| Spain | |
| Contest: | ESC |
| Broadcaster: | Spanish; Castilian: [[RTVE|Radiotelevisión Española]]|i=no (RTVE; 2007–present) |
| Apps: | 63 |
| Highest: | 1st:, |
| Website: | RTVE page |
| Current: | 2024 |
Spain has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in every edition since, in total 63 times. The current Spanish participant broadcaster in the contest is Spanish; Castilian: [[RTVE|Radiotelevisión Española]]|i=no (RTVE). Spain is one of the "Big Five" countries, along with,,, and the United Kingdom, that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to their participant broadcasters being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Spain has won the contest twice, first in with the song "La La La" performed by Massiel and again in, when "Vivo cantando" by Salomé was involved in a four-way tie with, the and the . The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969's four-way tie and the contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Other good results in the 20th century were four second places with "Spanish; Castilian: [[En un mundo nuevo]]|i=no" by Karina in, "Spanish; Castilian: [[Eres tú]]|i=no" by Mocedades in, "Spanish; Castilian: [[Su canción]]|i=no" by Betty Missiego in, and "Spanish; Castilian: [[Vuelve conmigo]]|i=no" by Anabel Conde in, and a third place with "Lady, Lady" by Bravo in . The country finished last with nul points three times: in,, and, and also finished last in and .
Since the start of the 21st century, Spain has reached the top ten seven times, with "Spanish; Castilian: [[Dile que la quiero]]|i=no" by David Civera finishing sixth, "Europe's Living a Celebration" by Rosa finishing seventh, "Spanish; Castilian: [[Dime (Beth song)|Dime]]|i=no" by Beth finishing eighth, "Spanish; Castilian: [[Para llenarme de ti]]|i=no" by Ramón finishing tenth, both "Spanish; Castilian: [[Quédate conmigo]]|i=no" by Pastora Soler and "Dancing in the Rain" by Ruth Lorenzo also finishing tenth, and "SloMo" by Chanel finishing third. Spain has also failed to reach the top twenty in ten of the last eighteen contests, including for six consecutive contests (2015–21). With "Eaea" by Blanca Paloma placing 17th in, Spain became the first country to finish in all possible positions in the final (1st–26th). Spain is the current participating country with the longest active victory drought, with a total of 56 years (1969–2024).
Spanish; Castilian: [[Televisión Española]]|i=no (TVE) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Spain since its in 1961. Since 2007, after a restructuring that led to the incorporation of TVE into the current Spanish; Castilian: [[RTVE|Radiotelevisión Española]]|i=no (RTVE) corporation, it is the latter who participates representing Spain.
See also: National selections for the Eurovision Song Contest. Spain has regularly changed the selection process used in order to find the country's entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection (sometimes a combination of both formats) has been held by the broadcaster at the time. Between 1977 and 1999, Spain's entries were selected internally by TVE. Before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín (Passport to Dublin) in 1971, were alternated.[1]
From 2000, Spain has used various selection formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a national final called Eurocanción (Eurosong), where the Spanish representative was selected for the contest.[2] From 2002 to 2004, the reality television talent competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) was used to select the entry, a format that renewed the Spanish audience's interest in the contest[3] and brought three top 10 results in a row, until TVE decided not to host any further editions of the series. In 2005, the national final Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción (Eurovision 2005: Choose Our Song) was organised, where the audience chose their favourite song among a pre-selection made by TVE of unknown artists submitted to them by record labels. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, the selection was made internally for the first time since 1999, with a similar result. In 2007, Spain's entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again.
From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the competitions used by RTVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final (Let's Save Eurovision). A website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much; nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again.[3] For 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process (Eurovision 2009: The Return), although some changes were introduced in the format.[4] The result was the worst in the 2000s (decade): 24th place. In 2010, a similar format, , selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004 (15th).[5]
In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method . After a further disappointing result (23rd), for 2012, RTVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song.[6] A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004. The same procedure was repeated in 2013, with El Sueño de Morfeo as the established act, which turned out one of the most disappointing results (25th out of 26 entries) in the country's Eurovision history; some critics, however, blamed a less-than-stellar performance of an otherwise solid song.[7] In 2014, RTVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called (Look who's going to Eurovision); five artists were invited to participate by RTVE. A top ten result was achieved for the second time in three years.
In 2015, for the first time since 2006, both the artist, Edurne, and the song were selected internally by RTVE. On 18 December 2015, RTVE announced that it would organise a national final in order to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Six acts competed in the national final named Objetivo Eurovisión, and Barei won the selection process. The same format was used in 2017, and Manel Navarro won the selection process; it turned out Spain's first last-place result since 1999.
In 2017, RTVE commissioned a new season of Operación Triunfo, which returned to TVE after thirteen years, and the series served for the fourth time (after 2002, 2003 and 2004) as the platform to select the Spanish entry for the 2018 contest.[8] [9] The result was disappointing (23rd out of 26 entries), but the 2018 Eurovision final was the most-watched in Spain since 2008.[10] A further season of the talent show chose the Spanish entry for the 2019 contest with another disappointing result (22nd out of 26 entries).[11]
For the 2020 contest, RTVE selected the Spanish entry internally, with Blas Cantó and the song "Universo" chosen.[12] Following the cancellation of the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RTVE was one of the first four broadcasters (the other were Greece's ERT, Netherlands' AVROTROS and Ukraine's) that confirmed its participation for the 2021 edition with the same artist who would have participated for 2020, in this case Cantó.[13] His 2021 entry "Voy a quedarme" went on to finish in 24th place with six points, marking the sixth time in a row that Spain has finished outside of the top twenty.
For the 2022 contest, it was announced that RTVE would use Benidorm Fest, a revamped version of the Benidorm International Song Festival to select the nation's entry among thirteen candidates.[14] [15] [16] The broadcaster signed a contract with the regional government of the Valencian Community to hold the event for four editions.[17] The first Benidorm Fest was won by Chanel with "SloMo", which finished in third place at Eurovision with 459 points, thereby achieving Spain's best Eurovision result since 1995.[18]
Since 1999, Spain, along with,, and the, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests.[19] The participant broadcasters from these countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". returned to the contest in 2011, thus upgrading the countries to members of a "Big Five".[20]
Only three times in the contest's history has a non-winning entry been allowed to perform again, and in two of these instances, the entries in question were Spanish representatives (the other one being the Italian entry in 1958, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno). The first time this happened to a Spanish representative was in the 1990 contest in Zagreb, when Azúcar Moreno opened the contest with the song "Bandido". The orchestra and the recorded backing track began the song out of sync, which caused the singers to miss their cue. The singers left the stage after a few seconds, and no explanation was given at the time. After a few uneasy moments, the music began correctly and the song was performed in full. Azúcar Moreno and "Bandido" went on to place fifth in the final vote tally, though the juries at the time actually awarded their points after watching the dress rehearsal performances, so the restart did not affect Spain's overall result either positively or negatively.
Twenty years later, at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Spain was drawn to perform second in the running order, and Daniel Diges's performance of "Algo pequeñito" was disturbed by Catalan pitch invader Jimmy Jump. However, Diges performed the song in full, despite the invader's intrusion and subsequent removal from the stage by security personnel, receiving warm applause for continuing from the audience at the Telenor Arena. After Serbia's performance, co-presenter Nadia Hasnaoui announced that, according to the rules, Diges would be given a second chance once all the remaining countries had performed. Nonetheless, the juries ranked the dress-rehearsal performance of "Algo pequeñito" 20th out of 25 with 43 points, whereas the televoting results ranked Spain 12th, with 106 points. The combination of jury and televote results gave Spain a 15th-place finish.
| + Table key | ||
| 1 | First place | |
| 2 | Second place | |
| 3 | Third place | |
| ◁ | Last place | |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete | |
| † | Upcoming event |
| Year | Artist | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conchita Bautista | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Estando contigo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 9 | 8 | colspan="2" rowspan="32" | ||
| Víctor Balaguer | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Llámame (Víctor Balaguer song)|Llámame]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 13 ◁ | 0 | |||
| José Guardiola | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Algo prodigioso]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 12 | 2 | |||
| Nelly with Tim and Tony | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Caracola (song)|Caracola]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 12 | 1 | |||
| Conchita Bautista | "Spanish; Castilian: [[¡Qué bueno, qué bueno!|Qué bueno, qué bueno]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 15 ◁ | 0 | |||
| Raphael | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Yo soy aquél]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 7 | 9 | |||
| Raphael | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Hablemos del amor]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 6 | 9 | |||
| Massiel | "La La La" | Spanish | 1 | 29 | |||
| Salomé | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Vivo cantando]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 1 | 18 | |||
| Julio Iglesias | "Gwendolyne" | Spanish | 4 | 8 | |||
| Karina | "Spanish; Castilian: [[En un mundo nuevo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 2 | 116 | |||
| Jaime Morey | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Amanece]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 10 | 83 | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Mocedades]]|i=unset | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Eres tú]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 2 | 125 | |||
| Peret | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Canta y sé feliz]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 9 | 10 | |||
| Sergio and Estíbaliz | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Tú volverás]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 10 | 53 | |||
| Braulio | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Sobran las palabras]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 16 | 11 | |||
| Micky | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Enséñame a cantar]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 9 | 52 | |||
| José Vélez | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Bailemos un vals]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 9 | 65 | |||
| Betty Missiego | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Su canción]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 2 | 116 | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Trigo Limpio]]|i=unset | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Quédate esta noche]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 12 | 38 | |||
| Bacchelli | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Y sólo tú]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 14 | 38 | |||
| Lucía | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Él (Lucía song)|Él]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 10 | 52 | |||
| Remedios Amaya | "Spanish; Castilian: [[¿Quién maneja mi barca?|Quién maneja mi barca]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 19 ◁ | 0 | |||
| Bravo | "Lady, Lady" | Spanish | 3 | 106 | |||
| Paloma San Basilio | "Spanish; Castilian: [[La fiesta terminó]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 14 | 36 | |||
| Cadillac | "Valentino" | Spanish | 10 | 51 | |||
| Patricia Kraus | "Spanish; Castilian: [[No estás solo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 19 | 10 | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[La Década Prodigiosa|La Década]]|i=unset | "La chica que yo quiero (Made in Spain)" | Spanish | 11 | 58 | |||
| Nina | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Nacida para amar]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 6 | 88 | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Azúcar Moreno]]|i=unset | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Bandido (Azúcar Moreno song)|Bandido]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 5 | 96 | |||
| Sergio Dalma | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Bailar pegados]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 4 | 119 | |||
| Serafín | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Todo esto es la música]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 14 | 37 | |||
| Eva Santamaría | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Hombres (song)|Hombres]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 11 | 58 | colspan="2" | ||
| Alejandro Abad | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Ella no es ella]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 18 | 17 | rowspan="2" colspan="2" | ||
| Anabel Conde | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Vuelve conmigo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 2 | 119 | |||
| Antonio Carbonell | "Spanish; Castilian: [[¡Ay, qué deseo!|Ay, qué deseo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 20 | 17 | 14 | 43 | |
| Marcos Llunas | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Sin rencor]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 6 | 96 | colspan="2" rowspan="7" | ||
| Mikel Herzog | "Spanish; Castilian: [[¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti?]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 16 | 21 | |||
| Lydia | "Spanish; Castilian: [[No quiero escuchar]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 23 ◁ | 1 | |||
| Serafín Zubiri | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Colgado de un sueño]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 18 | 18 | |||
| David Civera | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Dile que la quiero]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 6 | 76 | |||
| Rosa | "Europe's Living a Celebration" | Spanish | 7 | 81 | |||
| Beth | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Dime (Beth song)|Dime]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 8 | 81 | |||
| Ramón | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Para llenarme de ti]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 10 | 87 | colspan="2" rowspan="7" | ||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Son de Sol]]|i=unset | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Brujería (Son de Sol song)|Brujería]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 21 | 28 | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Las Ketchup]]|i=unset | "Bloody Mary" | Spanish | 21 | 18 | |||
| D'Nash | "I Love You Mi Vida" | Spanish | 20 | 43 | |||
| Rodolfo Chikilicuatre | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Baila el Chiki-chiki|Baila el Chiki Chiki]]|i=unset" | Spanish, English | 16 | 55 | |||
| Soraya Arnelas | "Spanish; Castilian: [[La noche es para mí]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 24 | 23 | |||
| Daniel Diges | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Algo pequeñito]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 15 | 68 | |||
| Lucía Pérez | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Que me quiten lo bailao]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 23 | 50 | colspan="2" rowspan="15" | ||
| Pastora Soler | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Quédate conmigo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 10 | 97 | |||
| ESDM | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Contigo hasta el final]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 25 | 8 | |||
| Ruth Lorenzo | "Dancing in the Rain" | English, Spanish | 10 | 74 | |||
| Edurne | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Amanecer (Edurne song)|Amanecer]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 21 | 15 | |||
| Barei | "Say Yay!" | English | 22 | 77 | |||
| Manel Navarro | "Do It for Your Lover" | Spanish, English | 26 ◁ | 5 | |||
| Amaia and Alfred | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Tu canción]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 23 | 61 | |||
| Miki | "Spanish; Castilian: [[La venda]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 22 | 54 | |||
| Blas Cantó | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Universo (song)|Universo]]|i=unset" | Spanish | colspan="2" X | ||||
| Blas Cantó | "Spanish; Castilian: [[Voy a quedarme]]|i=unset" | Spanish | 24 | 6 | |||
| Chanel | "SloMo" | Spanish, English | 3 | 459 | |||
| Blanca Paloma | "Eaea" | Spanish | 17 | 100 | |||
| Nebulossa | "Zorra" | Spanish | 22 | 30 | |||
| Year | Conductor | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael Ferrer | [21] | ||
 Jean Roderes | |||
| Rafael Ibarbia | |||
| Adolfo Ventas | |||
| Rafael Ibarbia | |||
| Manuel Alejandro | |||
| Rafael Ibarbia | |||
| Augusto Algueró | |||
| [22] | |||
 Waldo de los Rios | |||
| Augusto Algueró | |||
| Juan Carlos Calderón | |||
| Rafael Ibarbia | |||
| Juan Carlos Calderón | |||
| Joan Barcons | |||
| Rafael Ibarbia | |||
| José Luis Navarro | |||
| Javier Iturraide | [23] | ||
| Joan Barcons | |||
| Miguel Ángel Varona | |||
| José Miguel Évora | |||
| Eddy Guerin | |||
| Juan Carlos Calderón | |||
| Eduardo Leiva | |||
| Javier de Juan | |||
| Juan Carlos Calderón | |||
| Eduardo Leiva | |||
| Javier Losada | |||
| Eduardo Leiva | |||
| Josep Llobell | |||
| Eduardo Leiva | |||
| Toni Xuclà | |||
| Alberto Estébanez | |||
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[24]
| Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=7 | |||||
| Julio Rico | |||||
| rowspan="6" | |||||
| Joaquín Prat | rowspan="3" | ||||
| Julio Rico | |||||
| José Luis Uribarri | |||||
| rowspan="27" | |||||
| Alfonso Lapeña | |||||
| Isabel Tenaille | |||||
| Rosa Campano | |||||
| Matilde Jarrín | |||||
| Tomás Fernando Flores | María Ángeles Balañac | ||||
| José Luis Uribarri | |||||
| Belén Fernández de Henestrosa | |||||
| Hugo de Campos | |||||
| Nieves Herrero and José María de Juana | |||||
| rowspan="11" | |||||
| Beatriz Pécker | |||||
| Ainhoa Arbizu | |||||
| José Luis Uribarri | |||||
| José Luis Uribarri | Ainhoa Arbizu | ||||
| José María Íñigo | |||||
| Spanish: Paco González and team Catalan: | |||||
| José María Íñigo and Julia Varela | rowspan="4" | ||||
| Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela | |||||
| Daniel Galindo | |||||
| Imanol Durán | |||||
| Imanol Durán, Sara Calvo and David Asensio | |||||
| David Asensio, Imanol Durán, Irene Vaquero and Ángela Fernández | Ruth Lorenzo | ||||
| Spanish: Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela Catalan: Sònia Urbano and Xavi Martínez | David Asensio, Sara Calvo, Ángela Fernández, Manu Martín-Albo and Luis Miguel Montes | Soraya Arnelas |
| Year | Stage director(s) | Costume designer(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| André Courrèges | |||
| Manuel Pertegaz | |||
| Antonio Nieto | |||
| Undisclosed | |||
| Undisclosed | |||
| José Ramón de Aguirre | |||
| and | |||
| Mercedes Salazar | |||
| Undisclosed | |||
| Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada | |||
| Zara | |||
| Poty Castillo | Jorge Pérez | ||
| Marieta Calderón | Etxart & Panno | ||
| Poty Castillo | Amparo Macías | ||
| Mayte Marcos | Undisclosed | ||
| Juan Pedro López | |||
| Lola González | Sara Lage and Maru Calderón | ||
| Francis Viñolo | Cañavate | ||
| Yolancris | |||
| Karim Design | |||
| José Fuentes | |||
| Niccolò Piccardi and Florian Boje | Raúl Amor | ||
| Hans Pannecoucke | |||
| Tinet Rubira | and Paco Varela | ||
| Fokas Evangelinos | Armani, Ana Margo and Guillermo Villanueva | ||
| Marvin Dietmann | Jaime Álvarez | ||
| Kyle Hanagami | |||
| Bentor Albelo and Javier Rojo | Paola de Diego | ||
| Juan Sebastián and Israel Reyes | Michael Costello | ||