Albania

Albania is traditionally one of the very first countries that chooses their representative for Eurovision - already in December, during the annual Festivali i Kengës, a national music event that has existed since 1962 and has also served as the national pre-selection for Eurovision since the country's first participation in 2004. Oftentimes the winning song gets shortened (to fit the three minute rule) and revamped, and in some cases the Albanian lyrics are translated to English.
Albania got through the semi-finals in ten of their seventeen participations - note that their first participation was in the same year the semi-final was introduced - so in more than half of the cases the country secured a place in the Grand Final. On two occasions Albania even made the top 10: first with their debut entry in 2004, when Anjeza Shahini got seventh with her song The image of you, and second in 2012, when Rona Nishliu landed on the fifth spot with her song Suus - Albania's most successful entry to date.