Spain

Last, but by all means, not least is Spain.  Debuting in Cannes in 1961, with Conchita Bautista's Estando Contigo, the country finished in the middle of the pack, and quickly found itself scoring its first nul point the next year in Luxembourg (a feat Spain repeated at the Naples Contest in 1965, with Conchita Bautista's Que Bueno, Que Bueno...the result of course was no bueno).  Spain somehow turned the tide on its rough start at Eurovision, and snagged its first win at the 1968 London Contest (held at the Royal Albert Hall and broadcast in color for the first time) with Massiel's La La La.

Thanks to Massiel's razor-slim win in London (she beat UK's Cliff Richard by one point), Madrid played host to the Contest in 1969, being represented by Salome's Vivo Cantando, which tied for first with three other countries (Lulu's Boom Bang-a-Bang from the UK, Lenny Kour's De Troubadour from the Netherlands, and Frida Boccara's Un Jour, Un Enfant from France), making Spain the first country to win two consecutive Contests (and the last time Spain took home the winners trophy).  [The next year the country was represented by a then unknown 27 year-old Julio Iglesias (YES, that one) and his soon to become hit song Gwendolyne, finishing the evening in Amsterdam in fourth place and launching Iglesias' international music career.]

Through the 70s, 80s and the early 90s, Spain fared well in the Contest, scoring a slew of 2nd finishes and one 3rd, but also suffering the indignity of another nul point in 1983 in Munich (bringing its total to three).  The rest of the time, the country mostly found itself in the Top Five or Top Ten of the Contest, though there were few occasions that the Spanish entry finished in the lower section of the scoreboard.  Spain also made history in the 1990 Zagreb Contest, as one of the three entries EVER to be allowed to perform their song again, when the live orchestra and recorded playback of Bandido did not sync correctly and made the singers of Azucar Moreno miss their cue (clip of whole performance below).

Two decades later, the Spanish entry was again granted a chance to redo their song in 2010 (the third and last time this exception was allowed), after Daniel Diges' performance of Algo pequenito was disrupted by notorious pitch invader Jimmy Jump on the Oslo stage.  Though the performers completed the song without being thrown by Jimmy Jump's intrusion (& subsequent removal from stage by security personnel), the Spanish entry was performed again before televoting began (finishing the night in 15th place).  Last year Spain bucked its last decade of floundering at the bottom of the scoreboard, to finally reach the Top Ten again with Pastora Soler's Quedate Conmigo.

This year's Spanish representatives comes in the form of El Sueno de Morfeo (or ESDM).  Hailing from the northern coast of Asturias, the band has been playing its mix of Celtic, folk rock and indie pop songs since 2002 and brings to Eurovision the hypnotic Contigo Hasta al Final ("With You Until the End"), highlighting their signature elements (including bagpipes and the almost required Spanish guitar).  [Full disclosure:  This is my favorite song this year and if this Contest did not suffer from its various skews, whether they be political or taste-related, I would be boldly declaring it as the impossible-to-beat & definitive 2013 winner.  Sadly, Dumbledore did not come back from the dead (*oh yeah, Harry Potter spoiler alert*) & make all those factors (dis)apparate into the depths of Hades, but I still think it is possible for this song to finish in the Top Five on Final night on May 18th.]  I mean...right?