Buenas tardes Europe, this is Madrid calling! Spain has made its deliberation and selected it Eurovision hopeful and entry for Tel Aviv. Miki will have the grand honour of representing Spain at the upcoming 2019 Eurovision Song Contest next May.

Hold your horses Europe as Spain has made its decision! Miki won the 2019 Spanish national final tonight and will represent Spain at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest with La venda. The 2019 Spanish entry has been composed by Adria Salas.

Miki- La venda

A total of 9 acts and 10 songs were in the running in their quest to fly the Spanish flag at the 64th Eurovision Song Contest.

Maria came second, whilst Miki & Natalia in duet  , finished third.

The results

• Miki- La venda  (34%)
  
• Maria- Muerdeme (22%)
  
• Natalia & Miki- Nadie se salva (14 %)
  

Miki’s winning performance

The 2019 Spanish Eurovision entry was determined via a 100% public vote.

The show was hosted by Roberto Leal and aired live on TVE 1 and TVE International. Former Eurovision hopeful Eleni Foureira (Cyprus 2018)  graced the occasion and treated the viewers with a special performance of her Eurovision entry Fuego and her latest single Tomame.

This is the fifth time that Spain has selected its Eurovision act and entry via Operación Triunfo.

Operación Triunfo and Eurovision

Operación Triunfo kicked off in Spain in 2001 and TVE used it as the mechanism to select the 2002 Spanish Eurovision entry and act.

The first edition of the talent show was a massive hit in Spain, thus getting much exposure and mediatic coverage. Rosa Lopez was crowned the winner of OT 2001 and won the golden ticket to Tallinn with her song Europe’s living a celebration.

TVE used the same format for the following 2 years in order to select the Spanish Eurovision entry and act: Beth (2003) and Ramon (2004).

The Spanish national broadcaster axed the show after its third edition. In 2005, Spanish private television channel Tele Cinco revived the talent show and aired a total of 5 seasons and had no link to Eurovision.

We must not forget that 2 of the participants of the 4th edition of Operación Triunfo went on to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest many after their participation: Soraya Arnelas (2009) and Edurne (2015).

In 2017 TVE brought back the show and used it as the mechanism to select its 2018 Eurovision entry. Amaia & Alfred won the 2018 Spanish national final and went on to represent Spain at the 2018 ESC in Lisbon.

Spain in Eurovision

Spain debuted in Eurovision in 1961 and has won the competition twice (1968 and 1969). The country enjoyed much success in its early days, but now seems to have had a reverse in fortunes. We must not forget that Spain has not made it to the Top 5 since 1995.

Spain has not missed a single contest since it joined the competition in 1961, this year will see the country’s 58th participation in the contest.

The Iberian country has only made it twice to the Top 10 in the last decade, namely in 2012 and 2014 with Pastora Soler and Ruth Lorenzo respectively.

In 2018, Spain selected its Eurovision entry via a OT 2017 and selected Alfred & Amaia to Lisbon with Tu Cancion. Unfortunately Spain placed 23rd in the Grand Final, continuing the bad spell of poor results in the competition.

The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 14, 16 and 18 May at the Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel.