Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-Dutch singer Stefania was internally selected by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) to represent the nation with the song "Last Dance", written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Arcade, and Sharon Vaughn. Stefania was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Supergirl" before that event's eventual cancellation.
To promote the entry, a music video for the song was released and Stefania made appearances on Greek television and in print media. Greece performed fourth in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, held on 20 May 2021, and placed 6th, receiving 184 points. The entry qualified for the final held two days later, where the nation placed 10th with 170 points.
Background
Prior to the 2021 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 40 times since their debut in . The nation has won once, at the contest with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece managed to qualify for the final with each of their entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, the nation achieved nine top ten placements in the final. To this point, Greece in with Argo's "Utopian Land" failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, being absent from the final for the first time since 2000 and marking Greece's worst result at the contest. In the 2018 contest, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "" finishing 14th in the semi-final. Greece returned to the final in the 2019 contest with Katerine Duska and the song "Better Love", placing 21st with 74 points.
The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERT had been in charge of Greece's participation in the contest since their debut in 1974 until 2013, when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced with the interim (DT) and later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster. During this time, from 2013 through 2015, the Greek television station MAD TV organised the selection process. On 28 April 2015, a legislative proposal that resulted in the renaming of NERIT to ERT was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June 2015, and shortly after confirmed their intentions to once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Greek broadcaster has used various methods to select the nation's entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals, to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. On 18 March 2020, the day of the 2020 contest's cancellation, ERT was one of the first four broadcasters to confirm their participation in the next edition and to announce their continued cooperation with their 2020 artist, Stefania. Born in the Netherlands to a family with Greek ancestry, she had previously represented the Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as part of the group Kisses, placing eighth. At the age of 18, Stefania was the youngest participant selected to compete in the 2021 contest.
Before Eurovision
Song selection
With ERT opting to continue their cooperation with 2020 artist Stefania for 2021, it was announced that the same team responsible for the songwriting and the choreography of the 2020 entry would also be used for the 2021 contest, and that the song would be selected internally. On 14 December 2020, ERT revealed the names of the people who would comprise the jury panel involved with the selection of the song. The jury consisted of music composer and ERT board member Dimitris Papadimitriou, and music producers Petros Adam and Yiannis Petridis. All three were members of the previous year's jury panel. As it was announced, the jury panel planned to select the Greek entry before the start of 2021, while the song would not be released before March 2021.
Songwriters Dimitris Kontopoulos, the production team Arcade and Sharon Vaughn, submitted at least four potential entries to ERT for consideration. On 18 December 2020, an Instagram post by Stefania on the official account of the Eurovision Song Contest revealed the name of one of the song candidates, "Adrenaline". Three weeks later on 7 January 2021, "Last Dance" was announced as the title of selected song, with its release set for 10 March.