Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

(Member of )

First participation

1956

Number of participations

63 (as of 2019)

Highest ranking

1 ( 1982 , 2010 )

Highest Score

340 ( 2018 )

Lowest Score

0 ( 1964 , 1965 , 2015 )

Points average (since first post)

65.20 (as of 2019)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

2.38 (as of 2019)

This article deals with the history of Germany as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest .

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

German successes at the Eurovision Song Contest
The white line shows the number of participants and therefore the worst possible placement

Lena took the second German victory in the competition in 2010

The Federal Republic of Germany took part in the first Eurovision Song Contest as early as 1956. Apart from the Swiss victory in 1956, the remaining placements were never announced. In 1957 Margot Hielscher got a good place with place 4 out of 10. In 1958, when Margot Hielscher competed for Germany again, she only landed 7th out of 10. In 1959 Alice and Ellen Kessler achieved a similar placement with 8th place out of 11. In 1960 Wyn Hoop succeeded in reaching 4th place out of 13 for West Germany and thus again achieving a good result. In 1961 Lale Andersen took 13th place out of 16 but a rather poor result. In 1962 and 1963, Germany came in 6th and 9th respectively in the top ten. In 1964 and 1965, however, the country achieved its worst results to date. In both years Germany came in last with 0 points. However, the last two places were shared with three other countries. In the years that followed, Germany was more successful.

From 1966 to 1973, the Federal Republic reached a place in the top ten every year. With Katja Ebstein in 1970 and 1971 and Mary Roos in 1972, the country took third place three times in a row. It was not until 1974 that it was not placed in the top ten: in 1974 Cindy & Bert ended up in last place. Nevertheless, this last place was again divided for Germany, as again three other countries landed in last place together with the Federal Republic of Germany. But even in 1975 and 1976 Germany only landed in the lower part of the table with 17th place out of 19 and 15th place out of 18. From 1977, however, Germany's most successful time in the competition began.

From 1977 to 1987, with the exception of 1984, Germany achieved a place among the top ten in the competition every year. In 1977 Silver Convention took 8th place out of 18 and in 1978 Ireen Sheer took 6th place out of 20. In 1979 Dschinghis Khan reached 4th place. In 1980, when Katja Ebstein was representing Germany for the third time, she took 2nd place, an even better place than her own previous participations in 1970 and 1971. Also in 1981 Lena Valaitis got 2nd place for the Federal Republic, which the country could achieve for the second time this place. In 1982, the Federal Republic of Germany won its first competition. Nicole won the entire competition with her song A Bit of Peace and, with 161 points, got Germany's highest number of points in the competition. In 1983, when the competition took place in Germany, the duo Hoffmann & Hoffmann also achieved a good ranking with 5th place. It was not until 1984 that Mary Roos, who had represented Germany in 1972 and taken third place, achieved a rather average placement with position 13 out of 19. A year later, however, the band Wind was able to achieve a very good placement again with second place. In 1986, Ingrid Peters achieved another place in the top ten with 8th place out of 20. In 1987 the band Wind appeared again for Germany and was able to repeat their success of 1985. They reached second place again and already took Germany's fourth second place in the competition. From 1988, however, this successful period for Germany in competition ended.

In 1988 and 1989, Germany achieved its worst position since 1976 with 14th place. In 1990, however, the duo Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac achieved a place in the top ten with 9th place. In 1991 and 1993, Germany took an average place again with 18th place. Wind, who represented the country in 1985 and 1987 and reached second place respectively, only took 16th place in 1992, so it was all the more surprising that the band Mekado was able to take third place for Germany in 1994. After this brief ray of hope, a last place followed in 1995 with the duo Stone & Stone. Because Germany failed in the internal qualifying round of the EBU in 1996, Germany had to sit out of the competition for the first time. In 1997, Germany returned to the competition and became part of the “big ones” introduced - the  Big Four (Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain), since 2011 the Big Five (with Italy), the largest EBU contributors - and thus always has a guaranteed final place. This measure was introduced to ensure the long-term participation of the large donors (Spain, Great Britain, France and Germany, from 2011 also Italy) and thus the survival of the contest. The return of Germany in 1997 was not very successful. With 18th place, only an average place was achieved. It was not until 1998 that Germany was successful again in the competition.

In 1998, Guildo Horn took 7th place again in the top ten. In 1999 and 2000 the band Sürpriz with 3rd place and Stefan Raab with 5th place also achieved good placements. Michelle 2001 also got 8th place among the top ten in the competition. It wasn't until 2002 that Corinna May got a worse placement again with 21st place. In 2003 Lou was able to achieve an average placement again with 12th place. In 2004, Max Mutzke took 8th place again and was among the top ten in the competition. In the following years, Germany was no longer so successful. In 2005 Gracia reached the last place for Germany with place 24. Also in 2006 the band Texas Lightning could only get an average place with 15th place. With 19th place, Roger Cicero also only got a rather worse placement. Also in 2008 the No Angels could not achieve a good ranking and were among the last three, although they were tied with two other countries and only had an advantage due to the tie-break rules. In 2009, the next bad place was achieved with 20th place. It was not until 2010 that artists were able to achieve success for Germany in the competition.

In 2010, Germany was finally able to win the Eurovision Song Contest with Lena for the second time since 1982 and with 246 points, the highest score for Germany to date. After this success, Lena was sent for the second time in 2011. With 10th place she also got another placement among the top ten in the competition. Roman Lob also got a good place in 2012 with 8th place. Only Cascada got a worse ranking in 2013 with 21st place. In 2014, Elaiza achieved an only average placement with 18th place. From 2015 to 2017, Germany then reached its lowest point in the competition. In 2015 Ann Sophie came last with 0 points. However, she was tied with Austria, whereupon the tie-break rules were used again. However, since with 0 points no statistics of the points received could provide clarity, the starting position decided on the placement, which was in favor of Austria. Thus, in 2015 Germany achieved its worst result in the competition to date. In 2016, Germany came last for the second time in a row. Levina could not achieve a good placement in 2017 either and ended up in penultimate place. All the greater was the surprise that Michael Schulte took 4th place for Germany in 2018 and was thus able to achieve the best result since 2010. With 340 points (Germany's highest number of points so far) he was only two points short of third place. This success, however, should remain an exception, because in the following year Germany landed again on the penultimate place.

With seven last places (1964, 1965, 1974, 1995, 2005, 2015, 2016), Germany is next to Austria behind Belgium (eight times) as well as Finland and Norway (eleven times each) the country that came fourth most frequently at the bottom. In 1964, 1965 and 2015 the German contributions even reached zero points. With two wins (1982 and 2010), four second places (1980, 1981, 1985, 1987) and five third places (1970, 1971, 1972, 1994, 1999), Germany is one of the average successful countries in the competition. With 63 participations, Germany is also the country with the most participations in the competition. After all, Germany sent a contribution every year and only had to suspend it once since 1956 (1996). Germany thus never stayed away from the competition voluntarily.

List of posts

Color legend: - 1st place. - 2nd place. - 3rd place. - Equal points with last place. - Eliminated in the semifinals / in the qualification / in the Eastern European preliminary decision. - no participation / not qualified. - Cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest.      

year	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	translation	final		Semi-final / qualification		Charts (D)
					space	Points	space	Points
1956	Walter Andreas Schwarz	In the waiting room for great happiness M / T: Walter Andreas Schwarz	German	-	k. A. / 14	k. A.	Direct participation		-
	Freddy Quinn	This is how it goes every night M: Lotar Olias ; T: Peter Moesser	German	-	k. A. / 14	k. A.			19th
1957	Margot Hielscher	Telephone, Telephone M: Friedrich Meyer ; T: Ralph Maria Siegel	German a.	-	4/10	8th			-
1958	Margot Hielscher	For two groschen of music M: Friedrich Meyer ; T: Fred Rauch , Walter Brandin	German	-	7/10	5			-
1959	Alice and Ellen Kessler	Tonight we want to go dancing M: Helmut Zander; T: Astrid Voltmann	German	-	8/11	5			-
1960	Wyn Hoop	Bonne nuit, ma chérie M: Franz Josef Breuer ; T: Kurt Schwabach	German b.	Goodnight My Love	4/13	11			44
1961	Lale Andersen	Once we see each other again M: Rudolf Maluck; T: Ernst Bader	German, French	-	13/16	3			30th
1962	Conny Froboess	Two little Italians M: Christian Bruhn ; T: Georg Buschor	German	-	6/16	9			1
1963	Heidi Brühl	Marcel M / T: Charly Niessen	German	-	9/16	5			36
1964	Nora Nova	You get used to beauty so quickly M: Rudi von der Dovenmühle ; T: Niels Nobach	German	-	13/16	0			-
1965	Ulla Wiesner	Paradise where are you M: Hans Blum ; T: Barbara Kist	German	-	15/18	0			-
1966	Margot Eskens	The hands of the clock M: Walter Dobschinski ; T: Hans Bradtke	German	-	10/18	7th			-
1967	Inge Brück	Anouschka M / T: Hans Blum	German	-	8/17	7th			-
1968	Wencke Myhre	A high of love M: Horst Jankowski ; T: Carl J. Schäuble	German	-	6/17	11			18th
1969	Siw Malmkvist	Prima ballerina M / T: Hans Blum	German	-	9/16	8th			13
1970	Katja Ebstein	There are always miracles M: Christian Bruhn ; T: Günther Loose	German	-	3/12	12			16
1971	Katja Ebstein	This world M: Dieter Zimmermann ; T: Fred Jay	German	-	3/18	100			16
1972	Mary Roos	Only love lets us live M: Joachim Heider ; T: Joachim Relin	German	-	3/18	107			17th
1973	Gitte	Young day M: Günther-Eric Thöner; T: Stephan Lego	German	-	8/17	85			19th
1974	Cindy & Bert	The summer melody M: Werner Scharfenberger ; T: Kurt Feltz	German	-	14/17	3			-
1975	Joy Fleming	A song can be a bridge M: Rainer Pietsch ; T: Michael Holm	German, English	-	17/19	15th			32
1976	The Les Humphries Singers 1	Sing Sang Song M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Kurt Hertha	German	Singsong song	15/18	12			45
1977	Silver Convention	Telegram M: Sylvester Levay ; T: Michael Kunze	English	telegram	8/18	55			27
1978	Ireen Sheer	Fire M: Jean Frankfurter ; T: John Möring	German	-	6/20	84			39
1979	Genghis Khan	Dschinghis Khan M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	4/19	86			1
1980	Katja Ebstein	Theater M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	2/19	128			11
1981	Lena Valaitis	Johnny Blue M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	2/20	132			9
1982	Nicole	A little peace M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	1 /18	161			1
1983	Hoffmann & Hoffmann	Consideration M: Michael Reinecke ; T: Volker Lechtenbrink	German	-	5/20	94			8th
1984	Mary Roos	Walking upright M: Michael Reinecke ; T: Michael Kunze	German	-	13/19	34			56
1985	wind	For all M: Hanne Haller ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	2/19	105			18th
1986	Ingrid Peters	Cross the bridge M / T: Hans Blum	German	-	8/20	62			45
1987	wind	Let the sun in your heart M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	2/22	141			20th
1988	Maxi & Chris Garden	Song for a Friend M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	14/21	48			29
1989	Nino de Angelo	Aviator M: Dieter Bohlen ; T: Joachim Horn-Benges	German	-	14/22	46			13
1990	Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac	Live Free M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Michael Kunze	German	-	9/22	60			51
1991	Atlantis 2000	This dream must never die M: Alfons Weindorf ; T: Helmut Frey	German	-	18/22	10			-
1992	wind	Dreams are there for everyone M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	16/23	27			59
1993	Münchener Freiheit	Way too far M / T: Stefan Zauner	German	-	18/25	18th			53
1994	Mekado	We're giving a party M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	3/25	128	Qualified directly for the final		100
1995	Stone & Stone	In love with you M / T: Cheyenne Stone	German	-	23/23	1			-
1996	Leon	Planet of Blue M / T: Hanne Haller	German c.	Blue planet	Not qualified qualifying round		24/29	24	-
1997	Bianca Shomburg	Time M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German	-	18/25	22nd	Qualified directly for the final		90
1998	Guildo Horn	Guildo loves you! M / T: Stefan Raab as Alf Igel	German	-	7/25	86			4th
1999	Sürpriz 2	Trip to Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	German, Turkish , English d.	-	3/23	140			-
2000	Stefan Raab	Wadde hadde dudde there? M / T: Stefan Raab	German English	What have you got there?	5/24	96			2
2001	Michelle	Who Lives Love M: Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl; T: Eva Richter, Mary Applegate	German English	-	8/23	66			32
2002	Corinna May	I Can't Live Without Music M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	English	I can not live without music	21/24	17th			72
2003	Lou	Let's Get Happy M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	English	Let's be happy	12/26	53			-
2004	Max Mutzke	Can't Wait Until Tonight M / T: Stefan Raab	English, Turkish	Can't wait until tonight	8/24	93			1
2005	Gracia	Run & Hide M: David Brandes , Jane Tempest; T: Bernd Augener (as "John O'Flynn")	English	Run and hide	24/24	4th			20th
2006	Texas Lightning	No No Never M / T: Jane Comerford	English	No, no, never	15/24	36			1
2007	Roger Cicero	Women rule the world M: Matthias Haß ; T: Frank Ramond	German English	-	19/24	49			7th
2008	No Angels	Disappear M / T: Remee , Hanne Sørvaag, Thomas Troelsen	English	Disappear	23/25 3	14th			4th
2009	Alex Swings Oscar Sings!	Miss Kiss Kiss Bang M / T: Alex Christensen , Steffen Häfelinger	English	-	20/25	35			20th
2010	Lena	Satellite M: Julie Frost , John Gordon ; T: Julie Frost	English	satellite	1 / 25th	246			1
2011	Lena	Taken by a Stranger M / T: Gus Seyffert, Monica Birkenes, Nicole Morier	English	Fascinated by a stranger	10/25	107			2
2012	Roman praise	Standing Still M / T: Jamie Cullum , Steve Robson, Wayne Hector	English	Stand still	8/26	110			3
2013	Cascada	Glorious M / T: Manuel Reuter , Yann Peifer , Andres Ballinas, Tony Cornelissen	English	Glorious	21/26	18th			6th
2014	Elaiza	Is It Right M: Elżbieta Steinmetz , Frank Kretschmer; T: Elżbieta Steinmetz , Adam Kesselhaut	English	Is it right?	18/26	39			4th
2015	Ann Sophie 4	Black Smoke M / T: Michael Harwood, Ella McMahon, Tonino Speciale	English	Black smoke	27/27 5	0			26th
2016	Jamie-Lee 6	Ghost M: Thomas Burchia, Anna Leyne, Conrad Hensel; T: Anna Leyne	English	ghost	26/26	11			11
2017	Levina	Perfect Life M / T: Lindy Robbins, Dave Bassett, Lindsey Ray	English	Perfect life	25/26	6th			28
2018	Michael Schulte	You Let Me Walk Alone M / T: Michael Schulte, Thomas Stengaard, Nisse Ingwersen, Nina Müller	English	You let me go alone	4/26	340			3
2019	S! Sters	Sister M / T: Laurell Barker, Marine Kaltenbacher, Tom Oehler, Thomas Stengaard	English	sister	25/26	24			-
2020	Ben Dolic	Violent Thing M: Borislaw Milanow , Peter St. James, Dag Lundberg, Jimmy Thorén, Connor Martin; T: Borislaw Milanow , Peter St. James, Dag Lundberg	English	Violent thing	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				-
2021							Qualified directly for the final		-

¹In 1976, the Les Humphries Singers took second place at the ESC because the actual winning title The Star was disqualified by Tony Marshall .

²In 1999, the pop group Sürpriz, which came second in the preliminary round, took part in the Eurovision Song Contest after the actual winning title Listen to the children was simply disqualified as the interpreter Corinna May .

³ Due to the equality of points, the number of the highest individual points awarded decided on the differentiated placement

^4thIn 2015, the actual winner of the preliminary decision, Andreas Kümmert (Heart of Stone), decided not to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Then the second-placed Ann Sophie moved up.

⁵ Since the two last placed (Germany and Austria) did not have any points, even the highest individual points could not decide on the placement, so the start number decided in accordance with Section 1.4 of the rules.

^6thFor 2016, ARD initially nominated Xavier Naidoo internally as a participant, but withdrew it after a few days due to a public controversy about his political views. Instead, a normal preliminary decision took place again.

^a.in a few words in English, French, Italian and Spanish

^b. with French title

^c. with English title

^d.in a few words in Hebrew

Preliminary decisions

→ Main article : German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest

In most cases, the German contributions were chosen in preliminary decisions, which up to and including 1992 were entitled Ein Lied für ... (supplemented by the name of the host city). In 1959, 1966 to 1968, 1974, 1977, 1993 to 1995, as well as 2009 and 2020, the German contributions were selected by ARD without a public vote; in 1978 the preliminary decision was only played on the radio.

Lead broadcaster

Year (s)	Broadcaster
1956	Northwest German Broadcasting (NWDR)
1957	Hessischer Rundfunk (hr)
1958	West German Broadcasting (WDR)
1959 - 1961	Hessischer Rundfunk (hr)
1962	Südwestfunk (SWF)
1963 / 64	Hessischer Rundfunk (hr)
1965	North German Broadcasting (NDR)
1966 - 1971	Hessischer Rundfunk (hr)
1972	Sender Free Berlin (SFB)
1973 - 1977	Hessischer Rundfunk (hr)
1978	Südwestfunk (SWF)
1979 - 1990	Bavarian Broadcasting (BR)
1991	Sender Free Berlin (SFB) in cooperation with the German TV broadcaster DFF
1992 - 1995	Central German Broadcasting (MDR)
1996 - 2009	North German Broadcasting (NDR)
2010 - 2012	Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in cooperation with the private broadcaster ProSieben (Pro7)
since 2013	North German Broadcasting (NDR)

languages

From a linguistic point of view, Germany was a pioneer in the competition in three cases: in 1957 the first contribution was made that contained a few words in non-national languages ​​(some greetings during Margot Hielscher's telephone conversation), in 1960 the first country with a song title in a foreign language (Bonne nuit , ma Chérie) and in 1961 the first country to have an entire refrain of its contribution sung in a foreign language (Lale Andersen sang the last chorus of Once we meet again in French). German was also mixed with other languages ​​on other occasions, mostly English (1975, 1976, 2000, 2001 and 2007 and the unqualified contribution in 1996) and in 1999 with English, Turkish and Hebrew.

language	Contributions	in %
German	43.25	68.65
English	18.25	28.97
Turkish	00.75	01.19
French	00.50	00.79
Hebrew	00.25	00.40

Many German contributions were recorded in other languages, most of them in English. Nicole recorded her winning title in 1982 in seven other and a few mixed versions, which is a record for a winning title. Other contributions were also recorded in other languages, for example the three Scandinavians Siw Malmkvist, Wencke Myhre and Gitte also sang their contributions in their national languages ​​Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Two contributions were even sung in Japanese by the original interpreters, namely Freddy Quinn's So It Goes Every Night in 1956 and Katja Ebstein's Miracle occurs again and again in 1970.

Commercial success

Many German contributions became national hits. A total of 39 of the 48 contributions since 1960 (since reliable information has been available) reached the German single charts, including twelve top 10 hits, six of which again reached first place ( Zwei kleine Italiener 1962, Dschinghis Khan 1979, Ein Bitchen Frieden 1982, Can't Wait Until Tonight 2004, No No Never 2006 and Satellite 2010). Two little Italians by Conny Froboess is the German competition entry that has sold the most so far. Texas Lightning follows in second place with No No Never .

The first German winner in the competition, A Bit of Peace , was also a top seller internationally and reached first place in the charts in several countries, including Great Britain and Ireland . The winning entry in 2010, Satellite , took first place in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as top 10 positions in several other countries.

Other German contributions were also successful in neighboring German-speaking countries, such as Can't Wait Until Tonight , which reached second place in Austria, and No No Never , which reached the top 10 in both Switzerland and Austria.

List of commentators

Year (s)	Commentators
1956 - 1958	Wolf Mittler
1959	Elena Gerhard
1960 - 1961	Wolf Mittler
1962	Ruth Kappelsberger
1963	Hanns Joachim Friedrichs
1964 - 1965	Hermann Rockmann
1966 - 1969	Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach
1970	Marie-Louise Steinbauer
1971 - 1973	Hanns Verres
1974 - 1978	Werner Veigel
1979	Gabi Schnelle Ado Schlier
1980 - 1986	Ado Schlier
1987	Christoph Deumling Lotti no worries
1988	Nicole Claus-Erich Boetzkes
1989	Thomas Gottschalk
1990	Fritz Egner
1991	Max Schautzer
1992 - 1994	Jan Hofer
1995	Horst Senker
1996	Ulf Ansorge
1997 - 2008	Peter Urban
2009	Tim spring
2010 - 2019	Peter Urban
2020	Peter Urban Michael Schulte

In 2011, Peter Urban and Steven Gätjen commented on the first semifinals , as the latter works for ProSieben and the show was also broadcast there.

List of points speakers

year	Points speaker	Known as
1957	Joachim Fuchsberger	actor
1958	Claudia Doren	TV announcer
1959	Walter Andreas Schwarz	Singer
1960
1964	Lia Woehr	actress
1965
1966	Werner Veigel	Moderator
1967	Karin Tietze-Ludwig	moderator
1968	Hans-Otto Grünefeldt	Program Director
1969
1970
1976	Max Schautzer	Moderator
1977
1978	Ute Verhoolen	moderator
1979	Lotti without worries	moderator
1980	Gabi Schnelle	moderator
1981
1982
1983	Carolin Reiber	moderator
1984	Kerstin Schweighöfer	moderator
1985	Christoph Deumling	Moderator
1986
1987	Sandra Maischberger	moderator
1988	Lotti without worries	moderator
1989	Sandra Maischberger	moderator
1990
1991	Christian Eckhardt	Moderator
1992	Carmen Nebel	moderator
1993
1994
1995
1997	Christina Mannz	moderator
1998	Nena	singer
1999	Renan Demirkan	Writer
2000	Axel Bulthaupt	Moderator
2001
2002
2003
2004	Thomas Anders	Singer
2005	Thomas Hermanns	Presenter and comedian
2006
2007
2008
2009	Thomas Anders	Singer
2010	Hape Kerkeling	comedian
2011	Ina Müller	Presenter, singer
2012	Anke Engelke	Presenter, actress
2013	Lena Meyer-Landrut	singer
2014	Helene Fischer	singer
2015	Barbara Schöneberger	Presenter, singer
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020	Competition canceled

List of conductors

year	conductor
1956	Fernando Paggi
1957	Willy Berking 4
1958	Dolf van der Linden
1959	Franck Pourcel
1960	Franz Josef Breuer
1961	Franck Pourcel
1962	Rolf-Hans Müller
1963	Willy Berking
1964
1965	Alfred home
1966	Willy Berking
1967	Hans Blum
1968	Horst Jankowski
1969	Hans Blum
1970	Christian Bruhn
1971	Dieter Zimmermann
1972	Paul Kuhn
1973	Günther-Eric Thöner
1974	Werner Scharfenberger
1975	Rainer Pietsch
1976	Les Humphries
1977	Ronnie Hazlehurst
1978	Jean Frankfurter
1979	Norbert Daum
1980	Wolfgang Rödelberger
1981
1982	Norbert Daum
1983	Dieter Reith 4
1984	Pierre Cao
1985	Rainer Pietsch
1986	Hans Blum
1987	László Bencker
1988	Michael Thatcher
1989	1
1990	Rainer Pietsch
1991	Hermann Weindorf
1992	Norbert Daum
1993
1994
1995	Hermann Weindorf
1996	2
1997	1
1998	Stefan Raab 3

¹ In 1989 and 1997 the German contribution was presented without a conductor, instead the music was recorded from the tape.

² In 1996 Germany did not qualify for the final.

³ In 1998, Stefan Raab was presented as a conductor, but the music was also recorded in full beforehand.

^4thAt the same time also music director in the same year

Hosted competitions

year	city	venue	Moderation
1957	Frankfurt am Main	Large broadcasting hall of the Hessischer Rundfunk	Anaid Iplicjian
1983	Munich	Rudi Sedlmayer Hall	Marlène Charell
2011	Dusseldorf	Düsseldorf Arena	Judith Rakers , Anke Engelke & Stefan Raab

Scoring

The following countries received the most points from or awarded the most points to Germany (as of 2019):

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  Sweden 193 2  United Kingdom 187 3  Turkey 170 4th  Ireland 166 5  France 159

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  Sweden 250 2  Turkey 208 3  Israel 190 4th  United Kingdom 187 5  Ireland 178

Most received points space country Points 1  Spain 237 2  Denmark 193 3  Switzerland 187 4th  Portugal 185 5  United Kingdom 171

Award of the highest rating

Since the introduction of the “douze points” system in 1975, Germany has awarded 46 points, the highest number of points, to 22 different countries, six times to Turkey and Sweden, three times to France, Israel and Norway (since 2016, each country has given two times 12 points The first twelve points come from the juries ( “(J)” in the table below), the second from the televoting of the audience ( “(T)” in the table below)). The table on the left shows the points awarded in the final, while the table on the right shows the points awarded in the semi-finals.

Highest rating (final) year country Place (final) 1975  Finland 7th 1976  France 2 1977 1 1978  Israel 1 1979  Spain 2 1980  Ireland 1 1981  France 3 1982  Israel 2 1983  Sweden 3 1984 1 1985  Norway 1 1986  Luxembourg 3 1987  Italy 3 1988  Switzerland 1 1989  United Kingdom 2 1990  Spain 5 1991  Sweden 1 1992  United Kingdom 2 1993  Switzerland 3 1994  Ireland 1 1995  Sweden 3 1996 not qualified 1997  Turkey 3 1998 14th 1999 16 2000  Denmark 1 2001 2 2002  Latvia 1 2003  Poland 7th 2004  Turkey 4th 2005  Greece 1 2006  Turkey 11 2007 4th 2008  Greece 3 2009  Norway 1 2010  Belgium 6th 2011  Austria 18th 2012  Sweden 1 2013  Hungary 10 2014  Netherlands 2 2015  Russia 2 2016  Israel (J) 14th  Russia (T) 3 2017  Norway (J) 10  Portugal (T) 1 2018  Sweden (J) 7th  Italy (T) 5 2019  Italy (J) 2  Norway (T) 6th 2020 Competition canceled

Highest rating (semi-finals) year country Place (semifinals) 2004  Serbia and Montenegro 1 2005  Portugal 17th 2006  Finland 1 2007  Turkey 3 2008  Norway 4th 2009  Turkey 2 2010  Belgium 1 2011  Austria 7th 2012  Sweden 1 2013  Iceland 6th 2014  Poland 8th 2015  Sweden 1 2016  Israel (J) 7th  Poland (T) 6th 2017  Norway (J) 5  Bulgaria (T) 1 2018  Sweden (J) 2  Poland (T) 14th 2019  North Macedonia (J) 2  Switzerland (T) 4th 2020 Competition canceled

Audience ratings

Audience ratings in millions of viewers

year	intl. final	Preliminary decision
1980	17.35
1981	10.14
1982	13.81
1983	13.57
1984	14.23
1985	13.22
1986	10.88
1987	10.16
1988	8.61
1989	9.87
1990	7.02
1991	6.28
1992	4.73
1993	4.66	no preliminary decision
1994	4.72	no preliminary decision
1995	3.98	no preliminary decision
1996	0.37	4.19
1997	4.57	3.61
1998	12.67	7.65
1999	4.79	5.63
2000	10.03	7.87
2001	8.18	9.23
2002	9.75	8.85
2003	8.66	5.77
2004	11.13	5.69
2005	7.01	3.58
2006	10.41	5.32
2007	7.41	4.57
2008	6.40	3.48
2009	7.33	no preliminary decision
2010	14.73	4.55
2011	13.93	3.31
2012	8.34	2.20
2013	8.20	3.27
2014	8.90	3.97
2015	8.09	3.18
2016	9.38	4.43
2017	7.85	3.10
2018	7.87	3.19
2019	8.10	2.88
2020	called off	no preliminary decision

Note: In 1996 the international final was broadcast by ARD as a recording after midnight due to the lack of German participation.

various

• In 2005, Germany received 4 points in the final round, 2 from Monaco and 2 from Moldova . These two countries were the only ones that did not vote by televoting, but by jury. Moldova, which took part for the first time in 2005, has only awarded points to Germany again in 2018, but not when they won in 2010.
• In 2008, too, Germany only received points from two countries (12 from Bulgaria and 2 from Switzerland). The reason for the exceptionally high score from Bulgaria was most likely the great fame of the no-angels singer Lucy Diakovska, who was born there .
• Germany has given Turkey the most points on average since 1975 (9.8). Since the introduction of televoting, Germany has mostly given Turkey 10 or 12 points - with four exceptions so far: in 2012 it was 8 points, in 2001 only 7 and in 2002 even 0 points.
• Since 1975, Germany itself has received the most points on average from Switzerland, namely 7.3.
• In 1982, with the first victory, Germany received 12, 10 or 8 points from 14 of the 17 other countries. Only from the neighboring countries Luxembourg , Austria and the Netherlands received 0, 1 or 6 points.
• Germany is the first and so far only country in the so-called " Big Five " that has won the competition since the regulation was introduced in 1999.

Impressions

• 

  Margot Hielscher 1958

• 

  Katja Ebstein 1970

• 

  Roger Cicero 2007

• 

  No Angels 2008

• 

  Alex Swings Oscar Sings 2009

• 

  Lena 2010

• 

  Lena 2011

• 

  Roman Lob 2012 (center)

• 

  Cascada 2013

• 

  Elaiza 2014

• 

  Ann Sophie 2015

• 

  Jamie-Lee 2016

• 

  Levina 2017

• 

  Michael Schulte 2018

• 

  S! Sters 2019

literature

• Jan Feddersen : A song can be a bridge. The German and international history of the Grand Prix Eurovision. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-455-09350-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Official German charts. GfK Entertainment , accessed on May 13, 2017 . 
2. ↑ PUBLIC RULES OF THE 60TH EUROVISION SONG CONTEST. (PDF) (No longer available online.) European Broadcasting Union , p. 4 , archived from the original on April 30, 2015 ; accessed on May 24, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Germany. In: Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved June 3, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Detailed overview: conductors for Germany. Retrieved June 16, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Stefan Raab. Retrieved June 16, 2018 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Editor: [Background] Best ESC ratings 1980 - Almost 18 million viewers. May 14, 2011, accessed on March 24, 2020 (German). 
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x} Jens Schröder: The ups and downs of the “Eurovision Song Contest” ›Meedia. Retrieved March 24, 2020 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Irving Wolther: "Battle of Cultures": the Eurovision Song Contest as a means of national and cultural representation . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2006, p. 51 .
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag} NDR: Television: ESC ratings compared over the years. Retrieved March 24, 2020 . 
10. ↑ Eurovision Song Contest: Does Bulgaria only love us? stern.de, May 25, 2008, accessed June 3, 2015 .