Estonia: Eesti Laul receives record 238 entries

The submission period for the Estonian national final Eesti Laul has closed, and the producers have revealed that the 2015 total has surpassed the 2014 total by 19 entries. The Estonian broadcaster ERR is still putting a lot of effort into Eurovision. It all makes sense after the huge impact of the 2015 Estonian entry “Goodbye to Yesterday” performed by Elina Born and Stig Rästa. In the semi final, “Goodbye to Yesterday” gained 105 points and 3rd place and in the grand final it finished on 7th place with 106 points with the highest scores from Finland (10 points) and Lithuania (8 points).

Now a panel of 11 music professionals will listen to all the songs and choose the best 20. The 20 semi-finalists have to be chosen by Thursday, 5 November. They’ll be announced on the chat show Ringvaade, which starts at 19:00 Estonian time (18:00 CET). The semi-finals will be held on 13 and 20 February 2016, with the grand final held on 5 March.

Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993. Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. This made Estonia the first former Soviet country to win the contest and the second eastern European country to win, after Yugoslavia in 1989. Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Estonia has failed to reach the final on seven occasions and has reached the top ten three times, with Urban Symphony in 2009, Ott Lepland in 2012, who both finished sixth, and Elina Born & Stig Rästa who finished seventh in 2015. Estonia’s total of nine top ten results, is more than any other Baltic country.