North Macedonia has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its debut in . The country had attempted to participate in 1996, but failed to qualify from the audio-only qualifying round. The Macedonian participating broadcaster in the contest is Macedonian Radio Television (MRT).

Having qualified from the semi-final round only once in ten of the previous eleven contests (2008–2018), North Macedonia achieved its best result to date in , when "Proud" by Tamara Todevska qualified and finished in seventh place in the final after winning the jury vote; previously, its best result was with "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Risteska in . Following a further two non-qualifications, MRT opted out of participating from to . The country is set to return to the contest in Bulgaria.

Participation Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) has been a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It has participated in the contest representing North Macedonia since its in 1998.

Before the country's independence in 1991 from SFR Yugoslavia, RTV Skopje –Yugoslav Radio Television's (JRT) affiliate in SR Macedonia, and MRT's predecessor– participated in the Yugoslav pre-selection called among the JRT affiliates from the other Yugoslav federal units.Opatijo, oh Fabulous - Yugoslavian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest - statistics by year , Eurodalmatia official ESC fan club, Dalmatia, Croatia Also, Macedonian composers wrote songs for candidates from other parts of Yugoslavia.Official Site of OGAE Macedonia, see section: Jugovizija. However, the only Macedonian win in the Yugoslav competition, "Vraćam se" by Maja Odžaklievska in 1980, did not compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 due to JRT's decision not to participate that year. SR Macedonia was the only Yugoslav federal state that never sent a to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Until 2019, the country was presented under the provisional appellation "F.Y.R. Macedonia" at the contest (with the exception of 2006, when the full version "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" was used) due to the Macedonia naming dispute. The name North Macedonia has been adopted since 2019, following the signing of the Prespa Agreement which settled the dispute.

History

MRT submitted its first entry, "Samo ti" sung by Kaliopi, for the . However, the country failed to qualify through the non-broadcast pre-selection round. Its efforts to enter the contest were again hindered in , 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 "Ne zori, zoro" by Vlado Janevski.

The country's best result before 2019 (and the best result with its old name) was in , with "Ninanajna" by Elena Risteska in Athens, who 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 , 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.

MRT 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 , the country competed for the first time under the name North Macedonia. MRT selected "Proud" by Tamara Todevska as their act of choice. 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 and , MRT opted not to take part between and mostly due to financial constraints. On 21 May 2026, MRT director Zoran Ristoski stated that the broadcaster intends to return to the contest in in neighbouring Bulgaria, which was confirmed on 14 September.

Participation overview

+ Table key 2 Second place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete † Upcoming event

Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Kaliopi ◇ "" ◇ Macedonian ◇ colspan="2" 26 14 Vlado Janevski "" Macedonian 19 16 rowspan="3" colspan="2" XXL "" Macedonian, English 15 29 Karolina "" Macedonian 19 25 Toše Proeski "Life" English 14 47 10 71 Martin Vučić "Make My Day" English 17 52 9 97 Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" English, Macedonian 12 56 10 76 Karolina "" Macedonian, English 14 73 9 97 Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan "Let Me Love You" English colspan="2" rowspan="4" 10 64 Next Time "" Macedonian 10 45 Gjoko Taneski "" Macedonian 15 37 Vlatko Ilievski "" Macedonian, English 16 36 Kaliopi "" Macedonian 13 71 9 53 Esma and Lozano "" Macedonian, Romani colspan="2" rowspan="6" 16 28 Tijana "To the Sky" English 13 33 Daniel Kajmakoski "Autumn Leaves" English 15 28 Kaliopi "Dona" Macedonian 11 88 Jana Burčeska "Dance Alone" English 15 69 Eye Cue "Lost and Found" English 18 24 Tamara Todevska "Proud" English 7 305 2 239 Vasil ◇ "You" ◇ English ◇ colspan="4" Vasil "Here I Stand" English colspan="2" rowspan=2 15 23 Andrea "Circles" English 11 76 Confirmed intention to participate †

Awards Barbara Dex Award

YearPerformerHost cityMartin Vučić KyivEye Cue Lisbon

Related involvement Delegation members Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.

Heads of delegation YearHead of delegationIvan Mircevski–Meri PopovaAleksandra Jovanovska and Jana Burčeska

Heads of press YearHead of pressToni Cifrovski Heads of media YearHead of mediaJana Burčeska

Commentators and spokespersons For the show's broadcast on MRT, various commentators have provided commentary on the contest in the Macedonian language. At the Eurovision Song Contest after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen.

From until , SR Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia and JRT's affiliate RTV Skopje broadcast the contest there with Macedonian commentary. YearChannelCommentator(s)Spokesperson MTVrowspan="8" Evgenija TeodosievskaSandra TodorovskaBiljana DebarlievaKarolina PetkovskaKarolina GočevaKarolina PetkovskaMartin VučićMTV 1 (all shows)rowspan="2" Elena Risteska MRT (all shows)Ognen JaneskiKarolina Petkovska and Aleksandra JovanovskaFrosina JosifovskaKarolina PetkovskaMilica RoštikjlMTV 1 (all shows)Eli Tanaskovska Kristina TalevskaMRT 1 (all shows)Karolina PetkovskaDimitar AtanasovskiMRT 1, MRT SAT, Radio Skopje (all shows)Marko MarkMRT 1, MRT SAT, Radio Skopje, MRT 2, MRT 2 SAT (all shows)MRT 1 (all shows)Dijana GogovaIlija GrujoskiMRT 1, MRT 2, Radio Skopje (all shows)Jana BurčeskaMRT 1 (all shows)Toni CifrovskiNikola Trajkovskicolspan="3" MRT 1, MRT 2 (all shows)Eli TanaskovskaVane MarkoskiJana BurčeskaMRT 1, MRT 2, Radio Skopje (all shows)Aleksandra Jovanovska and Eli Tanaskovska rowspan="5" MRT 1, Radio Skopje (all shows) Aleksandra JovanovskaMRT 1, Radio Skopje (all shows)Eli TanaskovskaMRT 2, MR 3 (all shows)Vjosa Miftari and Ardita Imeri

Other shows ShowCommentatorChannelEurovision: Europe Shine a LightAleksandra JovanovskaMRT 1

Photo gallery

See also North Macedonia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Notes and references Notes

References

External links Eurovision North Macedonia