcase power and ignores international law". The statement was made in reaction to the Russia's actions in the 2008 South Ossetia war.[1] Culture Minister Jonas Jucas stated that it was too early to discuss the boycott since "spontaneous decisions might aggravate the efforts of diplomats" and thus make the situation worse. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Lithuania qualified from the semi finals and at the end of the voting in the final had received 23 points, placing them 23rd.[2]

2010s

LRT announced in December 2009 that, due to a lack of necessary funds, Lithuania would formally withdraw from the 2010 Contest. However, in the event that the necessary funds of 300,000 litas (€90,000) would be found the broadcaster announced that they would attempt to continue the country's participation.[3] Ultimately, private company TEO LT provided the necessary funding and Lithuania participated in Bærum.

In 2011 Lithuania participated in the first Semi Final on the 10 May 2011 and after coming fifth, qualified for the Final. In the final, Lithuania received 63 points, to finish 19th.

In 2012, Donny Montell finished 14th with the song "Love Is Blind". He returned to the contest in 2016 and achieved Lithuania's best result of the decade so far, finishing ninth with the song "I've Been Waiting for This Night". In 2018, Ieva Zasimauskaitė achieved Lithuania's fifth top 15 result, finishing 12th with "When We're Old".

As of 2018, Lithuania remains the only Baltic country not to win the contest after wins for Estonia in 2001 and Latvia in 2002. However, since the introduction of the semifinal round in 2004, Lithuania has more final appearances than the other Baltic nations, with nine, compared to six for both Estonia and Latvia.

Contestants

Table key
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Song Final Points Semi Points
1994 Ovidijus Vyšniauskas Lithuanian "Lopšinė mylimai" 25 0 No semi-finals
Did not participate between 1995 and 1998
1999 Aistė Samogitian "Strazdas" 20 13 No semi-finals
2000 Did not participate
2001 SKAMP English, Lithuanian "You Got Style" 13 35
2002 Aivaras English "Happy You" 23 12
2003 Did not participate
2004 Linas and Simona English "What's Happened to Your Love?" Failed to qualify 16 26
2005 Laura & The Lovers English "Little by Little" 25 17
2006 LT United English1 "We Are the Winners" 6 162 5 163
2007 4Fun English "Love or Leave" 21 28 Top 10 Previous Year
2008 Jeronimas Milius English "Nomads in the Night" Failed to qualify 16 30
2009 Sasha Son English, Russian "Love" 23 23 9 66
2010 InCulto English "Eastern European Funk" Failed to qualify 12 44
2011 Evelina Sašenko English, French "C'est ma vie" 19 63 5 81
2012 Donny Montell English "Love Is Blind" 14 70 3 104
2013 Andrius Pojavis English "Something" 22 17 9 53
2014 Vilija English "Attention" Failed to qualify 11 36
2015 Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila English "This Time" 18 30 7 67
2016 Donny Montell English "I've Been Waiting for This Night" 9 200 4 222
2017 Fusedmarc English "Rain of Revolution" Failed to qualify 17 42
2018 Ieva Zasimauskaitė English, Lithuanian "When We're Old" 12 181 9 119
2019
NOTES:
1. ^ Includes two phrases in French.
2. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.

Voting history

As of 2018, Lithuania's voting history is as follows:

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson
1994Darius UžkuraitisGitana
1995-1998No broadcastLithuania did not participate
1999Darius UžkuraitisAndrius Tapinas
2000Lithuania did not participate
2001Loreta Tarozaitė
2002
2003Lithuania did not participate
2004Rolandas Vilkončius
2005
2006Lavija Šurnaitė
2007
2008Rolandas Vilkončius
2009Ignas Krupavičius
2010Giedrius Masalskis
2011
2012Ignas Krupavičius
2013
2014
2015Ugnė Galadauskaitė
2016
2017Darius Užkuraitis and Gerūta Griniūtė[4]Eglė Daugėlaitė[5]
2018

Conductors

  • Tomas Leiburas 1994 (25th, last)

[6]

Photogallery

References

  1. ↑ "Lithuanian Broadcaster Head supports his Estonian colleague in Eurovision boycott". ESCKaz. 2008-08-22. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  2. ↑ Vaida, Petras (2008-08-25). "Culture minister of Lithuania: too early to speak about boycott of Eurovision". The Baltic Course. Archived from the original on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  3. ↑ Hondal, Victor (2009-12-15). "Lithuania seeking funding for Eurovision 2010". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "D. Užkuraitis „Euroviziją" šiemet komentuos ne vienas - LRT". Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Eurovizinius Lietuvos balus šiemet skelbs E. Daugėlaitė". lrt.lt. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
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