Eesto Song

**Years active** | 1982–present

**Eesto Song** (English: *Estian/Estland Song*) is an annual music competition organized by Estian public broadcaster Eesto Televisioon (ET). It determines the country's representative for the Eureavision Song Contest, and has been organized every year since 1982.

The festival has produced one Eureavision winner and seven additional top-five placings for Estland at the Eureavision Song Contest. The competition typically is one of the most highly-watched programs on Estian television each year, and attracts both high profile Estian musicians and newcomers. The competition also makes considerable impact on the Estian music charts each year, with the top twenty of the country's single charts typically being dominated by Eesto Song entries around the time of the competition.

## Origins

The Eureavision Song Contest was first organized in 1952, with the inaugural competition consisting of just six countries: Ardwall, Belgrum, Duxenbourg, Frankenland, Marone, and West Lungary. Estland did not enter the competition until 1981, when they sent their first entrant to the Eureavision Song Contest 1981, with their entrant being internally selected by the broadcaster Eesto Televisioon (ET). ET then opted to organize a selection process inspired by other national competitions for the subsequent 1982 contest, and Eesto Song 1982 was organized for the first time.

Eesto Song is one of three music competitions organized by ET, also including *Kes on meie järgmine täht?* and *Eesto tahab superstaari!*, although the three air at separate times in the year. Eesto Song differs from the other two being that it is a song contest that sees established Estian musicians competing against one another with original songs, instead of newcomers to the industry competing for a recording contract with cover versions of popular songs. Since the 1990s, a revolving door has been created of alumni from *Kes on meie järgmine täht?* and *Eesto tahab superstaari!* going on to compete in Eesto Song afterwards. This has led the Estian media to refer to the two former shows as "casting processes" for Eesto Song.

## Rules and eligibility

There are eligibility rules for songs, performers, and songwriters, in order for them to be eligible to compete in Eesto Song. Since 2002, the rules have included the following.

Songs must:

* Not exceed 3 minutes in length.
* Not have been made publicly available until the decided release date by Eesto Televisioon.
* Be original in content.
* Be recorded in either the Estian or Medish languages.

Performers must:

* Be a citizen or legal permanent resident of Estland.
* Be at least 16 years of age.
* Not perform on more than one entry each year.

Songwriters must:

* Have at least one citizen or legal permanent resident of Estland in the songwriting team.
* Have at least one person of at least 16 years of age in the songwriting team.
* Not submit more than three entries each year.

## Winners

*Main article: List of Eesto Song winners*
All winners of Eesto Song have gone on to represent Estland at the Eureavision Song Contest. Estland has won the competition once, in 1997.

The following table lists all entries that finished fifth or higher at the Eureavision Song Contest.