Austria has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 57 times since its debut in1957. The country has won three times, in1966,2014 and2025, and such it holds the record for the longest gap between consecutive wins — 48 years. The Austrian participating broadcaster in the contest isÖsterreichischer Rundfunk (ORF).Vienna was the host city on both occasions the contest has been held in Austria, in1967 and2015, and the capital will host the event for a third time in2026.
Austria has finished last in the contest final seven times (1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, and 1991) and finished last in the semi-final in 2012. "Nobody but You" byCesár Sampson achieved Austria's eighth top five result and third-best result of the 21st century at the2018 contest, finishing third.
Having finished sixth at the1964 contest and fourth in1965,Udo Jürgens, one of few Eurovision performers to have competed in three consecutive contests, won at his third attempt in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie". This was Austria's only top three result of the 20th century, as well as its first win. Austria won again in 2014, with "Rise Like a Phoenix" byConchita Wurst, setting a then-record for longest gap between winning entries. The country would go on to win most recently in 2025, with "Wasted Love" byJJ.
ORF finished last at its debut in the contest in 1957, beforeLiane Augustin gave the country the first of its eight top five results in1958, with fifth. Having finished sixth in1964 and fourth in1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in1966. This would be Austria's only top three result of 20th century. The country's best result over the next 46 years (1967–2013) would be fifth place, which it achieved withThe Milestones in1972,Waterloo and Robinson in1976 andThomas Forstner in1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991. The country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. Austria's best result of the 1990s was four tenth-place finishes, in1990,1992,1996 and1999. Austria's best result of the 2000s wasAlf Poier's sixth-place in2003, which was Austria's best placement since 1989.
After a three-year absence,ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in2011,[1][2] where the country reached the final for the first time since 2004, finishing 18th.[citation needed]
Austria achieved its second victory in the contest at the2014 contest, withConchita Wurst winning with 290 points.[3] In a complete reversal of fortunes in 2015, following a tie-break rule Austria was placed 26th and scored nul points along withGermany (27th), they became the first countries since theUnited Kingdom in 2003 to score nul points at the final. Because of this, Austria became the first host country to receivenul points. Austria qualified for the final for the next three years, finishing 13th in 2016, 16th in 2017 and in 2018, when "Nobody but You" byCesár Sampson finished third. Three more non-qualifications followed withPaenda (2019),Vincent Bueno (2021) andLumix feat.Pia Maria (2022).Teya andSalena returned Austria to the final in 2023, finishing 15th, followed byKaleen finishing 24th in 2024, andJJ achieving Austria's third contest win in 2025.
Austria has opted out of participation in several contests. The first of these was the1969 contest, which was staged inMadrid. AsSpain was ruled at that time byFrancisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the contest. Contest historianJohn Kennedy O'Connor points out, however, that Austria had given Spain two points in theprevious event and since Spain only won by one point, the political protest was seen as disingenuous.[4]
Thefollowing year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the unprecedented result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place, a result which prompted several other countries to opt out as well.[4]
From1973 to1975, Austria stayed away as well. The exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these contests, which allowed all entrants a guaranteed number of points, may have been a factor.
The country was ineligible to compete in1998 and2001, as it had not achieved sufficiently high placings in the five previous years.[4]
Prior to the 2006 contest, Austria announced that it would not enter a performer in protest at their poor results in previous years, arguing that the musical talent of the performers was no longer the determining factor in success at the event.[5][6] The country returned for the2007 contest inHelsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final. National broadcaster ORF cited the 2007 result, as well as declining interest in the contest among Austrian viewers, as the reason Austria would not return to the contest in2008. ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz also hinted that Austria may withdraw from the contest indefinitely, stating "ORF has no desire to send more talent out of Austria to a competition where they have no chances...Should the situation change, we'll be happy to take part again".[7] Despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was shown on ORF.[8]
In 2008, the EBU introduced two semi-finals to the contest, hoping that spreading countries out by random draw would prevent the kind of bloc voting that had warded Austria off. Additionally, juries were reintroduced to determine 50% of each country's result in 2009 (albeit not in the semi-finals, in which all but one of the qualifiers were decided entirely by televote). However, Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for ORF, said that the semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process" and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009".[9] ORF decided not to participate in the2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008.[10] The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in2010, along with former participantsMonaco andItaly.[11] It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 contest in Oslo.[12] In July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany.[1][2][13] In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004.
Between the1970 and1998 contests, every contest was commentated by Austrian radio journalist and actorErnst Grissemann, with the exception of the1979 and1990 contests. Grissemann admitted to future German commentatorPeter Urban in 1995 that he only stayed for the dress rehearsal and then provided the Austrian commentary live from theORF studios.[21] After 1998 Grissemann stepped down from the commentary and was replaced byAndi Knoll. Austria has also broadcast the contests which it did not compete in, except for the2010 contest.
Television and radio commentators and spokespersons
^According to thethen-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168.ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2016).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing.ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn:Telos Publishing. pp. 291–299.ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^L'Eurovision (in French).Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA). 12 March 1966. Retrieved20 November 2024.Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach: Guten abend meine damen und herren in Deutschland, in Österreich und in der Schweiz. [Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach: Good evening ladies and gentlemen in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.]
^Grand Prix de la chanson 1967 (Television production) (in German). Vienna, Austria:Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). 8 April 1967.Guten abend meine damen und herren ihr spricht Emil Kollpacher aus dem großen Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg.
^"TV Avstrija" [TV Austria].Naš tednik (in Slovenian).Klagenfurt, Austria. 28 March 1974. p. 8. Retrieved2 January 2024 – via Digital Library of Slovenia.
^"TV Avstrija 2" [TV Austria 2].Slovenski vestnik (in Slovenian).Klagenfurt, Austria. 21 March 1975. p. 8. Retrieved2 January 2024 – via Digital Library of Slovenia.
^Eurosong Oslo '96: Eurovision Song Contest 1996 (Television programme) (in English, French, and Norwegian).Oslo, Norway:Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK). 18 May 1996.
^Krachler, Martin (8 November 2019)."So war das 1. ESC-Halbfinale 2018" [This was the first ESC semi-final in 2018].oe3.ORF.at (in German).Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved4 January 2024.
Roxburgh, Gordon (2020).Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing.ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.
For the most recent participation see
Copenhagen
Franck Pourcel
Gianni Ferrio
Hermann Weindorf
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