Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Yugoslavia was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Lejla" (Лејла), written by Ranko Boban, and performed by Seid Memić Vajta. The Yugoslavian participating broadcaster, Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), selected its entry through Jugovizija 1981.

Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Participating broadcaster	Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT)
Country	Yugoslavia
National selection
Selection process	Jugovizija 1981
Selection date(s)	28 February 1981
Selected artist(s)	Seid Memić Vajta
Selected song	"Lejla"
Selected songwriter(s)	Ranko Boban
Finals performance
Final result	15th, 35 points
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1976 • 1981 • 1982►

Before Eurovision

Jugovizija 1981

After a four-year break, Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981.^[1]

TV Belgrade (TVBg) staged the Yugoslav national final, Jugovizija 1981, on 28 February at its television studios in Belgrade, hosted by Minja Subota and Helga Vlahović.^[2] Sixteen songs made it to the national final, which was broadcast by JRT to all of the regions of Yugoslavia. The winner was decided by the votes of eight regional juries (Sarajevo, Skopje, Novi Sad, Titograd, Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Pristina).

The winning entry was "Lejla", performed by Bosnian singer Seid Memić Vajta and written by Ranko Boban.

Draw	Artist	Song	TV station	Points	TVSa	TVSk	TVNS	TVTg	TVZg	TVBg	TVLj	TVPr	Place
1	Neda Ukraden	Sve što se odgađa, to se ne događa	TVSa	33		6	5	6	6	6	3	1	7th
2	Verica Ristevska	Bez nežnosti	TVSk	5			1		1	3			13th
3	Dejan Petković	Emanuelle	TVNS	38	4	2		5	10	5	6	6	6th
4	Ratko Kraljević	Propustila si šansu	TVTg	19	7	1	7		3		1		10th
5	Biserka Spevec	Sama	TVNS	17	6				4	2	5		11th
6	Novi fosili	Oko moje	TVZg	67	12	10	12	8		10	7	8	2nd
7	Maja Odžaklievska	Ne podnosim dan	TVBg	20		3	2	4	5		2	4	9th
8	Margica Antevska, Lazar Nečovski and Marina Puharić	Mojot son	TVSk	3				3					14th
9	Hazard	Marie, ne piši pesmi več	TVLj	41	5	7	6	7	7	4		5	5th
10	Seid Memić "Vajta"	Lejla	TVSa	71		12	4	12	12	7	12	12	1st
11	Alenka Pinterič	V meni je kar hočeš	TVLj	3								3	14th
12	Shpresa Gashi	Malli i mëngjesit	TVPr	6	3			2		1			12th
13	Srebrna krila	Kulminacija	TVZg	61	8	8	10	10		8	10	7	3rd
14	Sabri Fejzullahu	Vala e lazdruar	TVPr	2	1			1					16th
15	Slađana Milošević	Recept za ljubav	TVBg	28	2	4	8		8		4	2	8th
16	Srđan Marjanović	Ti me nazovi	TVTg	50	10	5	3		2	12	8	10	4th

At Eurovision

Yugoslavia performed 7th on the night of the contest, following Denmark and preceding Finland. At the close of voting it had received 35 points, placing 15th out of 20 contestants.^[3] The Yugoslav jury awarded its 12 points to Switzerland.

Voting

Points awarded to Yugoslavia[4] Score Country 12 points 10 points   Switzerland 8 points  Finland 7 points 6 points 5 points  Belgium 4 points  Turkey 3 points  Cyprus 2 points  Greece  Ireland 1 point  Norway

Points awarded by Yugoslavia[4] Score Country 12 points   Switzerland 10 points  United Kingdom 8 points  Belgium 7 points  Sweden 6 points  Cyprus 5 points  Ireland 4 points  France 3 points  Turkey 2 points  Germany 1 point  Greece

References

1. "1981. Beograd - eurosong.hr". eurosong.hr. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
2. "Yugoslavia: Jugovizjia 1981". Eurovisionworld. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
3. "Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
4. "Results of the Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.