Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest

Germany has been represented at every Eurovision Song Contest since its inaugural edition in Template:Escyr, except in Template:Escyr when its entry did not qualify past the audio-only pre-selection round, and consequently did not enter the final and does not count as one of its 68 appearances. No other country has been represented as many times. Along with Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, and the Template:Esccnty, Germany is one of the "Big Five" countries that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to their participating broadcasters being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The German participating broadcaster in the contest is ARD,Template:Efn who has delegated its participation to different members of the consortium over the years.

Germany first won the contest in Template:Escyr with "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. The second German victory came 28 years later at the Template:Escyr contest, when "Satellite" performed by Lena won. Katja Ebstein, who finished third in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr, then second in Template:Escyr, 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 (Template:Escyr) and twice with the group Wind (1985 and 1987), and finishing third with Mary Roos (1972), Mekado (1994) and Sürpriz (1999). Germany has finished last on nine occasions, receiving nul points in Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr.

While having not reached the top ten in 15 of the last 20 contests (2005–2025), Michael Schulte achieved Germany's second-best result of the 21st century, by finishing fourth at the Template:Escyr 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 Template:Escyr. Before German reunification in 1990, the country was occasionally presented as "West Germany". The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, and instead took part in the Intervision Song Contest.

With one win (Template:Escyr) and four second-place results (Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr, and Template:Escyr), Germany was 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 Template:Escyr, to be held in Oslo, 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 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" in Template:Escyr) and swing (Roger Cicero – "" in Template:Escyr and Alex Swings Oscar Sings – "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" in Template:Escyr). Germany had some successes throughout the decade, Lou - "Let's Get Happy" came in 11th place out of 26 in Template:Escyr and Stefan Raab came 5th in 2000, which was Germany's best placement during the 2000's. Germany tied for last in Template:Escyr 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 and Oscar Loya were selected to represent Germany at the 2009 contest, where they performed on stage with burlesque artist Dita Von Teese. However they only managed to receive 35 points, placing 20th of 25 competing countries.

2010s

In Template:Escyr, ARD approached former entrant and songwriter Stefan Raab and private network ProSieben 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 Template:Escyr as well as writing entries in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr, 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 "Satellite", 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 Template:Escyr (Lena, who returned to defend her title with "Taken by a Stranger") and Template:Escyr (Roman Lob with "Standing Still").

The streak of top 10 finishes was broken in the Template:Escyr contest, when Cascada's song "Glorious" finished 21st with 18 points. The group Elaiza in Template:Escyr, Ann Sophie in Template:Escyr, Jamie-Lee in Template:Escyr and Levina in Template:Escyr 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 in Template:Escyr and Ulla Wiesner in Template:Escyr, and the first since the introduction of the current scoring system in 1975.

Germany's luck changed in Template:Escyr, 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. Template:Escyr, the duo Sisters with the song "Sister" was not able to replicate the same success, receiving no points from the televote and finishing in 25th place with 24 points.

2020s

Three further bottom five results were recorded by Germany at the start of the decade, that of Jendrik in Template:Escyr (also receiving no points from the televote), Malik Harris in Template:Escyr (receiving no points from the juries) and Lord of the Lost in Template:Escyr. This streak was broken by Isaak, whose entry "Always on the Run" placed 12th in Template:Escyr with 117 points, and Abor & Tynna, whose entry "Baller" placed 15th with 151 points in Template:Escyr.

Organisation

ARD consortium member (SWR) is participating in the contest representing Germany for Template:Escyr onwards. The responsibility within the consortium for the participation in the contest has changed hands between its different members over the years:

• Nord-und Westdeutscher Rundfunkverband (NWRV)Template:Snd1956
• (HR)Template:Snd1957, 1959–1961, 1963–1964, 1966–1971, 1973–1977
• (WDR)Template:Snd1958
• (SWF)Template:Snd1962, 1978
• (NDR)Template:Snd1965, 1996–2025
• (SFB)Template:Snd1972, 1991
• (BR)Template:Snd1979–1990
• (MDR)Template:Snd1992–1995
• (SWR)Template:Snd2026

In 1991, SFB worked in partnership with the East German broadcaster Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF) to select the German entry for that year's contest. Between 2010 and 2012, private broadcaster worked in partnership with NDR. In 2025, RTL Deutschland partnered with NDR.

The process to select the German entry in the contest has changed over the years, 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 Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty and the Template:Esccnty, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. The participating broadcasters from 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 returned to the contest in 2011, it was given the same status, resulting in the countries becoming members of a "Big Five".

Germany was the first Big Five country to win the contest after the rule was introduced, courtesy of Lena in Template:Escyr. In terms of success, it is currently second behind Italy, which won in Template:Escyr with Måneskin, and finished second in Template:Escyr with Raphael Gualazzi and again in Template:Escyr with Mahmood. However, taking into account Italy's absence from the contest for the first 11 years of the rule's existence, Germany remains the only country to have won out of the original "Big Four".

Participation overview

Table key

1	First place
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming event

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
Template:Escyr	Walter Andreas Schwarz	""	German	rowspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	rowspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	colspan="2" rowspan="38" data-sort-value="99999" Template:N/A
	Freddy Quinn	""	German
Template:Escyr	Margot Hielscher	""	German	4	8
Template:Escyr	Margot Hielscher	""	German	7	5
Template:Escyr	Alice and Ellen Kessler	""	German	8	5
Template:Escyr	Wyn Hoop	""	German	4	11
Template:Escyr	Lale Andersen	""	German, French	13	3
Template:Escyr	Conny Froboess	""	German	6	9
Template:Escyr	Heidi Brühl	""	German	9	5
Template:Escyr	Nora Nova	""	German	13 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Ulla Wiesner	""	German	15 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Margot Eskens	""	German	10	7
Template:Escyr	Inge Brück	"Anouschka"	German	8	7
Template:Escyr	Wencke Myhre	""	German	6	11
Template:Escyr	Siw Malmkvist	""	German	9	8
Template:Escyr	Katja Ebstein	""	German	3	12
Template:Escyr	Katja Ebstein	""	German	3	100
Template:Escyr	Mary Roos	""	German	3	107
Template:Escyr	Gitte	""	German	8	85
Template:Escyr	Cindy and Bert	""	German	14 ◁	3
Template:Escyr	Joy Fleming	""	German, English	17	15
Template:Escyr	Les Humphries Singers	""	German	15	12
Template:Escyr	Silver Convention	"Telegram"	English	8	55
Template:Escyr	Ireen Sheer	""	German	6	84
Template:Escyr	Dschinghis Khan	""	German	4	86
Template:Escyr	Katja Ebstein	""	German	2	128
Template:Escyr	Lena Valaitis	"Johnny Blue"	German	2	132
Template:Escyr	Nicole	""	German	1	161
Template:Escyr	Hoffmann & Hoffmann	""	German	5	94
Template:Escyr	Mary Roos	""	German	13	34
Template:Escyr	Wind	""	German	2	105
Template:Escyr	Ingrid Peters	""	German	8	62
Template:Escyr	Wind	""	German	2	141
Template:Escyr	Maxi and Chris Garden	""	German	14	48
Template:Escyr	Nino de Angelo	""	German	14	46
Template:Escyr	Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac	""	German	9	60
Template:Escyr	Atlantis 2000	""	German	18	10
Template:Escyr	Wind	""	German	16	27
Template:Escyr	Münchener Freiheit	""	German	18	18	colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Mekado	""	German	3	128	colspan="2" rowspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Stone and Stone	""	German	23 ◁	1
Template:Escyr	Leon	"Planet of Blue"	German	colspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn X	24	24
Template:Escyr	Bianca Shomburg	""	German	18	22	colspan="2" rowspan="7" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Guildo Horn	""	German	7	86
Template:Escyr	Sürpriz	"Journey to Jerusalem – Kudüs'e Seyahat"	German, Turkish, English	3	140
Template:Escyr	Stefan Raab	""	German, English	5	96
Template:Escyr	Michelle	""	German, English	8	66
Template:Escyr	Corinna May	"I Can't Live Without Music"	English	21	17
Template:Escyr	Lou	"Let's Get Happy"	English	11	53
Template:Escyr	Max	"Can't Wait Until Tonight"	English, Turkish	8	93	colspan="2" rowspan="7" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Gracia	"Run & Hide"	English	24 ◁	4
Template:Escyr	Texas Lightning	"No No Never"	English	14	36
Template:Escyr	Roger Cicero	""	German, English	19	49
Template:Escyr	No Angels	"Disappear"	English	23	14
Template:Escyr	Alex Swings Oscar Sings!	"Miss Kiss Kiss Bang"	English	20	35
Template:Escyr	Lena	"Satellite"	English	1	246
Template:Escyr	Lena	"Taken by a Stranger"	English	10	107	colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Roman Lob	"Standing Still"	English	8	110	colspan="2" rowspan="15" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Cascada	"Glorious"	English	21	18
Template:Escyr	Elaiza	"Is It Right"	English	18	39
Template:Escyr	Ann Sophie	"Black Smoke"	English	27 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Jamie-Lee	"Ghost"	English	26 ◁	11
Template:Escyr	Levina	"Perfect Life"	English	25	6
Template:Escyr	Michael Schulte	"You Let Me Walk Alone"	English	4	340
Template:Escyr	S!sters	"Sister"	English	25	24
Template:Escyr	Ben Dolic	"Violent Thing"	English	colspan="2" Template:N/ATemplate:Efn X
Template:Escyr	Jendrik	"I Don't Feel Hate"	English	25	3
Template:Escyr	Malik Harris	"Rockstars"	English	25 ◁	6
Template:Escyr	Lord of the Lost	"Blood & Glitter"	English	26 ◁	18
Template:Escyr	Isaak	"Always on the Run"	English	12	117
Template:Escyr	Abor & Tynna	"Baller"	German	15	151
Template:Escyr	Confirmed intention to participate †

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Artist	Song	Language	At Congratulations				At Eurovision
			Final	Points	Semi	Points	Year	Place	Points
Nicole	""	German	colspan="2" Template:N/A	7	106	Template:Escyr	1	161

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenter(s)
Template:Escyr	Frankfurt	Großer Sendesaal	Anaid Iplicjian
Template:Escyr	Munich	Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle	Marlene Charell
Template:Escyr	Düsseldorf	Esprit Arena	Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab

Awards

Barbara Dex Award

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Guildo Horn	Template:Flagicon Birmingham

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	ConductorTemplate:Efn	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Fernando Paggi	Template:N/A	Host conductor
Template:Escyr	Willy Berking		Template:Efn
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Dolf van der Linden	rowspan="25" Template:N/A	Host conductor
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Franck Pourcel
Template:Escyr	Franz Josef Breuer
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Franck Pourcel	Host conductor
Template:Escyr	Rolf-Hans Müller
Template:Escyr	Willy Berking
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Alfred Hause
Template:Escyr	Willy Berking
Template:Escyr	Hans Blum
Template:Escyr	Horst Jankowski
Template:Escyr	Hans Blum
Template:Escyr	Christian Bruhn
Template:Escyr	Dieter Zimmermann
Template:Escyr	Paul Kuhn
Template:Escyr	Günther-Eric Thöner
Template:Escyr	Werner Scharfenberger
Template:Escyr	Rainer Pietsch
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Les Humphries
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Ronnie Hazlehurst	Host conductor
Template:Escyr	Jean Frankfurter
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Norbert Daum
Template:Escyr	Wolfgang Rödelberger
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Norbert Daum
Template:Escyr	Dieter Reith
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Pierre Cao	rowspan="14" Template:N/A		Host conductor
Template:Escyr	Rainer Pietsch
Template:Escyr	Hans Blum
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon László Bencker
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Michael Thatcher
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Rainer Pietsch
Template:Escyr	Hermann Weindorf
Template:Escyr	Template:Flagicon Norbert Daum
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Hermann Weindorf
Template:Escyr	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Stefan Raab	Template:Efn

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Jürgen Meier-Beer
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Manfred Witt
Template:Escyr	Torsten Amarell
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Carola Conze
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	Christoph Pellander
Template:Escyr–present	Alexandra Wolfslast

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years, commentary on ARD has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Ado Schlier, Thomas Gottschalk, Jan Hofer, Wolf Mittler, Fritz Egner and Werner Veigel. 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 Tim Frühling from HR filling in to commentate in Moscow. For the later-cancelled Template:Escyr 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 in Hamburg. Urban stepped down as the German commentator after the Template:Escyr. His successor is Thorsten Schorn.

Television and radio commentators and spokespersons

Year	Television		Radio		Spokesperson	Ref.
	Channel	Commentator(s)	Channel	Commentator(s)
Template:Escyr		Irene Koss	, Radio Bremen 2, Template:Ill	rowspan="2" Template:N/A	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		rowspan="3" Template:N/A	Zweites Programm, UKW West	rowspan="14" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		rowspan="25" colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Wolf Mittler
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Hanns-Joachim Friedrichs
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		rowspan="3" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill	rowspan="3" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		rowspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		rowspan="4" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		Werner Veigel
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr			Sigi Harreis
Template:Escyr		Gaby Schnelle and Template:Ill	rowspan="15" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		Ado Schlier
Template:Escyr		Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		Ado Schlier
Template:Escyr			Bayern 1, Frankfurt 1, Template:Ill, RIAS 1	Ado Schlier
Template:Escyr			rowspan="5" colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Template:Ill and Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Nicole and Claus-Erich Boetzkes
Template:Escyr		Thomas Gottschalk	Template:N/A	Ado Schlier
Template:Escyr		Fritz Egner	rowspan="3" colspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		Max Schautzer
Template:Escyr		Jan Hofer
Template:Escyr			Bayern 1	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr			rowspan="16" colspan="2" Template:N/A	Carmen Nebel
Template:Escyr		Horst Senker
Template:Escyr	B1, MDR Fernsehen, N3, WDR Fernsehen	Template:Ill	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr		Peter Urban	Christina Mänz
Template:Escyr			Nena
Template:Escyr			Renan Demirkan
Template:Escyr			Axel Bulthaupt
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	(Semi-final) (Final)		Thomas Anders
Template:Escyr			Thomas Hermanns
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	(Semi-finals) (Final)
Template:Escyr	Phoenix (SF1) (SF2) (Final)	Tim Frühling	Thomas Anders
Template:Escyr		Peter Urban	NDR 2 (Final)	Tim Frühling and Thomas Mohr	Hape Kerkeling
Template:Escyr	(SF1) ProSieben (SF1)	Peter Urban and Steven Gätjen	NDR 2, WDR 1LIVE, hr3 (Final)	Thomas Mohr, Template:Ill and Tim Frühling	Ina Müller
	(SF2/Final)	Peter Urban
Template:Escyr			NDR 2	Thomas Mohr	Anke Engelke
			hr3	Tim Frühling
Template:Escyr	NDR Fernsehen (Semi-finals) (SF2) Phoenix (SF2) (Final)		rowspan="10" colspan="2" Template:N/A	Lena Meyer-Landrut
Template:Escyr	, Phoenix (Semi-finals) (Final)		Helene Fischer
Template:Escyr		Sign language interpreters	Barbara Schöneberger
	, Phoenix (Semi-finals) (Final)	Peter Urban
Template:Escyr	, Phoenix (Semi-finals) (Final)
Template:Escyr	One NDR Fernsehen (SF2) (Final)
Template:Escyr	One , Deutsche Welle (Final)
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	One , Deutsche Welle (Final)	Peter Urban, Michael Schulte	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	One , Deutsche Welle (Final)	Peter Urban	Barbara Schöneberger
Template:Escyr				(Final)	Template:Ill and Template:Ill
Template:Escyr	One , DW Deutsch, DW Deutsch+ (Final)		Elton
Template:Escyr	One (Semi-finals) (Final)	Thorsten Schorn	Ina Müller
Template:Escyr			Michael Schulte

Other shows

Show	Commentator	Channel	Ref.
Songs of Europe	Template:N/A	Deutsches Fernsehen
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest	Peter Urban	SWR, WDR
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest HitsTemplate:Efn		NDR, MDR, EinsFestival
Eurovision: Europe Shine a LightTemplate:Efn	Peter Urban, Michael Schulte	Das Erste

Photo gallery

• Margot Hielscher in Hilversum (Template:Escyr)
  Margot Hielscher in Hilversum (Template:Escyr)
• Katja Ebstein in Amsterdam (Template:Escyr)
  Katja Ebstein in Amsterdam (Template:Escyr)
• Roger Cicero in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
  Roger Cicero in Helsinki (Template:Escyr)
• No Angels in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
  No Angels in Belgrade (Template:Escyr)
• Oscar Sings in Moscow (Template:Escyr)
  Oscar Sings in Moscow (Template:Escyr)
• Lena in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
  Lena in Oslo (Template:Escyr)
• Lena in Düsseldorf (Template:Escyr)
  Lena in Düsseldorf (Template:Escyr)
• Roman Lob (middle) in Baku (Template:Escyr)
  Roman Lob (middle) in Baku (Template:Escyr)
• Cascada in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  Cascada in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Elaiza in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
  Elaiza in Copenhagen (Template:Escyr)
• Ann Sophie in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
  Ann Sophie in Vienna (Template:Escyr)
• Jamie-Lee in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
  Jamie-Lee in Stockholm (Template:Escyr)
• Levina in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
  Levina in Kyiv (Template:Escyr)
• Michael Schulte in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
  Michael Schulte in Lisbon (Template:Escyr)
• Sisters in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
  Sisters in Tel Aviv (Template:Escyr)
• Jendrik in Rotterdam (Template:Escyr)
  Jendrik in Rotterdam (Template:Escyr)
• Lord of the Lost in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
  Lord of the Lost in Liverpool (Template:Escyr)
• Isaak in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
  Isaak in Malmö (Template:Escyr)
• Abor and Tynna in Basel (Template:Escyr)
  Abor and Tynna in Basel (Template:Escyr)

See also

• Germany in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Germany in the Eurovision Young Dancers
• Germany in the Eurovision Young Musicians

External links

• Eurovision Club Germany
• OGAE Germany