Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since making its debut in 2008, after İctimai Televiziya became an active member of the European Broadcasting Union. İTV had broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in previous years, purchasing broadcasting rights from the EBU. Azerbaijan was the last country in the Caucasus to debut in the contest and the first to win.
Azerbaijan won the contest in 2011, with Ell & Nikki and the song "Running Scared" setting the record for the lowest average score for a winning song under the 12 points voting system, with 5.26 points per country. The country achieved five consecutive top five results in the contest, finishing third and fifth before their 2011 win, and fourth and second following their win. In 2018, Azerbaijan failed to advance from the semi-finals for the first time.
History
Azerbaijan's first try at Eurovision proved to be successful as the country qualified for the final from the first semi-final and came 8th with 132 points in the final evening.Previously, another broadcaster, AzTV, wanted to participate in 2007, but EBU rules did not allow this as AzTV was not an active member of the EBU. AzTV was denied active EBU membership on 18 June 2007, as it was considered too connected to the Azerbaijani government. On 5 July, İTV became a full EBU member, and on 15 October it was given permission to take part by the EBU.
Azerbaijan's first Eurovision performance by Elnur and Samir placed 8th with 132 points. In 2009 Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with the song "Always", performed by duo AySel & Arash.
On 14 May 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with a song by Ell & Nikki. With their entry only receiving 5.26 points per voting country, Azerbaijan holds the record of the lowest average score for a winning song under that voting system.
The country managed another two consecutive top 5 results with Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012 and Farid Mammadov second with 234 in 2013 but in 2014 Azerbaijan failed to place in the top 10 for the first time since their debut, finishing 22nd, the country's lowest result in a Eurovision final to date. Azerbaijan has since failed to come in the top ten coming 12th in 2015, 17th in 2016 and 14th in 2017. 2018 saw Azerbaijan's first non-qualification, with "X My Heart" by Aisel failing to make it past the first semi-final. However, in 2019 Chingiz managed to bring Azerbaijan back in the top 10 for the first time since 2013 by finishing 8th with the song "Truth".
Popularity of the contest
Since debuting in 2008, the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the Top 10 at their debut in 2008 and also ending in the Top 5 from 2009–2013, the contest has become a matter of "national pride" and of very high importance. The high importance of the contest within Azerbaijan became evident and world news in 2013 when the country's president Ilham Aliyev launched an inquiry into why his country did not award Russia any points in the 2013 final. Since 2009, the contest has consistently been the most watched show on Azerbaijani television, despite the fact that the contest is broadcast from after midnight local time due to the time difference from Central European Time. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to their victory with Ell & Nikki in 2011.The country spent €160 million on hosting the 2012 contest, including building a completely new arena for the event. As of 2019, this is the largest amount of money any host has ever spent on hosting the contest.
Contestants
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters | Image |
| Baku | Baku Crystal Hall | Leyla Aliyeva, Eldar Gasimov and Nargiz Birk-Petersen |
Awards received
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Performer | Composer | Place | Points | Host city | |
| Press Award | "When the Music Dies" | Sabina Babayeva | Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund | 4 | 150 |  Baku | ||
| Artistic Award | "Hold Me" | Farid Mammadov | Dimitris Kontopoulos | 2 | 234 |  Malmö |
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
Commentators and spokespersons
| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | |
| rowspan="2" | |||
| Murad Arif and Leyla Aliyeva | - | ||
| Husniye Maharramova and Isa Melikov | Leyla Aliyeva | ||
| Leyla Aliyeva and Isa Melikov | Husniye Maharramova | ||
| Husniye Maharramova | Tamilla Shirinova | ||
| Leyla Aliyeva | Safura Alizadeh | ||
| Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Bagirov | Safura Alizadeh | ||
| Konul Arifgizi | Tamilla Shirinova | ||
| Konul Arifgizi | Sabina Babayeva | ||
| Kamran Guliyev | Tural Asadov | ||
| Azər Süleymanlı | Tural Asadov | ||
| Azər Süleymanlı | Tural Asadov | ||
| Azər Süleymanlı | Tural Asadov | ||
| Murad Arif | Faig Agayev |