Azerbaijan was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 by 17-year-old singer Safura Alizadeh, selected from an open casting call for artists and a national final. She performed the song "Drip Drop" at the contest, held in Bærum, Norway, and finished 5th in the final. Azerbaijanian broadcaster İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti (İTV) selected the song on 18 March.

Shortly after the 2009 Contest had finished, İTV released information of the selection of the 2010 Azerbaijani entry. Two separate open calls for songs and artists were held to select the song and artists to represent Azerbaijan at the 2010 Contest.

The first phase of the selection entailed submissions by interested artists to compete in the selection. Artists wishing to participate had to submit a karaoke version of the songs they wanted to take part with in the selection procedure, one of which had to be a ballad and the other an uptempo song. The artists' dancing, acting and foreign language abilities were also used in selecting the singer for the Contest. There were no restrictions to either the nationality of the composer, or the language of the song.

Around 20 candidates expressed their interest in representing Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2010 by 8 July 2009. Among them was the winner of the last season of the Yeni Ulduz musical talent competition Safura Alizadeh, as well as young participants of other musical contests, such as Azad Shabanov, Chingiz Mustafayev and Huseyn Abdullayev, and Sumqayit band Sevan Uraklar.

From a total of 30 candidates, İTV selected six artists to take part in the contest after being assessed by local and foreign specialists. The semi-final was held on 2 February at the Buta Palace in Baku. Three acts will qualify to the final, which will be held in late February 2010. The winner of the contest will be chosen by 100% jury vote. İTV announced the six songs selected for the contest on 30 January, all of which are performed in English.

The semi-final was held on 2 February at the Buta Palace in Baku. Three acts were selected from the six artist line-up by a jury to the final.

...
Wikipedia