Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Bulgaria | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Member station | Bulgarian National Television (BNT) |
| National selection events |
National Final
Internal Selection
|
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 10 (2 finals) |
| First appearance | 2005 |
| Best result | 4th: 2016 |
| Worst result | 19th SF: 2005 |
| External links | |
| BNT page | |
| Bulgaria's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeBulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 |
|
Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 10 times since making its debut at the 2005 contest in Kiev. The country's best result is a fourth-place finish for Poli Genova at the 2016 contest.
Bulgaria has failed to qualify for the final in eight out of ten appearances at the contest, most narrowly in 2012, when Sofi Marinova lost out on the 10th qualifying place from the second semi-final in a tie-break with Norway. Prior to 2016, Bulgaria's only entry to reach the final was Elitsa & Stoyan, who finished fifth in 2007.
Bulgaria first competed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, represented by the jazz-inspired band Kaffe with their song "Lorraine". Receiving only 49 points, they placed 19th in the semi-final and failed to qualify to the final. They were succeeded by Mariana Popova with "Let Me Cry", however she also failed to qualify for the final, coming 17th with 36 points in the semi-final.
Bulgaria's first qualification for the final came in 2007 when Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov performed the song "Water" (Bulgarian: Voda/Вода). This was the first Bulgarian language song to compete in the contest, placing 6th in the semi-final with 146 points. Todorova and Yankulov repeated their song in the final and received 157 points, placing 5th in a field of 24.
In previous years, if a country placed in the top 10 countries in the final they automatically qualified to the final of the next contest. Had this rule remained for the 2008 contest, Bulgaria would have directly qualified for the final. However, a change in rules due to the large intake of countries participating in the contest meant that only five countries, the host country and the Big 4 countries, would automatically qualify to the final. As such, Bulgaria were forced to compete in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest in Serbia.
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