France has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 67 times since its debut at the first contest in1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the first contest, and has been absent from only two contests in its history, missing the1974 and1982 contests. Since 2001, the French participating broadcaster isFrance Télévisions. Along withGermany,Italy,Spain, and theUnited Kingdom, France 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 theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU). France has won the contest five times.
Several national broadcasters have successively participated in the contest representing France over the years:Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF; 1956–1964),Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF; 1965–1974),Télévision Française 1 (TF1; 1975–1981),Antenne 2 (1983–1992), andFrance Télévision (1993–2000). Since 2001,France Télévisions is who participates representing France, with the final being broadcast onFrance 2 (1993–1998, 2015–present) andFrance 3 (1999–2014), and the semi-final which France votes in was broadcast onFrance 4 (2005–2010, 2016–2019), laterFrance Ô (2011–2015) and since 2021,Culturebox [fr]. The semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast; viewers who were close enough to Monaco were able to watch that year's semi-final viaTMC Monte-Carlo. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year or since 2013, byFrance Inter from 1971 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2012,France Bleu (also in 1976). In 1982,RTL Radio transmitted the contest due to the country's absence that year.
The process to select the French entry in the contest has changed over the years, with either a national final or an internal selection (occasionally a combination of both formats) having been held.
France is one of the most successful countries in Eurovision, winning the contest five times, coming second five times and coming third seven times. However, France has only hosted the contest three times (1959, 1961, and 1978).[1] France was ranked first in number of victories (either alone or tied with other countries) without interruptions from 1960 to 1993. Moreover, "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison" performed byAmina was close to victory in1991, when it finished in joint first place with the same number of points asSweden. Therefore, the 'countback' rule applied, but both countries had an equal number of twelve points (four lots), but the victory went to Sweden, when France had fewer 10-point scores. With the current rules in place, France would have won the competition, because they received points from more countries than Sweden. One year before, France was also close to winning with "White and Black Blues" byJoëlle Ursull. The song finished in joint-second place withIreland's entry.
However, in recent years, the French results have been mixed. Since 1998, when thetelevoting was introduced, France has frequently ranked in the bottom 10 countries in the final, coming 15th (2004), 18th (2003), 19th (1999 and2008), 22nd (2006,2007, and2012), 23rd (2000,2005, and2013), 24th (1998 and2022), 25th (2015), and 26th (last place, for the first time in its Eurovision history, in2014).
France has had some good results during the 21st century. In2001, "Je n'ai que mon âme" performed by Canadian singerNatasha St-Pier came fourth, being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the2002 contest, when "Il faut du temps" bySandrine François came fifth and received theMarcel Bezençon international press award for the best entry of that year. The positive experience withSébastien Tellier in2008 created considerable interest among the French showbiz for the contest, which resulted in Eurovision being seen by the French media as a valuable advertising campaign. With these ambitions,Patricia Kaas represented France in the2009 contest with "Et s'il fallait le faire", finishing in eighth place. Kaas received the Marcel Bezençon artistic award, which was voted on by previous winners and presented to the best artist. In the2016 contest,Amir with his song "J'ai cherché" ended in sixth place and broke a 40-year record by scoring the most points in France's Eurovision history, by scoring 257 points in the final. That record would later be broken once again in2021, asBarbara Pravi with her song "Voilà" finished in second place with 499 points, France's best result since 1991, only 25 points behind eventual winnersMåneskin from Italy.Slimane finished in fourth place in2024 with "Mon amour", followed byLouane finishing seventh in2025 with "Maman".
Since its debut in 1956, France has only missed two contests, in 1974 and 1982. In 1974, after selecting a singer and song to represent the country at the contest, France withdrew after theFrench presidentGeorges Pompidou died in the week of the contest.[2] If it had participated, France would have been represented byDani with the song "La Vie à vingt-cinq ans".
In November 1981, TF1 declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in. Eurovision is a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as "drivel"]."[3]Antenne 2 took over due to the public reaction to TF1's withdrawal, hosting a national final to select the French entry as well, from the 1983 contest.
Since 1999, France, along withGermany,Spain, and theUnited Kingdom, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests.[4] 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".Italy returned to the contest in 2011, resulting in the countries becoming members of a "Big Five".[5][6]
Since its debut in 1956, French broadcasters has sent commentators to provide coverage on the contest, including Robert Beauvais and Léon Zitrone. During the 1960s, its commentators was relayed in Luxembourg, Monaco, and French-speaking Switzerland.
^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.
For the most recent participation see
Tallinn
Moscow
Düsseldorf
Lisbon
Rotterdam
Basel
Stockholm
Sylvano Santorio
Fiachra Trench
Martin Koch
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