Vidbir
Ukrainian musical competition
Natsionalnyi vidbir (Ukrainian: Національний відбір, IPA: [nɐts⁽ʲ⁾ioˈnɑlʲnɪj wid⁽ʲ⁾ˈbir]; meaning "National selection"), informally known as Vidbir, is a Ukrainian musical competition originally organized by Suspilne and STB, which determines the Ukrainian representative at the Eurovision Song Contest. In late August 2021, it was announced that the two broadcasters had terminated their partnership, and that Suspilne was looking for a new selection format for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, thus bringing an end to the original concept for Vidbir. In October 2021, Suspilne announced that the 2022 edition of Vidbir would be organized by it alone under a new format.
In the first year of the show, the local record for SMS voting was set when the show received 344,268 unique votes, 37.77% of which supported Jamala, who eventually became the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.
01Winners
| 1 | Winner |
| 2 | Second place |
| 3 | Third place |
| † | Upcoming |
| Year | Artist | Song | At Eurovision | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Points | Semi | Points | |||
| 2016 | Jamala | "1944" | 1 | 534 | 2 | 287 |
| 2017 | O.Torvald | "Time" | 24 | 36 | Host country | |
| 2018 | Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | 17 | 130 | 6 | 179 |
| 2019 | Maruv | "Siren Song" | Withdrew | |||
| 2020 | Go_A | "Solovey" | Contest cancelled | |||
| 2022 | Alina Pash | "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" | Disqualified before Eurovision | |||
| 2023 | Tvorchi | "Heart of Steel" | 6 | 243 | Automatically qualified | |
| 2024 | Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil | "Teresa & Maria" | 3 | 453 | 2 | 173 |
| 2025 | Ziferblat | "Bird of Pray" | 9 | 219 | 1 | 137 |
| 2026 | Leléka | "Ridnym" | 9 | 221 | 6 | 174 |
02Cast
Over the 10 editions of Vidbir, 14 music experts have been on the jury, two of them won Eurovision: Ruslana in 2004 and Jamala in 2016. Jamala is the only member of the Vidbir cast who has participated in every edition, as a contestant in 2016, as a jury member in 2017, 2019 and 2022, 2025, as an interval act in 2020, and as a music producer in 2026. Several participants have had different roles in different editions of Vidbir. Julia Sanina was a participant in 2016, a jury member in 2023 and a presenter in 2024. Tina Karol was a jury member in 2020 and 2022, as well as a music producer in 2025. Kateryna Pavlenko is the winner of Vidbir 2020, host of the 2023 edition, one of the jurors of 2025 edition, and a participant in the 2026 edition. Starting from 2023, the participants of the expert jury are selected through the Ukrainian e-governance app Diia.
Key:
- Judge / Host / Music producer / Showrunner
- Competed as a contestant
| Judge | Vidbir | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||||
| Andriy Danylko | |||||||||||||
| Konstantin Meladze | |||||||||||||
| Ruslana | |||||||||||||
| Jamala | |||||||||||||
| Yevhen Filatov | |||||||||||||
| Tina Karol | |||||||||||||
| Vitaliy Drozdov | |||||||||||||
| Yaroslav Lodygin | |||||||||||||
| Julia Sanina | |||||||||||||
| Taras Topolia | |||||||||||||
| Serhiy Tanchynets | |||||||||||||
| Kateryna Pavlenko | |||||||||||||
| Zlata Ognevich | |||||||||||||
| Kostyantyn Tomilchenko | |||||||||||||
| Host | Vidbir | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||||
| Oleksandr Pedan | |||||||||||||
| Dmytro Tankovych | |||||||||||||
| Serhiy Prytula | |||||||||||||
| Masha Efrosinina | |||||||||||||
| Timur Miroshnychenko | |||||||||||||
| Zlata Ognevich | |||||||||||||
| Kateryna Pavlenko | |||||||||||||
| Julia Sanina | |||||||||||||
| Vasyl Baidak | |||||||||||||
| Lesia Nikitiuk | |||||||||||||
| Music producer | Vidbir | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||||
| Konstantin Meladze | |||||||||||||
| Ruslan Kvinta | |||||||||||||
| Mykhailo Koshovyi | |||||||||||||
| Dmytro Shurov | |||||||||||||
| Tina Karol | |||||||||||||
| Jamala | |||||||||||||
| Showrunner | Vidbir | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||||
| Natalia Franchuk | |||||||||||||
| Oleksiy Honcharenko | |||||||||||||
| Volodymyr Zavadyuk | |||||||||||||
| German Nenov | |||||||||||||
03Editions
Editions overview
Color key
Male artist Female artist Band/duo| Year | Premiere | Final | Contestants | Episodes | Winner | Runner-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 6 February 2016 | 21 February 2016 | 18 | 3 | Jamala "1944" |
The Hardkiss "Helpless" |
Sunsay "Love Manifest" |
| 2017 | 4 February 2017 | 25 February 2017 | 24 | 4 | O.Torvald "Time" |
Tayanna "I Love You" |
Mélovin "Wonder" |
| 2018 | 10 February 2018 | 24 February 2018 | 18 | 3 | Mélovin "Under the Ladder" |
Tayanna "Lelya" |
Kadnay "Beat of the Universe" |
| 2019 | 9 February 2019 | 23 February 2019 | 16 | 3 | Maruv "Siren Song" |
Freedom Jazz "Cupidon" |
Kazka "Apart" |
| 2020 | 8 February 2020 | 22 February 2020 | 16 | 3 | Go_A "Solovey" |
Khayat "Call for Love" |
Krutь "99" |
| 2022 | 12 February 2022 | 8 | 1 | Alina Pash "Tini zabutykh predkiv" |
Kalush Orchestra "Stefania" |
Wellboy "Nozzy Bossy" | |
| 2023 | 17 December 2022 | 10 | 1 | Tvorchi "Heart of Steel" |
Krutь "Kolyskova" |
Jerry Heil "When God Shut the Door" | |
| 2024 | 3 February 2024 | 11 | 1 | Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil "Teresa & Maria" |
Ziferblat "Place I Call Home" |
Mélovin "Dreamer" | |
| 2025 | 8 February 2025 | 10 | 1 | Ziferblat "Bird of Pray" |
Molodi "My Sea" |
Masha Kondratenko "No Time to Cry" | |
| 2026 | 7 February 2026 | 10 | 1 | Leléka "Ridnym" |
Laud "Lightkeeper" |
Jerry Heil "Catharticus (Prayer)" | |
2016
The final took place on 21 February 2016. The six entries that qualified from the semi-finals competed. The winner, "1944" performed by Jamala, was selected through the combination of votes from a public tele-vote and an expert jury. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher scores from the public tele-vote. "1944" is the first Eurovision Song Contest song to feature lyrics in the Crimean Tatar language. 382,602 votes were registered by the tele-vote during the show. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2016 Irish Eurovision entrant Nicky Byrne performed the 2016 Irish entry "Sunlight" as a guest.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Brunettes Shoot Blondes | "Every Monday" | 1 | 3.40% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | NuAngels | "Higher" | 3 | 5.94% | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | The Hardkiss | "Helpless" | 6 | 21.11% | 5 | 11 | 2 |
| 4 | Jamala | "1944" | 5 | 37.77% | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| 5 | Sunsay | "Love Manifest" | 4 | 18.20% | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| 6 | Pur:Pur | "We Do Change" | 2 | 13.58% | 3 | 5 | 4 |
2017
Final took place on 25 February 2017. Special guests included Alma, Manel Navarro, Tamara Gachechiladze, Naviband, and Kasia Moś.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Salto Nazad | "O, mamo!" | 1 | 11.35% | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Mélovin | "Wonder" | 2 | 31.22% | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| 3 | O.Torvald | "Time" | 5 | 25.57% | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| 4 | Illaria | "Thank You for My Way" | 4 | 7.43% | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Tayanna | "I Love You" | 6 | 16.69% | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| 6 | Rozhden | "Saturn" | 3 | 7.73% | 2 | 5 | 4 |
2018
Final took place on 24 February 2018. Special guests included Mikolas Josef and Madame Monsieur. 179,455 unique votes were received from SMS and App voting.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Kadnay | "Beat of the Universe" | 3 | 18.61% | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 2 | Tayanna | "Lelya" | 6 | 16.62% | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| 3 | The Erised | "Heroes" | 2 | 6.48% | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Laud | "Waiting" | 4 | 11.56% | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| 5 | Vilna | "Forest Song" | 1 | 12.92% | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Mélovin | "Under the Ladder" | 5 | 33.81% | 6 | 11 | 1 |
2019
The final took place on 23 February 2019 with special guests Lake Malawi and Bilal Hassani. More than 167,500 unique votes were received from SMS and app voting. Maruv was declared the winner after receiving the most votes among the six finalists. On 26 February 2019, three days after the final was aired, Ukraine withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 after Maruv and UA:PBC were unable to reach an agreement on her participation in the contest as a result of controversy.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Juries | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freedom Jazz | "Cupidon" | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| 2 | Yuko | "Galyna guliala" | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | Maruv | "Siren Song" | 5 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| 4 | Brunettes Shoot Blondes | "Houston" | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | Kazka | "Apart" | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 6 | Anna Maria | "My Road" | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
2020
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote (SMS) / App | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Krutь | "99" | 5 | 19.90% | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| 2 | Jerry Heil | "Vegan" | 1 | 7.00% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Go_A | "Solovey" | 6 | 25.43% | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| 4 | David Axelrod | "Horizon" | 3 | 11.30% | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Khayat | "Call for Love" | 4 | 20.93% | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | Tvorchi | "Bonfire" | 2 | 15.44% | 3 | 5 | 4 |
Following the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Go_A was internally re-selected to represent Ukraine in the 2021 edition, this time with the song "Shum".
2022
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote (SMS) / App | Total | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percentage | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Cloudless | "All Be Alright" | 1 | 3,410 | 4.81% | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | Michael Soul | "Demons" | 2 | 1,239 | 1.75% | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Our Atlantic | "Moia liubov" | 5 | 1,605 | 2.27% | 2 | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | Barleben | "Hear My Words" | 4 | 2,740 | 3.87% | 3 | 7 | 5 |
| 5 | Kalush Orchestra | "Stefania" | 6 | 31,634 | 44.66% | 8 | 14 | 2 |
| 6 | Roxolana | "Girlzzzz" | 3 | 5,034 | 7.11% | 5 | 8 | 4 |
| 7 | Wellboy | "Nozzy Bossy" | 7 | 5,642 | 7.96% | 6 | 13 | 3 |
| 8 | Alina Pash | "Tini zabutykh predkiv" | 8 | 19,535 | 27.58% | 7 | 15 | 1 |
Following controversy regarding her travel history, Alina Pash's status as a legitimate participant, and therefore winner, of Vidbir was challenged, which resulted in her participation being ceased by Suspilne as well as her withdrawal. The runner-up, Kalush Orchestra, was chosen as the Ukrainian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
2023
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Public vote (via Diia) | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Moisei | "I'm Not Alone" | 1 | 5,393 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | OY Sound System | "Oy, tuzhu" | 5 | 2,496 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| 3 | Demchuk | "Alive" | 7 | 3,936 | 4 | 11 | 5 |
| 4 | Jerry Heil | "When God Shut the Door" | 8 | 45,657 | 9 | 17 | 3 |
| 5 | Fiinka | "Dovbush" | 6 | 11,109 | 7 | 13 | 4 |
| 6 | Krutь | "Kolyskova" | 10 | 33,614 | 8 | 18 | 2 |
| 7 | Tember Blanche | "Ya vdoma" | 2 | 3,411 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 8 | Angelina | "Stronger" | 3 | 2,424 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 9 | 2Tone | "Kvitka" | 4 | 4,681 | 5 | 9 | 6 |
| 10 | Tvorchi | "Heart of Steel" | 9 | 54,041 | 10 | 19 | 1 |
2024
In this edition, the public determined a wildcard entry through an online vote. During the show, aired on 3 February 2024, the voting app crashed, causing the voting window to be extended to the following day.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Public vote (via Diia) | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Yaktak | "Lalala" | 6 | 107,227 | 10 | 16 | 4 |
| 2 | Ingret | "Keeper" | 8 | 15,238 | 2 | 10 | 6 |
| 3 | Nazva | "Slavic English" | 2 | 14,852 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 | Anka | "Palala" | 5 | 19,183 | 4 | 9 | 8 |
| 5 | Drevo | "Endless Chain" | 4 | 16,235 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 6 | Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil | "Teresa & Maria" | 10 | 723,297 | 11 | 21 | 1 |
| 7 | Mélovin | "Dreamer" | 9 | 82,838 | 9 | 18 | 3 |
| 8 | Skylerr | "Time Is Running Out" | 3 | 38,177 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| 9 | Ziferblat | "Place I Call Home" | 11 | 64,276 | 8 | 19 | 2 |
| 10 | Yagody | "Tsunamia" | 7 | 62,269 | 7 | 14 | 5 |
| 11 | Nahaba | "Glasss" | 1 | 23,593 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
2025
The final was held on 8 February 2025 with many veteran Ukrainian Eurovision performers as guests, including Alyona Alyona, Jamala, Jerry Heil, Kalush, Kateryna Pavlenko, Mélovin, Ruslana, Tina Karol, and Tvorchi. Artem Kotenko and Svitlana Tarabarova also performed "Hear Me Now," which finished in third place at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Public vote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Vlad Sheryf | "Wind of Change" | 1 | 2,302 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | Abiie | "Dim" | 2 | 5,595 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | Molodi | "My Sea" | 7 | 70,885 | 9 | 16 | 2 |
| 4 | Future Culture | "Waste My Time" | 5 | 2,338 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | Masha Kondratenko | "No Time to Cry" | 8 | 62,439 | 8 | 16 | 3 |
| 6 | Khayat | "Honor" | 10 | 44,299 | 6 | 16 | 4 |
| 7 | Fiїnka | "Kultura" | 6 | 52,858 | 7 | 13 | 5 |
| 8 | Krylata | "Stay True" | 4 | 11,726 | 4 | 8 | 7 |
| 9 | Ziferblat | "Bird of Pray" | 9 | 90,390 | 10 | 19 | 1 |
| 10 | DK Enerhetyk | "Sil" | 3 | 19,556 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
2026
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Public vote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Valeriya Force | "Open Our Hearts" | 4 | 8,571 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 2 | Molodi | "Legends" | 2 | 13,515 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 3 | Monokate | "Tut" | 6 | 12,902 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| 4 | The Elliens | "Crawling Whispers" | 1 | 16,003 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 5 | Laud | "Lightkeeper" | 9 | 37,863 | 9 | 18 | 2 |
| 6 | Leléka | "Ridnym" | 10 | 60,050 | 10 | 20 | 1 |
| 7 | Mr. Vel | "Do or Done" | 7 | 17,522 | 6 | 13 | 4 |
| 8 | Khayat | "Hertsy" | 5 | 19,007 | 7 | 12 | 5 |
| 9 | Jerry Heil | "Catharticus (Prayer)" | 8 | 35,721 | 8 | 16 | 3 |
| 10 | ShchukaRybа | "Moia zemlia" | 3 | 6,446 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
04Ratings
| Year | Semi-Final | Final | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Second | Third | |||
| 2016 | 9.7% | 10.3% | , N/a | 13.5% | |
| 2017 | 10.6% | 8.8% | 8.2% | 9.1% | |
| 2018 | 9.0% | 11.3% | , N/a | 13.9% | |
| 2019 | 10.8% | 11.1% | 13.1% | ||
| 2020 | 10.7% | 10.4% | 13.3% | ||
| 2022 | , N/a | 3.83% | |||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Vidbir”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Eurovision 2016 Ukraine national selection.jpg by Федя Кузнецов:), CC BY-SA 4.0
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