Albania made their debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul, with Anjeza Shahini performing The Image of You. The country placed inside the top 12 non-Big Four entries that year, meaning auto-qualification for the 2005 Contest. They have participated in every contest since their debut.
The country failed to qualify in both 2006 and 2007, but Olta Boka brought them back into the final in 2008. In 2012, Albania was represented by Rona Nishliu, and not only winning the Barbara Dex Award of that year, she placed Albania inside the top five - giving them their best placing to date.
Albanian representatives are known to revamp their entries for the contest after winning Festivali i Këngës (FiK), the Albanian National Final. Some artistes also use this as an opportunity to fully or partially translate their songs into English, as FiK requires songs to be performed in Albanian.
Gallery[]
Participants[]
Trivia[]
- Almost of their entries have been solo acts, with the exception of 2013 and 2023.
- In addition, the majority of their participants have been women.
- As of the 2024 contest, Eugent Bushpepa is the only male soloist from Albania to qualify for the grand final.
- The country is one of four to have selected all of their entries via a national final, the others being Denmark, Estonia and Finland.
- In Fact, Festivali i Këngës has been around long before Albania debuted in Eurovision, being introduced in communist times.
- They are also one of six to have participated in every contest since their debut, the others being Australia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Moldova, and Spain.