The Iberian country of Portugal made their first appearance on the Eurovision stage in 1964. Their first year was particularly unsuccessful, joining the Nul Points club with the song Oração.
The country boycotted the 1970 Contest due to the four-way tie of the previous year. In 1974, Portugal sent E depois do adeus to Brighton. This song sparked the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo. Since then, the country finished on the middle-to-lower end of the scoreboard with top ten placements in 1979, 1980, 1991, 1994, and 1996.
Once again, Portugal went home empty-handed with Antes do adeus - their second Nul Points result. The country was relegated from the 2000 and 2002 Contests due to a low average score. During the start of the semi-final era, Portugal qualified just three out of five times before withdrawing in 2013. After non-qualifications in 2014 and 2015, RTP decided to withdraw from 2016 due to "restructuring" at the broadcaster.
However, Portugal found victory with Salvador Sobral singing Amar pelos dois, a song written by Sobral's sister. Not only did Portugal win both the jury and the televote, they overtook Jamala's previous points record, scoring 758 points.
Portugal had used the Portuguese language in all of their entries, until The Black Mamba represented the country in 2021 with a song entirely in English. They have also won the fan-made Barbara Dex Award twice (Nonstop in 2006, and Conan Osíris in 2019).