He represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "Space Man" and finished first in the jury vote, and second overall.
Sam Ryder is a big fan of Eurovision and has memories of watching the contest with his family while growing up in the Essex countryside. His musical awakening occurred in his early teens when after a trip to a nunnery he discovered an album of British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
He revealed that he was inspired to learn how to play the guitar after the Finnish rock band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.
Ryder rose to prominence through TikTok where, starting with the first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, he began posting his music covers. He caught the attention of musicians such as Sia, Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys and Elton John. By the end of the same year, he became the most-followed UK artist on the platform. He later signed a record contract with Parlophone. In 2021, he released his debut EP, The Sun's Gonna Rise, which has received over 100 million global streams. It was followed up with a sold-out tour.
On 12 May 2022, the BBC aired a documentary on BBC iPlayer and YouTube which detailed Ryder's journey to Eurovision. Sam Ryder also won a Marcel Bezençon Press Award, becoming the first UK act to win a Bezençon Award. At the Eurovision final in Turin, Italy, he finished in second place with 466 points, becoming the highest-scoring UK Eurovision entrant. He won the jury vote and also scored the UK its best result since 1998 and its first top three since 2002. After the contest, "Space Man" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the highest-charting UK Eurovision entry since Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" in 1996.
In June 2022, Ryder performed "Space Man" at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee concert, Platinum Party at the Palace, and at Capital's Summertime Ball. In the same month, he was also featured on the British reality series Celebrity Gogglebox and a new Dutch entertainment show called, Hit It, in the Netherlands.
In July 2022, he performed the British national anthem at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Between July and August, Sam Ryder performed at festivals and gigs across the summer, including in the US and South Korea.