Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

has officially participated in every

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

since its inaugural edition in , except in when its entry did not qualify past the audio-only pre-selection round, and consequently was not seen in the broadcast final and does not count as one of Germany's 65 appearances. No other country has been represented as many times. Along with , , and the , Germany is one of the " Big Five" countries that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to being the largest financial contributors to the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU). The final is broadcast in Germany on ARD's flagship channel, . Germany first won the contest in , when

Nicole Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Euro ...

won with "

Ein bißchen Frieden "Ein bißchen Frieden" (; "A Bit of Peace") is a German-language song, written by prolific German Eurovision-writing duo Ralph Siegel (music) and Bernd Meinunger (lyrics) for the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, held in Harrogate, United Kingdo ...

". The second German victory came 28 years later at the contest, when

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

won with "

Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

Katja Ebstein Katja Ebstein (born Karin Witkiewicz; 9 March 1945) is a German singer. She was born in Girlachsdorf (now Gniewków, Poland). She achieved success with songs such as "Theater (song), Theater" and "Es war einmal ein Jäger". She was married to , w ...

, who finished third in and , then second in , is the only performer to have made the top three on three occasions. Germany has a total of 11 top three placements, also finishing second with

Lena Valaitis Lena Valaitis (born 7 September 1943) is a Lithuanian–German schlager singer who had her greatest success during the 1970s and 1980s. She finished second at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest. Early life and education Valaitis was born on 7 Se ...

() and twice with the group

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

( 1985 and 1987), and finishing third with

Mary Roos Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on 9 January 1949) is a German singer and actress. Biography 1949-1970 Schwab was born in Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gemütlich" as ''Die kleine Rosemarie ...

(

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Mekado MeKaDo was a German girl group that represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory a ...

(

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

) and

Sürpriz Sürpriz were a six-member German- Turkish musical group, consisting of Cihan Özden, Deniz Filizmen, Yasemin Akkar, Filiz Zeyno, Savaş Uçar and Bülent Ural, known for their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. The word "Sürpriz", ...

( 1999). Germany has finished last on eight occasions, receiving ''

nul points The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the , and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set f ...

'' in , and . While having not reached the top-ten in 13 of the last 18 contests (2005–22), Michael Schulte achieved Germany's second-best result of the 21st century, by finishing fourth at the contest. Although German contestants have had varied levels of success, public interest remains high and the contest is one of the most-watched events each year.

History

The Federal Republic of Germany has participated in the contest since its inception in . Germany participated in the first edition in 1956, but their placement in the contest is not recorded as only the winner, Switzerland, was announced. Before

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, the country was occasionally presented as "

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

". The German Democratic Republic (

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

) did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, and instead took part in the

Intervision Song Contest The Intervision Song Contest (ISC) was an international song contest for artists from countries of the former Soviet Union and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It was previously the " Eastern Bloc equivalent to the Eurovision ...

. With one win () and four second-place results (, , and ), Germany is the second most successful country in the contest in the 1980s, behind Ireland, who had two wins in the decade.

1996 absence

ARD had selected an artist and song to represent them at the , to be held in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. Due to the large number of countries wanting to compete at Eurovision, the EBU determined that only 23 of the 30 countries could compete. Hosts Norway qualified automatically, the other 29 songs went into an audio-only pre-qualification round, with the top 22 going on to compete alongside Norway in Oslo. Unfortunately for Germany, its entry,

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

with "Planet of Blue", failed to earn enough points to progress to the final, finishing 24th. ARD and the EBU were not happy with this, as Germany was the biggest financial contributor at the time. This is the only time that Germany has been absent from the contest.

2000s

In the 2000s, Germany has been notable for their adoption of musical styles which are not typical of Eurovision, such as country and western ( Texas Lightning – "

No No Never "No No Never" was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in English by Texas Lightning. While Germany had finished the 2005 contest in last place, their position as one of the Contest's " Big Four" (along with the , and ) ...

" in ) and swing (

Roger Cicero Roger Marcel Cicero Ciceu (6 July 1970 – 24 March 2016) was a German jazz and pop musician. Biography Roger Cicero was born in 1970 in Berlin to Romanian jazz pianist Eugen Cicero and dancer Lili Cziczeo. Cicero represented Germany at the E ...

– "" in and Alex Swings Oscar Sings – "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" in ). Germany had some successes throughout the decade, Lou - "Let's Get Happy" came in 11th place out of 26 in . Germany tied for last in for points, but was awarded 23rd of 25 places when the results were posted. In 2009, ARD held an internal selection for the first time since 1995 due to lack of interest and viewing figures of the German national finals.

Alex Christensen Alex Christensen (born 7 April 1967), also known by his stage names Jasper Forks or Alex C., is a German dance music producer, songwriter, and DJ generally known as the face and one of the founding members of U96. Since 2002, he has been coll ...

and Oscar Loya were selected to represent Germany at the 2009 contest, where they performed on stage with burlesque artist

Dita Von Teese Heather Renée Sweet (born September 28, 1972), known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, and businesswoman. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Que ...

. However they only managed to receive 35 points, placing 20th of 25 competing countries.

2010s

In , ARD approached former entrant and songwriter Stefan Raab and private network

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

to co-operate in finding a winning entry for the country. It has been said that Raab was approached due to his good record at the contest, finishing 5th in as well as writing entries in and , which finished 7th and 8th, respectively. Raab agreed and conducted a TV casting show called which was broadcast on ARD and ProSieben. A winner arose in Lena Meyer-Landrut with "

", who went on to win the contest. Two further collaborations with ProSieben provided the second and third top ten result in a row respectively in (Lena, who returned to defend her title with "

Taken by a Stranger "Taken by a Stranger" is a song recorded by German singer Lena for her second studio album '' Good News'' (2011), released as a CD single on 22 February 2011 by We Love Music. Gus Seyffert, Nicole Morier and Monica Birkenes wrote the song, wh ...

") and (

Roman Lob Roman Lob (born 2 July 1990) is a German singer-songwriter. In January and February 2012, Lob was a contestant in the German TV show '' Unser Star für Baku'', produced by the German broadcasting stations Pro7 and Das Erste. He is also the lead s ...

with "Standing Still"). The streak of top 10 finishes was broken in the contest, when

Cascada Cascada (, Spanish for "Waterfall", stylized as CASCADA, CASC''A''DA and cascada) is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They are best known for their hit singles " Every ...

's song " Glorious" finished 21st with 18 points. The group

Elaiza Elaiza () is a German band from Berlin that represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with their song " Is It Right". The leader of the group is Elżbieta "Ela" Steinmetz. She was born in Ukraine and is of m ...

in ,

Ann Sophie Ann-Sophie Dürmeyer (born 1 September 1990), better known as simply Ann Sophie, is a German singer and songwriter. She represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song " Black Smoke". Her latest single "Phantom Pain" was rel ...

in , Jamie-Lee in and Levina in finished in 18th, 27th (last), 26th (last) and 25th (second to last) place respectively. Ann Sophie became the country's third entry to finish with ''nul points'', after

Nora Nova Ahinora Kumanova ( bg, Ахинора Куманова; 8 May 1928 – 9 February 2022), better known by the stage name of Nora Nova, was a Bulgarian and German singer. She was the first Bulgarian to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in ...

in and

Ulla Wiesner Ulla Wiesner (born 12 December 1940) is a German singer. Wiesner was active from 1963 to 2002 as a singer. In 1965, she represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, with her song, " Paradies, wo bist du?" (''Paradise, where are you?''). ...

in , and the first since the introduction of the current scoring system in 1975. Germany's luck changed in , when Michael Schulte brought them back to the top 5 for the first time since 2010 with "You Let Me Walk Alone", finishing in fourth place. This is the first time since 2012 that more than one country from the "Big Five" has made the top ten (with Italy finishing fifth) and the second time (after 2002) that two "Big Five" countries have made the top five since the establishment of the rule. , the duo

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

with the song "Sister" was not able to replicate the same success, receiving no points from the televote to finish in 25th place overall with 24 points.

2020s

Two further bottom five results were recorded by Germany at the start of the decade, that of Jendrik in (also receiving no points from the televote) and

Malik Harris Malik Harris (born 27 August 1997) is a German singer. He Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "Rockstars (Malik Harris song), Rockstars", and finished in last place wit ...

in (receiving no points from the juries).

Organisation

Since 1996, ARD consortium member (NDR) has been responsible for Germany's participation in the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest semi-final is broadcast on ( One and

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in recent years), and the final is broadcast on , the flagship channel of ARD. The German representative in the contest is usually chosen during a national selection, broadcast on , which is organized by one of the nine regional public broadcasting organizations of the ARD: from 1956 to 1978, (HR); from 1979 to 1991, (BR); from 1992 to 1995, by (MDR); and since 1996, by (NDR). Between 2010 and 2012, private broadcaster worked in partnership with NDR. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year, by (DLF) and from 1970 to 1979,

hr3 hr3 is a German, public radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radi ...

from 1980 to 1985, 1991 to 94, 2007 and 2011 (both stations in 1983), NDR Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, 1995 to 2006 and 2008–13, and WDR1LIVE in 2011. Since 2010, production company Brainpool, which also co-produced the in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

and the in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, has worked with NDR to co-produce the German national finals. Germany has often changed the selection process for the country's entry in the contest, with both national finals and internal selections (occasionally a combination of both formats) having been held.

Germany and the "Big Five"

Since 1999, Germany, along with , and the , have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. These countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the " Big Four". In 2008, it was reported that the "Big Four" could lose their status and be forced to compete in the semi-finals; however, this never materialised, and the rule remained in place. When

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

returned to the contest in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, it was given the same untouchable status, thus upgrading the countries to members of a "Big Five". Germany was the first Big Five country to win the contest after the rule was introduced, courtesy of

in . In terms of success, they are currently second behind Italy, who won in with

Måneskin Måneskin are an Italian rock band formed in Rome in 2016. The band are composed of vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchio. Performing in the streets in their early days, they rose ...

, and finished second in with

Raphael Gualazzi Raffaele Gualazzi (born 11 November 1981), better known as Raphael Gualazzi, is an Italian singer and pianist. He was born in Urbino. Biography ''Love Outside the Window'' On 16 September 2005, Gualazzi released his first studio album, titled '' ...

and again in with

Mahmood Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 19 ...

. However, taking into account Italy’s absence from the contest for the first eleven years of the rule’s existence, Germany remains the only country to have won out of the original "Big Four".

Participation overview

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

Hostings

Awards

Barbara Dex Award

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years, commentary on ARD has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Ado Schlier,

Thomas Gottschalk Thomas Johannes Gottschalk (born 18 May 1950) is a German radio and television host and entertainer. He is best known for hosting '' Wetten, dass..?'', for many years Europe's biggest television show, which he steered to huge success in Germany, ...

Jan Hofer Jan Hofer (born 31 January 195?) is a German broadcast newsreader and television presenter. He was a well-known and popular reader of the news programme '' Tagesschau'' on Das Erste. Hofer was the chief reader on ''Tagesschau'' from 2004 until ...

Wolf Mittler Wolf Mittler (1 January 1918 – 11 November 2002) was a German radio host and journalist who was known as one of the persons associated with the nickname Lord Haw-Haw. He has been described by one author as "a blond Polish-German Anglophile playb ...

Fritz Egner Fritz Egner (born 3 August 1949 in Munich) is a Germany, German broadcaster. After working for the American Forces Network, AFN in the early 1970s, Egner joint the regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1978, alongside his two friends and c ...

and

Werner Veigel Werner Veigel (9 November 1928 – 2 May 1995) was a Dutch-born German journalist and news presenter. Veigel was born in The Hague, the son of a German salesman. After his education he successfully completed a sales trainee ship in a trav ...

. Peter Urban has provided commentary on Das Erste every year since 1997, and has only been absent once, in 2009, when he was forced to step down due to illness, with DJ

Tim Frühling Tim Frühling (born 29 July 1975 in Wolfenbüttel) is a German disc jockey and Radio personality for Hessischer Rundfunk. Between 1998 and 2003 hr XXL before working for You FM and between the years of 2000 and 2003 and from 2005 and 2008 Frü ...

from HR filling in to commentate at Moscow. For the later-cancelled contest, Michael Schulte was set to commentate together with Urban. Both commentated the official EBU replacement show '' Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light'' instead, as well as the German replacement show '' Eurovision 2020 – das deutsche Finale'' from the

Elbphilharmonie The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is among the largest in the world. The new glassy con ...

in Hamburg.

Other shows

Photogallery

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1958 - Margot Hielscher.png,

Margot Hielscher Margot Hielscher (29 September 1919 – 20 August 2017) was a German singer and film actress. She appeared in over fifty films between and 1939 and 1994. Hielscher was born in Berlin. In 1957, she was chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovis ...

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

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Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

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Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

() File:No Angels - ESC 2008.jpg,

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season o ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

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Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

Sings in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

() File:Lena Oslo3.jpg,

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(middle) in

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Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

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Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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() File:ESC2016 - Germany 01.jpg, Jamie-Lee in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

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Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

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Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

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Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

() File:ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Germany.jpg, Jendrik in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

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Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Eurovision Club Germany

OGAE Germany
{{Authority control Music competitions in Germany Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest