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Eurovision Song Contest Wiki

Over the 60 years of the Eurovision Song Contest, there have been quite a few songs that were selected or chosen but never made it to the contest. There are many reasons for this to happen, such as the broadcaster/artist withdrawing before the contest started, disagreements with the song, rule breaking, and more.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of the 2020 contest and the further ineligibility for the following year, all 41 songs from that edition will not be classified as withdrawn and will continue to be archived on the Wiki.

List of Withdrawn Songs

Year Country Artist Song Language Notes
1963 Flag of Spain Spain José Guardiola Nubes de colores Spanish Replaced with Algo prodigioso
1967 Flag of Italy Italy Claudio Villa Non pensare a me Italian Replaced as it had been released too early
1968 Flag of Norway Norway Odd Børre Jag har aldri vært så glad i no'en som deg Norwegian The song's title would've been the longest in Eurovision history. It was also accused of plagiarism due to it sounding allegedly similar to Cliff Richard's song Summer Holiday
Flag of Spain Spain Joan Manuel Serrat La La La Catalan Originally, the winning song of Eurovision 1968, was set to be performed by Joan Manuel Serrat but he demanded to sing it in Catalan. The Franco dictatorship would not allow this and insisted that the entry should be Performed in Spanish, official Language of all Territories of Spain, One week before the contest, Massiel was asked to replace Joan as representative at the Eurovision, because regional languages were repressed under Franco regime
1974 Flag of France France Dani La vie à 25 ans French Withdrawn due to President Pompidou's funeral
Flag of Malta Malta Enzo Guzman Paci Fid Dinja (Peace To The World) Maltese, English Withdrawn due to lack of funds by the broadcaster
1976 Flag of Germany Germany Tony Marshall Der Star German Disqualified as it had been previously performed in public
Flag of Malta Malta Enzo Guzman Sing Your Song, Country Boy English The Maltese broadcaster did not have the necessary funds to participate
1978 Flag of Greece Greece Anna Vissi Mr Nobel Greek ERT did not like the song
1979 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Maria Rita Epik & 21.Peron Seviyorum Turkish Withdrawn due to pressure from Arab nations due to the 1979 contest being held in Israel
1980 Flag of Israel Israel Ha'achim ve Ha'achayot Pizmon Chozer Hebrew Withdrawn due to IBA not wanting to host the 1980 contest and the Israeli government turned down a request to extend the IBA budget. Moreover, the date that was eventually set for the 1980 contest by the European Broadcasting Union coincided with Israel's Day of Remembrance for their casualties of war
1982 Flag of Greece Greece Thermis Adamantidis Sarantapente Kopelles Greek Withdrawn a few weeks before the contest by ERT
1984 Flag of Israel Israel Ilanit Balalaika Hebrew Withdrawn by EBU
1987 Flag of Sweden Sweden Lotta Engberg Fyra Bugg och en Coca Cola Swedish Resubmitted with new lyrics and title due to the rule regarding the use of brand names
1988 Flag of Cyprus Cyprus Yiannis Demetriou Thimame (San to rock 'n' roll) Greek Disqualified because it was a re-work of a song from the 1984 Cypriot final
1990 Flag of Austria Austria Duett Das Beste German Disqualified as it had been previously entered in the German heats in 1988
1992 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Geraldine Olivier Soleil, Soleil German Withdrawn due to being entered for the National Final to the wrong Swiss broadcaster
1999 Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari Starac i more Bosnian Withdrawn as it had been released by a Finnish artist in 1995
Flag of Germany Germany Corinna May Hör' den Kindern einfach zu German Withdrawn as it was released by another artist in 1997
2002 Flag of Lithuania Lithuania B'Avarija We All English Withdrawn after it was revealed a Lithuanian version had been released in 2001
2003 IconSerbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro Toše Proeski Čija si Serbian Withdrawn after the EBU decided to cut back on the number of competing countries in 2003
2005 Flag of Belarus Belarus Angelica Agurbash Boys and Girls English Replaced due to negative feedback from the public
Flag of Lebanon Lebanon Aline Lahoud Quand tout s'enfuit French Withdrawn due to Israel's participation
2006 Flag of France France Virginie Pouchain Vous, c'est nous French Withdrawn by the composer
IconSerbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro No Name Moja ljubavi Montenegrin Withdrawn due to the scandal which took place during the national final where juries voted based on the performers' nationalities, which have occured since Serbia and Montenegro returned to Eurovision in 2004.
2009 Flag of Hungary Hungary Márk Zentai If You Wanna Party English Previously released in Sweden in 2005 with different lyrics.
Flag of Hungary Hungary Katya Tompos Magányos Csónak Hungarian Tompos was unable to balance her acting career with her Eurovision participation.
Flag of Georgia Georgia Stephane & 3G We Don't Wanna Put In English Rejected by the EBU for making political statements
2010 Flag of Belarus Belarus 3+2 Far Away English Replaced due to negative feedback from the public
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Vasyl Lazarovich I love you... English, Ukrainian Withdrawn due to negative feedback. NTU later started the process from scratch
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Alyosha To Be Free English Disqualified as it had previously been performed in public. Instead of searching for a new artist, NTU allowed Alyosha to go to Eurovision with a new song.
2011 Flag of Belarus Belarus Anastasiya Vinnikova I am Belarussian English Disqualified for previous performance in public before the cut-off date
2012 Flag of Italy Italy Nina Zilli Per Sempre Italian Won Sanremo 2012, but RAI changed the entry at the last minute
Flag of Belarus Belarus Alyona Lanskaya All my life English Disqualified due to accusations of vote-fixing
Flag of San Marino San Marino Valentina Monetta Facebook Uh Oh Oh English Re-written as The Social Network Song due to the rule regarding the use of brand names
2013 Flag of Macedonia North Macedonia Lozano & Esma Imperija Macedonian Replaced due to poor feedback from the public
Flag of Belarus Belarus Alyona Lanskaya Rhythm Of Love English
Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria Elitsa & Stoyan Kismet Bulgarian Replaced due to copyright allegations
2014 Flag of Belarus Belarus TEO Cheesecake English Resubmitted to the EBU with new lyrics (the original contained references to Google Maps, which is a violation of the rule regarding the use of brand names)
2015 Flag of Albania Albania Elhaida Dani Diell Albanian Withdrawn by the composer
Flag of Germany Germany Andreas Kummert Heart of Stone English Andreas declined the ticket to Vienna, saying he wasn't ready
2016 Flag of Malta Malta Ira Losco Chameleon English Won the Maltese final, but was decided to replace it with a new song
Flag of Italy Italy Stadio Un giorno mi dirai Italian Won Sanremo 2016, but declined the offer to go to Stockholm as the contest conflicted with a planned tour
Flag of Albania Albania Eneda Tarifa Përrallë Albanian The broadcaster and Eneda decided to change the song into English
Flag of Romania Romania Ovidiu Anton Moment of Silence English Withdrawn by the EBU less than 3 weeks before the contest due to outstanding financial debts owed by TVR
2017 Flag of Russia Russia Yulia Samoilova Flame is Burning English Ukraine issued a travel ban against Samoilova, barring her from entering the country. Russia withdrew as a result
2019 Flag of Ukraine Ukraine MARUV Siren Song English Maruv refused to give into the demands of the broadcaster's contract. Ukraine withdrew as a result of not being able to find a replacement act
2021 Flag of Belarus Belarus Galasy ZMesta Ya Nauchu Tebya (I'll Teach You) Russian Rejected by the EBU for violating the rule against making political statements. Belarus was disqualified from the 2021 contest after the intended replacement entry was also rejected on the same grounds
2022 Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Alina Pash Tini zabutykh predkiv Ukrainian, English Withdrew over a controversy regarding forged travel documents
Flag of Malta Malta Emma Muscat Out of Sight English Won the Maltese final, but the broadcaster decided to replace it with a new song
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