Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020


Spain originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Universo", performed by Blas Cantó. The entry, written by Dan Hammond, Dangelo Ortega, Mikolaj Trybulec, Ashley Hicklin and Cantó, was selected internally. The singer was also internally selected by the Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.
As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualifies to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Background

Prior to the 2020 contest, Spain had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-nine times since its first entry in. The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1968 with the song "La, la, la" performed by Massiel and in 1969 with the song "Vivo cantando" performed by Salomé, the latter having won in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Spain has also finished second four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995. In 2019, Spain placed twenty-second out of twenty-six countries with the song "La venda" performed by Miki.
The Spanish national broadcaster, Televisión Española, broadcasts the event within Spain and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Spanish broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the Spanish entry in the past. For 2018 and 2019, TVE used the reality television singing competition Operación Triunfo to select the artist and song to represent Spain in the contest, as they had previously done from 2002 to 2004. Despite the fact that TVE renewed Operación Triunfo for a further series, TVE announced on 18 September 2019 that they would opt to select the Spanish entry for the 2020 contest through an internal selection.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 5 October 2019, TVE announced Blas Cantó as the Spanish entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. His song "Universo" was released on 30 January 2020 together with the official music video.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was expected to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and would have consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2020. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Spain was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.