Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Play" written by Fred Krieger, Stig Rästa and Vallo Kikas. The song was performed by Jüri Pootsmann. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2016 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final as determined by a jury panel and public vote qualified to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top three to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Play" performed by Jüri Pootsmann was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Estonia | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Eesti Laul 2016 | |||
Selection date(s) | Semi-finals: 13 February 2016 20 February 2016 Final: 5 March 2016 | |||
Selected entrant | Jüri Pootsmann | |||
Selected song | "Play" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
Finals performance | ||||
Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (18th) | |||
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
|
Estonia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 13, "Play" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed eighteenth (last) out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 24 points.