Yugoslavia

La Yougoslavie

Debut – 1961

Last Appearance – 1992

Broadcaster – JRT

National Final – Jugovizija

Best Result – Winner (1989)

Highest Score – 137 points (1989)

Worst Result – 21st (1991 – 1 point)

Yugoslavia was, at the time, the only Eastern European nation participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated a total of 27 times before the country split in 1992, and won the Contest once.

Its national selection, Jugovizija, had participants from all six constituent republics as well as the two autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Croatia was the most successful with over a third of Yugoslavia’s entrants being Croatian. Yugoslavia also had representatives from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with Macedonia being the only constituent republic to have not sent a Yugoslav entry to Eurovision.

Representatives:

Croatia – 10
Serbia – 6
Bosnia & Herzegovina – 5
Slovenia – 4
Montenegro – 2

1960’s

Yugoslavia’s debut Eurovision entry was Ljiljana Petrović performing the Serbian song “Neke davne zvezde”, which finished a middling 8th. The following year in 1962, they broke the top 5 with “Ne pali svetlo u sumrak” (performed by Lola Novaković) finishing 4th.

The rest of the decade saw middling results, however they suffered a ‘nul points’ result in 1963.

1970’s

Yugoslavia had middling-to-poor results throughout the ’70s, with their only appearance in the top being in 1972, with “Muzika i ti” (performed by Tereza Kesovija) finishing 9th. After 1976, they took a short hiatus from the Contest.

1980’s

Yugoslavia eventually returned to Eurovision in 1981, and two years later they made their first top 10 appearance in over a decade, with the Montenegrin song “Džuli” (performed by Danijel) finishing 4th in 1983. The end of the decade saw a consecutive run of top 10 results: in 1987 with “Ja sam za ples” (performed by Novi Fosili) finishing 4th, and in 1988 with “Mangup” (performed by Srebrna Krila) finishing 6th.

The decade ended on a high note with Yugoslavia’s only victory, with Riva’s “Rock Me” emerging as the unlikely winners in 1989.

1990’s

As Yugoslavia’s winning act was from Croatia, the 1990 Contest was held in the constituent republic’s capital Zagreb. The host nation then scored their last ever top 10 result, finishing 7th with “Hajde da ludujemo” (performed by Tajči).

With Slovenia and Croatia having split from the federation by 1991, Yugoslavia’s final ever entry was Extra Nena performing “Ljubim te pesmama” in 1992.