Spooky serendipity: All of Albania's 17th place results at Eurovision

Today November 28 is Albania's Independence Day which is also the national day for the Balkan country.

On this day in 1912 Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire.

To celebrate we at Aussievision have decided to look back at all the times Albania came 17th in a Eurovision show.

Albania has placed 17th four times in a Eurovision Grand Final, and once in a Eurovision semi-final.

It is worth noting Norway and Greece have also finished 17th at a Eurovision Grand Final a record breaking four times. However Albania's serendipity of finishing 17th is more remarkable given they only debuted in 2004 and have participated 21 times. In contrast Norway and Greece have competed at Eurovision 63 and 45 times respectively.

So let's check out the Albanian Eurovision entries that have placed 17th in reverse chronological order!

2019: Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju tokës

The first entry in our list exemplifies typical Albanian Eurovision entries - a female soloist singing an emotional ballad with incredible vocals.

Meaning Return to the Land in English, Jonida's song is a rallying cry for Albanian expats and members of the diaspora to return back to the homeland.

2019 was the first of two consecutive years that Albania performed in the dreaded second slot in the Grand Final. Anxhela Peristeri was also chosen by producers to perform at number two in the 2021 Saturday show. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to COVID.

2015: Elhaida Dani - I'm Alive

Ever since she won the first season of The Voice of Italy in 2013, Elhaida Dani had been high on Eurofan's lists to represent her homeland at Eurovision.

She competed in Festivali i Këngës in October 2014 with the Albanian language ballad Diell and won the right to represent Albania at Eurovision 2015.

I quite enjoyed Diell, especially the live orchestral version. However the bookmakers did not agree, with Albania often languishing at the bottom of the odds when the song was their official Eurovision entry.

This prompted Elhaida and her team to choose the English language song I'm Alive as the song she would sing at Eurovision. Albania's odds improved markedly after this decision was made.

Elhaida came 17th overall. However the EBU later revealed if the result had been decided 100% by televote Albania would have come ninth.

A perfect example of how the juries marked Elhaida down was in the Italian Eurovision results that year. Elhaida topped the Italian tele-vote in the Grand Final, but the Italian jury ranked her second last, resulting in her not receiving any points at all from the country that had embraced her on The Voice.

2009: Kejsi Tola - Carry Me in Your Dreams

Another year, another Albanian 17th place, and another time the country was marked down by the juries.

Albania produced one of the most unique Eurovision stagings with this entry.

Kejsi herself was dressed rather unremarkably in a sparkly pink tutu.

However she was joined by what seemed like the Joker's younger twin brothers, and Slenderman's sparkly green cousin.

The three danced around Kejsi as she delivered a typically Albanian vocal performance - flawless!

In the post show voting breakdown it was revealed Albania would have placed 11th if there had been 100% televoting. The juries put Elhaida third last.

2008: Olta Boka - Zemrën e lamë peng

Olta belted out this rock ballad on neighbouring Belgrade's Eurovision stage.

Her song translates to We gambled our hearts in English. It describes the pain one feels when separated from a loved one.

This rather forgettable entry was not marked down by the juries, with the 2008 Grand Final being 100% tele-vote.

2007: Frederik Ndoci - Hear My Plea (Semi-final)

This song came 17th in the semi-final, so it might be a little cheeky adding this to our list.

However it did compete in the largest and therefore statistically competitive semi-final in Eurovision history - with 28 countries competing for only 10 Grand Final slots. 2007 was the last year there was only one semi-final.

Despite the female backing vocalist's and violinist's fascinating frocks, the tele-voters sadly did not hear Frederik's plea and the Albanian entry was left in the semi-final for the second consecutive year.

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Those were the five Albanian acts that have placed 17th in a Eurovision show.

Given Shkodra Elektronike's electrifying eighth place this year, Albania will be hoping to not fall back into its habit of finishing 17th in 2026.

Albania will decide their 2026 Eurovision entrant through the 64th edition of Festivali i Këngës on December 20 this year.

We wish all our Albania readers and followers a happy Independence Day!

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