Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Prior to the 2021 Contest, Serbia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 2007, winning the contest with their debut entry "Molitva" performed by Marija Šerifović.[2] Since 2007, nine out of twelve of Serbia's entries have featured in the final with the nation failing to qualify in 2009, 2013 and in 2017, missing out 2014 contest.

The Serbian national broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), broadcasts the event within Serbia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTS confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 31 August 2020.[3] Between 2007 and 2009, Serbia used the Beovizija national final in order to select their entry. However, after their 2009 entry, "Cipela" performed by Marko Kon and Milaan, failed to qualify Serbia to the final, the broadcaster shifted their selection strategy to selecting specific composers to create songs for artists. In 2010, RTS selected Goran Bregović to compose songs for a national final featuring three artists, while in 2011 Kornelije Kovač, Aleksandra Kovač and Kristina Kovač were tasked with composing one song each. In 2012, the internal selection of Željko Joksimović and the song "Nije ljubav stvar" secured the country's second highest placing in the contest to this point, placing third. In 2013, RTS returned to an open national final format and organized the Beosong competition. The winning entry, "Ljubav je svuda" performed by Moje 3, failed to qualify Serbia to the final at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. In 2015, RTS selected Vladimir Graić, the composer of Serbia's 2007 Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "Molitva", to compose songs for a national final featuring three artists.[4] After two internal selections in 2016 and 2017, RTS announced that Beovizija would return as a national selection in 2018, and was subsequently used for 2019 and 2020.

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are 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. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used for 2021 contest. Serbia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[6]

• Official RTS Eurovision site