North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to declaring independence in 1991, as a constituent country of SFR Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia participated in the Yugoslav pre-selection called among the other Yugoslav federal units.[1] Also, Macedonian composers wrote songs for candidates from other parts of Yugoslavia.[2] However, the Macedonian entries never managed to win, and the SR Macedonia was the only federal state never to send a Yugoslav entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. An exception occurred when Maja Odžaklievska won the Yugoslav competition in 1980,[1] but she did not perform in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 due to the Yugoslavian decision not to participate that year.

The country submitted its first entry, "Samo ti" (Само ти) sung by Kaliopi, for the 1996 edition. However, the country failed to qualify through the non-broadcast pre-selection round. Its efforts to enter the contest were again hindered in 1997, when another new system was introduced where countries with the lowest average scores over the previous four years were excluded from participating. The country made its debut in 1998, with Vlado Janevski's "Ne zori, zoro".

The country's best result before 2019 (and the best result with its old name) was in 2006, when Elena Risteska sang "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) in Athens, Greece and came 12th. It is the only country to have qualified from every semi-final from 2004 to 2007 (other countries have qualified for every final but due to them finishing in the top 10 the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-final). Despite never finishing in the top 10, their record of qualifying for every final was broken in 2008, when the jury vote used in the semi-final chose Sweden as a finalist, despite Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian having come 10th in the televote.

Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), which broadcasts the event, has intermittently used the Skopje Fest to select the national entry since the country's debut, although it made several changes in the national final format, so the 2004, 2005 and 2006 national finals were organised outside the Skopje Fest.

For 2019, the country competed for the first time under the name North Macedonia.[3] MRT selected Tamara Todevska as their act of choice, performing the song "Proud". The song managed to qualify through the second semi-final, and reached seventh place in the final, winning the jury vote. This is the first top ten placing as well as the highest placing ever for North Macedonia in the history of the contest. Following two non-qualifications in 2021 and 2022, MRT confirmed its absence in the 2023 contest, citing financial constraints.[4] However, MRT still broadcast the 2023 contest with a view to return in 2024.[5] The broadcaster confirmed its plans to return in a document published in September 2023.[6][7]

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  Toše Proeski in Istanbul (2004)
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  Karolina Gočeva in Helsinki (2007)
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  Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian in Belgrade (2008)
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  Next Time in Moscow (2009)
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  Vlatko Ilievski in Düsseldorf (2011)
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  Esma Redžepova and Vlatko Lozanoski in Malmö (2013)
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  Tijana in Copenhagen (2014)
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  Daniel Kajmakoski in Vienna (2015)
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  Kaliopi in Stockholm (2016)
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  Jana Burčeska in Kyiv (2017)
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  Eye Cue in Lisbon (2018)
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  Tamara Todevska in Tel Aviv (2019)
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  Vasil in Rotterdam (2021)
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  Andrea in Turin (2022)

• North Macedonia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

• Points to and from North Macedonia eurovisioncovers.co.uk
• Eurovision North Macedonia