Bulgaria has participated in the Contest 14 times since making its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kiev. Prior to this they participated as part of Yugoslavia.
Their best result to date was in 2017, when Kristian Kostov finished as runner up to Salvador Sobral with the song "Beautiful Mess". The country has also advanced from the semi finals on three other occasions - in 2007 in Helsinki, going on to finish in 5th place and in 2016 in Stockholm, finishing in 4th place and in 2018 in Lisbon, finishing in 14th place.
In October 2018, it was announced that they would not be taking part in the 2019 Contest in Tel Aviv due to financial reasons, marking the third time they would be absent, following their withdrawal in 2014 in Copenhagen and 2015 in Vienna. A year later, they announced their intention to participate in the 2020 Contest in Rotterdam.
On 8 April 2019, it was confirmed by the national broadcaster BNT that they would no longer participate in the Contest due to it no longer fitting the broadcaster's Contest strategy. However, it was later announced that its return would be dependent on the outcome of electing a new delegation and managing board.