Yugoslavia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "", written by Ranko Boban, and performed by Seid MemiÃÂ Vajta. The Yugoslav participating broadcaster, (JRT), selected its entry through 1981.
After a four-year break, (JRT) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981.
RTV Belgrade staged the Yugoslav national final, 1981, on 28 February at its television studios in Belgrade, hosted by Minja Subota and Helga VlahoviÃÂ. Each of the eight JRT participating sub-national broadcasters (RTV Sarajevo, RTV Skopje, RTV Novi Sad, RTV Titograd, RTV Zagreb, RTV Belgrade, RTV Ljubljana, and RTV Pristina) entered two songs to , making a national final of sixteen songs. The winner was decided by the votes of the regional juries of the eight broadcasters, which could not vote for their own entries.
The winner was "Lejla" representing RTV Sarajevo, written by Ranko Boban, and performed by Seid MemiÃÂ Vajta.
The contest was broadcast on , TV Zagreb 1, TV Novi Sad, and TV Prishtina, all with commentary provided by Minja Subota and Helga VlahoviÃÂ, as well as TV Ljubljana 1.
Yugoslavia performed 7th on the night of the contest, following Denmark and preceding Finland. At the close of voting it had received 35 points, placing 15th out of 20 contestants. The Yugoslav jury awarded its 12 points to Switzerland.