12 points to 12 participations: Montenegro's Eurovision history so far

Earlier in August, Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG announced its Contest comeback, with its intention to participate at Switzerland 2025, and with a whole new Eurovision national final planned especially for the occasion, Montesong. 

It will be Montenegro's 13th appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest, and its first since Vladana competed with Breathe back in 2022, in Turin. 

Throughout its dozen dalliances with the Contest thus far, Montenegro has managed to build up quite the reputation for itself, be that for its beautiful ballads, its legendary lyrics, its qualification quandaries, or its slight obsession with space.

Montenegro debuted with us back in 2007, with the song Ajde, Kroči performed by Stevan Faddy. Their initiation to the Contest would be the ultimate Eurovision endurance test, however - that infamous 2007 Semi-Final! 

With 28 songs competing, it was the largest competition in Eurovision Song Contest history, with just 10 countries qualifying to the Grand Final, and 18 missing out. Montenegro finished in 22nd place.

Thankfully, the outlook appeared slightly less challenging the following year. Not only was Montenegro's journey to the Contest going to be a speedy one - just a short whizz across the border into neighbouring Serbia - but the competition itself was looking like much less of an uphill battle for all involved.

That brutal Semi-Final of 2007 laid the foundations for an overhaul of the Eurovision Song Contest. And in 2008, we saw the introduction of two Semi-Finals, with 10 songs progressing from each, resulting in much better qualification odds for all our Semi-Finalists.

The Montenegrin music that we've gotten to enjoy at the Contest since the country's debut in 2007 has been defined by the Balkan ballad - with that genre having become its signature sound on the Eurovision stage. But that's not to say that Montenegro hasn't branched out in spectacular style and sound into other genres!

Who can forget Montenegro's entry in 2017, Space, in which Slavko Kalezić encouraged us to "soar through the Milky Way" as "the spaceship is ready to blow"? 

But fret not, as Slavko assured us: "I have my suit on, no need to worry". That suit he referred to in Space is not to be confused with the actual space suit you will see in any Montenegrin Eurovision roundup worth its salt, however...

That space suit was actually rolled out for Montenegro's 2013 entry, Igranka. And while that song signalled one small step for Montenegro on the Eurovision stage, it did end up becoming one giant leap for mankind, musically speaking. We definitely hadn't had anything like that at the Eurovision Song Contest before, and we're not entirely sure we've had anything like that since then, either. 

Merging trance with dubstep and mixing diva vocals with a rap duo, Who See featuring Nina Žižić gave us one of the more memorable moments that we all got to enjoy when we touched down in Malmö that May.  

One year prior to that, and Montenegro got to showcase a whole other side to their musical merit on the Eurovision stage, when Rambo Amadeus took Euro Neuro to Baku. 

It's been called satire by some, hailed as sociopolitical commentary by others and, inevitably, regarded as performance art by a few, too. But one thing is certain... If you were to ask a group of Eurovision fans to name some iconic Eurovision lyrics from over the years, it wouldn't be too long before someone offered up Euro Neuro as a suggestion, unironically or otherwise. 

Montenegro has also given us soft rock (2008's Zauvijek Volim Te), slightly harder rock (2016's The Real Thing) and a dazzling, all-dancing display of disco (2009's Just Get Out Of My Life).

It remains the Balkan ballad, however, with which Montenegro has left its biggest mark on the Eurovision Song Contest. 

2014's Moj Svijet by Sergej Ćetković and 2015's Adio by Knez are both regarded by fans as two of the finest examples of the genre that have been seen at the Contest over the past decade or so. And they both still make for a beautiful listen today, too.

Moj Svijet ended up being Montenegro's very first Grand Final qualification in 2014, where it landed in 19th place. Adio then followed its lead the year after, and did even better in the Grand Final. Knez's performance took Montenegro to the left side of the scoreboard at the end of the night, achieving 13th place for his country.

In 12 participations, those two entries have been Montenegro's only appearances in the Grand Final so far, with 2014 and 2015 book-ended by 5 years of non-qualification on either side.

But while its luck has been somewhat down on making it out of the Semi-Finals, there are plenty of positives to be found within Montenegro's Eurovision track record.

The country has never finished in last place in a Grand Final or a Semi-Final, and it's never received a dreaded 'nul points'. In fact, it's never ended the evening on any single-digit points score. Its lowest points tally to date has been 20 points in 2012, when Euro Neuro managed to charm 8 points from San Marino and a full 12 from Albania. 

As well as its own highlights and hits, Montenegro can also lay claim to giving another country one of its all-time highs.

Between 1961 and 1992, Montenegro took part in the Eurovision Song Contest as part of Yugoslavia. And it was responsible for one of Yugoslavian broadcaster JRT's most memorable Eurovision entries, as well as its second-best result at the Contest.

In 1983, Montenegrin artist Daniel (Popović) represented Yugoslavia with the song Džuli. At the Contest held in Munich, the song received 5 sets of 'douze points', contributing to a 4th-place finish. At the time, the placing equalled Yugoslavia's best position at the Contest, with its 125 points becoming a new record for broadcaster JRT, only beaten since by Yugoslavia's win in 1989, when Rock Me by Riva secured 137 points.

The song Džuli went on to become not just a hit across Yugoslavia, but also in many parts of Europe too, thanks to an English-language version recorded by Daniel - Julie.

Before Montenegro joined us solo in 2007, we of course also got to welcome the country at the Eurovision Song Contest in both 2004 and 2005, as Serbia & Montenegro. 

Serbia & Montenegro's very first outing at Eurovision was a strong start, giving us a second-place finish in 2004, courtesy of what is today still a big fan favourite - Lane Moje by Željko Joksimović. 

The following year in 2005, another Top 10 result was achieved by Serbia & Montenegro, thanks to the Montenegrin band No Name and their song Zauvijek Moja.

As we wait to see what Montesong gives us for Switzerland 2025, you can peruse Montenegro's full Eurovision Song Contest participation history over at their official Country Profile.

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

Don't forget to download our app (for iOS / Android), sign up to the official Eurovision Song Contest newsletter, and subscribe to the official podcast!