Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since its debut at the. Since then it has missed five contests (,, , , and ). The current Portuguese participant broadcaster in the contest is Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), which select its entrant with the national selection Festival da Canção. Portugal won the contest for the first time in and hosted the  contest in Lisbon.

Portugal finished last on its debut in 1964 and again in, before achieving its best result of the 20th century in , with "O meu coração não tem cor" performed by Lúcia Moniz finishing sixth. The country then finished last for the third time in. Having not appeared in the final since and as holders of the record for most appearances in the contest without a win, Portugal won at the 49th attempt, when "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral won the 2017 contest, Portugal's first top-five result in the contest. As hosts in 2018, the country finished last in the contest for a fourth time.

History
Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Portugal since its in 1964. Since 2004, after a restructuring that led to the incorporation of RTP into the current Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), it is the latter who participates representing Portugal.

Portugal's debut entry was "Oração" by António Calvário. It was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then, Portugal has come last on three further occasions, in with "E depois do adeus" by Paulo de Carvalho, in  with "Antes do adeus" by Célia Lawson, and in  as a host country. Despite its last-place finish in the contest, "E depois do adeus" gained notability for being used as the radio musical signal to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime, being played at 22:55 on 24 April 1974. Prior to its sixth-place finish for "O meu coração não tem cor" by Lúcia Moniz in, Portugal's best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in and José Cid in. Despite prior poor results, the 1990s were the most successful decade for the country, with four recorded finishes in the top 10. Portugal was relegated in 2000 due to insufficient points accrued, and withdrew in 2002 due to financial difficulties (allowing Latvia, who ultimately won, to compete).

Since semi-finals were introduced in, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. In, "Senhora do mar" by Vânia Fernandes finished 13th, Portugal's best result since 1996. The country continued to be present in the final until 2010. In, Portugal reached the finals with "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral, ending a 6-year non-appearance in the finals, as it did not participate in the contest in 2013 and 2016 and did not qualify for the finals in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, finally winning the contest for the first time ever, earning 758 points, setting the record for the highest number of points in the history of the competition, topping both the televoting and jury voting for the first time since 's "Rise Like a Phoenix" in. It was the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since 's "Molitva" in. As the host country in, Portugal came last for the fourth time in the contest, and for the first time in a non-joint last position. This was the third instance of a host country placing in the bottom five since. Following a non-qualification in, Portugal recorded a 12th-place finish in , a ninth-place finish in , a 23rd-place finish in , and a tenth-place finish in.

Absences
Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation. The country's first absence was in, where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner.

Portugal missed the due to their poor average results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, and was replaced by eventual winner Latvia.

The fourth absence was in, when Portugal didn't participate for financial reasons.

The fifth absence was in. RTP stated that this break was needed in order to facilitate a content renewal for its national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Festival da Canção.

Festival da Canção
Festival da Canção (sometimes referred to as "Festival RTP da Canção") is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held between February and March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods. Previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however, the winner has been selected through televoting in recent years. In 2009, 2010 and since 2017, a 50/50 system between regional juries and televoting has been used.

In the years when Portugal does not participate in the contest, Festival da Canção was not held, except in two occasions: in 1970, when Portugal boycotted the contest, and in 2000, when the country was relegated.

Conductors
Additionally, there was an orchestra present at the Portuguese national final in 1999 and 2001, where the winning entries were conducted by José Marinho and Rui Filipe Reis, respectively.