Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song „Rändajad“ written by Sven Lõhmus. The song was performed by the group Urban Symphony. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2009 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. Ten songs competed in the national final and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury panel and a public vote selected the top two to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, „Rändajad“ performed by Urban Symphony was selected as the winner entirely by a public vote.
Estonia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 18, „Rändajad“ was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 16 May. This marked the first time that Estonia qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Estonia placed third out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 115 points. In the final, Estonia performed in position 15 and placed sixth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 129 points.
Eesti Laul 2009
Eesti Laul 2009 was the first edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 7 March 2009, broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV), via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Madis Kimmel and Margus Kamlat as well as streamed online at the broadcaster’s official website err.ee and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Competing entries
On 14 October 2008, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 8 December 2008. All artists and composers were required to have Estonian citizenship or be a permanent resident of Estonia. 110 submissions were received by the deadline. An 11-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Paar on 11 December 2008. The selection jury consisted of Timo Steiner (composer), Owe Petersell (Raadio Elmar chief editor), Siim Nestor (music critic), Toomas Puna (Raadio Sky+ program director), Erik Morna (Raadio 2 head of music), Ingrid Kohtla (Tallinn Music Week organiser), Kaupo Karelson (television producer), Valner Valme (music critic), Sten Sheripov (composer), Koit Raudsepp (Raadio 2 presenter) and Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week organiser).
Among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Laura, who represented Estonia in 2005 as part of the group Suntribe, and Lowry, who represented Estonia as member of 2XL in 2001 together with Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. Ithaka Maria, Kaire Vilgats, Lowry, Rolf Junior and Traffic have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Chalice and Maagiline kuues | „Nelikümmend“ | Jarek Kasar |
| Ithaka Maria | „One Last Dance“ | Pearu Paulus Ilmar Laisaar Alar Kotkas Marya Roxx |
| Janne Saar | „I Am Too Good for You“ | Vahur Valgmaa Janne Saar |
| Köök and Kaire Vilgats | „Üürnik“ | Jaan Pehk Madis Aesma |
| Laura | „Destiny“ | Sven Lõhmus |
| Lowry | „You Ain’t What I Need“ | Lauri Pihlap |
| Rolf Junior | „Fre:dom“ | Rolf Roosalu Maian Kärmas |
| StereoChemistry | „Öösiti kõndides“ | Holger Tilk |
| Traffic | „See päev“ | Stig Rästa Fred Krieger |
| Urban Symphony | „Rändajad“ | Sven Lõhmus |
Final
The final took place on 7 March 2009 at the ERR studios in Tallinn, hosted by Henry Kõrvits and Robert Kõrvits. Ten songs competed during the show and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top two entries to proceed to the superfinal. The public vote in the first round registered 22,809 votes. In the superfinal, „Rändajad“ performed by Urban Symphony was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The public televote in the superfinal registered 26,475 votes. The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Anne Erm (composer), Jaanus Nõgisto (musician), Birgit Õigemeel (singer), Siim Nestor (music critic), Mare Väljataga (singer), Owe Petersell (Raadio Elmar chief editor), Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week organiser), Ardo Ran Varres (composer), Marju Marynel Kuut (singer), Erik Morna (Raadio 2 head of music) and Jaagup Kreem (musician).
Final – 7 March 2009
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Jury | Televote | Televote | Total | Place |
| Votes | Points | Votes | Points | |||||
| 1 | Lowry | „You Ain’t What I Need“ | 64 | 6 | 1,451 | 8 | 14 | 4 |
| 2 | Janne Saar | „I Am Too Good for You“ | 64 | 8 | 846 | 4 | 12 | 5 |
| 3 | StereoChemistry | „Öösiti kõndides“ | 50 | 2 | 360 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Urban Symphony | „Rändajad“ | 78 | 10 | 7,734 | 9 | 19 | 1 |
| 5 | Chalice and Maagiline kuues | „Nelikümmend“ | 61 | 3 | 852 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
| 6 | Köök and Kaire Vilgats | „Üürnik“ | 62 | 4 | 534 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 7 | Rolf Junior | „Fre:dom“ | 33 | 1 | 1,013 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 8 | Traffic | „See päev“ | 67 | 9 | 1,275 | 7 | 16 | 2 |
| 9 | Ithaka Maria | „One Last Dance“ | 64 | 7 | 778 | 3 | 10 | 6 |
| 10 | Laura | „Destiny“ | 62 | 5 | 7,966 | 10 | 15 | 3 |