Albania

Though initially planning to debut in 2003, Albania had to wait an additional year to send its first representative to the Eurovision Song Contest, because the number of applicant countries spiked suddenly in the early 2000s.  As a result the country officially entered the Contest in Istanbul, with Anjeza Shahini's The Image of You, clearing the newly introduced Semi Final in fourth place and finishing the Final in 7th (with a total of 106 points, including the country's first douze points from neighboring FYR of Macedonia).  The next few years were unkind to Albania, with the country floundering at the bottom of the scoreboard in the Finals (twice each in 16th and 17th places) or not making it out of the Semi Final (as was the case in 2006, 2007 and 2011), leaving the country's debut as its most successful entry.

Then came along Rona Nishliu, a singer with dreadlocks of questionable origin (there are still theories out there that the contraption on her head was old nautical rope), pushing out notes so high during her performance of Suus, that allegedly only dogs could hear:

Rona was born in what used to be Yugoslavia, in the now disputed territory of Kosovo (recognized as part of Serbia by half the world and seen as an independent nation with an Albanian majority by the other half), and became an Albanian citizen last year, in order to represent the country in Baku.  Her family had left their hometown of Titova Mitrovica in northern Kosovo for the now capital of Pristina, because of the rising political tensions between the Serbs and Albanians living there (it's the only part of Kosovo where Albanians are the minority).  Her song was dubbed a jazzy soul mix (though that designation is debatable) and did surprisingly well at the Contest last year, coming out of its Semi Final in second place and earning Albania its first Top Five finish (along with a record four douze points, including one from Italy).

This year, Albania comes back to the Contest with duo Adrian Lulgjuraj (singer) and Bledar Sejko (guitar player) and their song Identitet.  As was the case last year, the singer of this year's entry was born outside of country (this time, FYR Macedonia), but is of Albanian ethnicity and will be part of a first:  The country is being represented by a group at Eurovision and the second consecutive year that the country's entry will be sung in Albanian.  Given the other countries in the Second Semi Final, and those countries' likelihood of giving points to this entry (based on past votes), Albania is highly likely to advance to the Final in Malmo.  Here's the introductory video of this year's Albanian entry: