As of 2024, Lithuania remains the only Baltic country that is yet to win the contest after wins for Estonia in 2001 and Latvia in 2002. However, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Lithuania has more final appearances than the other Baltic nations, with thirteen, compared to ten for Estonia and seven for Latvia.
Having been relegated from the 2000 contest, Lithuania returned in 2001 with "You Got Style" by Skamp, the first Lithuanian song to include English. They received 35 points, placing 13th. However, the following year, Aivaras could only manage to come second-to-last with 12 points.
Since the semi-finals were introduced, Lithuania again came last with Laura and the Lovers and "Little by Little". The following year, the Lithuanian broadcaster Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija (LRT) sent LT United to the 2006 contest with the football chant-like song "We Are the Winners". They took Lithuania to the final for the first time since 2002, coming sixth in the final with 162 points, Lithuania's best placing as of 2024.
The following year Lithuania automatically qualified for the final; however, 4Fun could not replicate LT United's success, coming 21st with only 28 points, 12 of which came from Ireland. In 2008, Jeronimas Milius failed to reach the final, coming 16th out of 19 competing nations in the second semi-final.
Lithuania initially threatened to boycott the 2009 contest "if Russia continues to showcase power and ignores international law." The statement was made in reaction to Russia's actions in the 2008 South Ossetia war.[1] Culture Minister Jonas Jučas stated that it was too early to discuss the boycott since "spontaneous decisions might aggravate the efforts of diplomats" and thus make the situation worse. They did eventually participate in the 2009 contest, where they qualified from the semi-finals and received 23 points in the final, placing them 23rd.[2]
2010s
LRT announced in December 2009 that, due to a lack of necessary funds, Lithuania would formally withdraw from the 2010 Contest. However, in the event that the necessary funds of 300,000 litas (€90,000) were found, the broadcaster announced that they would attempt to continue the country's participation.[3] Ultimately, private company TEO LT provided the necessary funding and Lithuania participated in Oslo.
In 2011, Lithuania was represented by Evelina Sašenko with the song "C'est ma vie". The song successfully qualified from the first semi-final, placing 5th with 81 points. In the grand final, Lithuania finished in 19th place with 63 points.[4]
In 2012, Lithuania qualified for the final with Donny Montell and his song "Love Is Blind", placing 3rd with 104 points. They eventually finished 14th in the Grand Final.[5]
In 2013, Lithuania qualified to the final with "Something" by Andrius Pojavis, placing 9th in the first semi-final with 53 points. In the final, he ended in 22nd place with 17 points.[6]
In 2014, Vilija didn't qualify for the final, finishing 11th out of 15 entrants in the second semi-final, scoring 36 points.[7]
In 2015, Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila represented Lithuania with the song "This Time". The duo qualified from the second semi-final, finishing 7th, and ultimately placed 18th in the grand final with 30 points.[8]
In 2016, Donny Montell returned to the contest and achieved Lithuania's best result of the decade, finishing ninth with "I've Been Waiting for This Night".[9]
In 2017, Lithuania was represented by Fusedmarc with the song "Rain of Revolution". The song failed to qualify for the grand final, finishing 17th in the second semi-final with 42 points.[10]
In 2019, Jurij Veklenko represented Lithuania with the song "Run with the Lions". He competed in the second semi-final, placing 11th with 93 points, which was not sufficient to advance to the grand final.[12]
2020s
In 2021, Lithuania qualified for the final with the song "Discoteque" by The Roop, placing 4th in the first semi-final with 203 points. In the final, The Roop reached 8th place with 220 points, thereby achieving Lithuania's second-best result to date.[13][14][15] The Roop was previously chosen to represent the country in the later-cancelled 2020 edition with "On Fire".[16]
In 2022, Monika Liu performed her song "Sentimentai" in Lithuanian, which marked the second appearance of the language in the contest, and the first one since 1994. The song qualified from the semi-final.[17]
In 2023, Monika Linkytė represented Lithuania for a second time with the song "Stay". She finished 11th in the grand final with 127 points.[18]
In 2024, Lithuania was represented by Silvester Belt with the song "Luktelk". Silvester Belt was selected through the new national final, Eurovizija.LT, and finished 14th in the grand final with 90 points.[19]
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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 contestants, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[23]
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the semi-finals and Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[33] The modern incarnation of jury voting was introduced beginning with the 2009 contest.[34]
LRT usually broadcasts all shows in Lithuania on LRT televizija and on LRT radijas as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt. For the show's broadcast on LRT several commentators have provided comment on the contest in the local language. Darius Užkuraitis [lt] was Eurovision commentator in Lithuania as many as 19 times. He was replaced by Ramūnas Zilnys [lt] in 2021. 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.
^According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
^Andrius Mamontovas was appointed to be the spokesperson of Lithuania in 2019, but he could not do it because he was a member of the jury in the same year.[55] Mamontovas later announced Lithuania's points in 2021 contest.