France has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 66 times since its debut at the first contest in 1956. 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 the 1974 and 1982 contests. Since 2001, the French participant broadcaster is France Télévisions. Along with Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, France is one of the "Big Five" countries that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to their participant broadcasters being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). France has won the contest five times.
| France in the Eurovision Song Contest | |
|---|---|
| |
| Participating broadcaster | France Télévisions (2001–present)
Formerly
|
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 66 |
| First appearance | 1956 |
| Highest placement | 1st: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977 |
| Host | 1959, 1961, 1978 |
| External links | |
| France 2 page | |
France's page at Eurovision.tv  | |
 For the most recent participation seeFrance in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | |
France first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. Three more victories followed in the 1960s, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962 and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. France's fifth victory came in 1977, with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" performed by Marie Myriam. During its successful run in the 20th century, France has also finished second four times, with "La Belle amour" by Paule Desjardins (1957), "Un, deux, trois" by Catherine Ferry (1976), "White and Black Blues" by Joëlle Ursull (1990), and "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison" by Amina (1991), who lost out to Sweden's "Fångad av en stormvind" by Carola in a tie-break.
After reaching the top five in 23 contests in the 20th century, France has had less success in the 21st century, only making the top five four times, with "Je n'ai que mon âme" by Natasha St-Pier fourth (2001), "Il faut du temps" by Sandrine François fifth (2002), "Voilà" by Barbara Pravi second (2021), and "Mon amour" by Slimane fourth (2024). France's other top 10 results in the century are "Et s'il fallait le faire" by Patricia Kaas eighth (2009), and "J'ai cherché" by Amir sixth (2016). France finished last for the first time in 2014, when "Moustache" by Twin Twin received only two points.
Organisation
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), and France Télévision (1993–2000). Since 2001, France Télévisions is who participates representing France, with the final being broadcast on France 2 (1993–1998, 2015–present) and France 3 (1999–2014), and the semi-final which France votes in was broadcast on France 4 (2005–2010, 2016–2019), later France Ô (2011–2015) and since 2021, Culturebox. The semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast; viewers who were close enough to Monaco were able to watch that year's semi-final via TMC Monte-Carlo. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year or since 2013, by France 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.
Contest history
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 by Amina was close to victory in 1991, when it finished in joint first place with the same number of points as Sweden. 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" by Joëlle Ursull. The song finished in joint-second place with Ireland's entry.
However, in recent years, the French results have been mixed. Since 1998, when the televoting was introduced, France has almost always ranked in the bottom 10 countries in the final, coming 15th (2004), 16th (2019 and 2023), 18th (2003 and 2008), 19th (1999 and 2008), 22nd (2006, 2007, and 2012), 23rd (2000, 2005, and 2013), 24th (1998 and 2022), 25th (2015), and 26th (last place, for the first time in its Eurovision history, in 2014).
France has had some good results during the 21st century. In 2001, "Je n'ai que mon âme" performed by Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came fourth, being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the 2002 contest, when "Il faut du temps" by Sandrine François came fifth and received the Marcel Bezençon international press award for the best entry of that year. The positive experience with Sébastien Tellier in 2008 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 the 2009 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 the 2016 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 in 2021, as Barbara Pravi with her song "Voilà" finished in second place with 499 points, France's best result since 1991, only 25 points behind eventual winners Måneskin from Italy. Slimane finished in fourth place in 2024 with his song "Mon amour".
Absences
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 the French president Georges Pompidou died in the week of the contest.[2] If it had participated, France would have been represented by Dani 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.
France and the "Big Five"
Since 1999, France, along with Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests.[4] The participant 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, thus upgrading the countries to members of a "Big Five".[5][6]
Participation overview
| 1 | First place |
| 2 | Second place |
| 3 | Third place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| † | Upcoming event |
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Cannes | Palais des Festivals | Jacqueline Joubert |
| 1961 | |||
| 1978 | Paris | Palais des Congrès | Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone |
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) |
Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Press Award | "Il faut du temps" | Rick Allison (m), Patrick Bruel (m&l), Marie-Florence Gros (l) | Sandrine François | 5 | 104 |  Tallinn |
|
| 2009 | Artistic Award[lower-alpha 3] | "Et s'il fallait le faire" | Anse Lazio, Fred Blondin | Patricia Kaas | 8 | 107 |  Moscow |
|
| 2011 | Composer Award | "Sognu" | Daniel Moyne (m), Quentin Bachelet (m), Jean-Pierre Marcellesi (l), Julie Miller (l) |
Amaury Vassili | 15 | 82 |  Düsseldorf |
|
| 2018 | Press Award | "Mercy" | Émilie Satt (m&l), Jean-Karl Lucas (m&l) | Madame Monsieur | 13 | 173 |  Lisbon |
|
| 2021 | Press Award Artistic Award[lower-alpha 4] |
"Voilà" | Barbara Pravi, Lili Poe, Igit (m&l) | Barbara Pravi | 2 | 499 |  Rotterdam |
Winner by OGAE members
| Year | Song | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | "J'ai cherché" | Amir | 6 | 257 |  Stockholm |
Related involvement
Conductors
| Year | Conductor[lower-alpha 5] | Musical Director | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Franck Pourcel | N/A | [14] | |
| 1957 | ||||
| 1958 | ||||
| 1959 | Franck Pourcel | [lower-alpha 6] | ||
| 1960 | Franck Pourcel | N/A | ||
| 1961 | Franck Pourcel | [lower-alpha 7] | ||
| 1962 | Franck Pourcel | N/A | ||
| 1963 | ||||
| 1964 | ||||
| 1965 | ||||
| 1966 | ||||
| 1967 | ||||
| 1968 | Alain Goraguer | |||
| 1969 | Franck Pourcel | |||
| 1970 | [15] | |||
| 1971 | ||||
| 1972 | ||||
| 1973 | Jean Claudric | |||
| 1974 | Jean-Claude Petit | [lower-alpha 8] | ||
| 1975 | Jean Musy | |||
| 1976 | Tony Rallo | |||
| 1977 | Raymond Donnez | |||
| 1978 | Alain Goraguer | François Rauber | ||
| 1979 | Guy Matteoni | N/A | ||
| 1980 |  Sylvano Santorio |
[lower-alpha 9] | [16] | |
| 1981 | David Sprinfield | |||
| 1983 | François Rauber | |||
| 1984 | ||||
| 1985 | Michel Bernholc | [lower-alpha 10] | ||
| 1986 | Jean-Claude Petit | |||
| 1987 | ||||
| 1988 | Guy Matteoni | |||
| 1989 | ||||
| 1990 | Régis Dupré | |||
| 1991 | Jérôme Pillement | |||
| 1992 | Magdi Vasco Noverraz | |||
| 1993 | Christian Cravero | |||
| 1994 | Alain Goraguer | |||
| 1995 | Michel Bernholc | |||
| 1996 |  Fiachra Trench |
|||
| 1997 | Régis Dupré | |||
| 1998 |  Martin Koch |
Host conductor[lower-alpha 11] | ||
| 1999 | No orchestra | [lower-alpha 12] | ||
| 2000 | ||||
Heads of delegation
Commentators and spokespersons
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2020) |
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.
| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Semi-final | |||
| 1956 | Michelle Rebel | No semi-finals | No spokesperson | [22] |
| 1957 | Robert Beauvais | Claude Darget | [23] | |
| 1958 | Pierre Tchernia | Armand Lanoux | [24] | |
| 1959 | Claude Darget | Marianne Lecène | [25] | |
| 1960 | Pierre Tchernia | Armand Lanoux | [26] | |
| 1961 | Robert Beauvais | [27] | ||
| 1962 | Pierre Tchernia | André Valmy | ||
| 1963 | Armand Lanoux | |||
| 1964 | Robert Beauvais | Jean-Claude Massoulier | ||
| 1965 | Pierre Tchernia[28] | |||
| 1966 | François Deguelt | |||
| 1967 | Pierre Tchernia[29] | |||
| 1968 | ||||
| 1969 | ||||
| 1970 | ||||
| 1971 | Georges de Caunes | No spokesperson | ||
| 1972 | Pierre Tchernia | |||
| 1973 | ||||
| 1974 | Did not participate | |||
| 1975 | Georges de Caunes | Marc Menant | ||
| 1976 | Jean-Claude Massoulier | |||
| 1977 | Georges de Caunes | |||
| 1978 | Léon Zitrone[30] | Patrice Laffont | ||
| 1979 | Marc Menant | Fabienne Égal | ||
| 1980 | Patrick Sabatier | |||
| 1981 | Denise Fabre | |||
| 1982 | Andre Torrent | Did not participate | ||
| 1983 | Léon Zitrone | Nicole André | ||
| 1984 | ||||
| 1985 | Patrice Laffont | Clémentine Célarié | ||
| 1986 | Patricia Lesieur | |||
| 1987 | Patrick Simpson-Jones | Lionel Cassan | ||
| 1988 | Lionel Cassan | Catherine Ceylac | ||
| 1989 | Marie-Ange Nardi | |||
| 1990 | Richard Adaridi | Valérie Maurice | ||
| 1991 | Léon Zitrone | Daniela Lumbroso | ||
| 1992 | Thierry Beccaro | Olivier Minne | ||
| 1993 | Patrice Laffont | |||
| 1994 | Laurent Romejko | |||
| 1995 | Olivier Minne | Thierry Beccaro | ||
| 1996 | Laurent Broomhead | |||
| 1997 | Frédéric Ferrer and Marie Myriam | |||
| 1998 | Chris Mayne, Laura Mayne | Marie Myriam | ||
| 1999 | Julien Lepers | |||
| 2000 | ||||
| 2001 | Marc-Olivier Fogiel, Dave | Corinne Hermès | ||
| 2002 | Marie Myriam | |||
| 2003 | Laurent Ruquier, Isabelle Mergault | Sandrine François | ||
| 2004 | Laurent Ruquier, Elsa Fayer | No broadcast | Alex Taylor | |
| 2005 | Julien Lepers, Guy Carlier | Peggy Olmi | Marie Myriam | |
| 2006 | Michel Drucker, Claudy Siar | Peggy Olmi, Eric Jean-Jean | Sophie Jovillard | |
| 2007 | Julien Lepers, Tex | Peggy Olmi, Yann Renoard | Vanessa Dolmen | |
| 2008 | Julien Lepers, Jean-Paul Gaultier | Cyril Hanouna | ||
| 2009 | Cyril Hanouna, Julien Courbet | Yann Renoard | ||
| 2010 | Cyril Hanouna, Stéphane Bern | Audrey Chauveau | ||
| 2011 | Laurent Boyer, Catherine Lara | Audrey Chauveau, Bruno Berberes | Cyril Féraud | |
| 2012 | Cyril Féraud, Mireille Dumas | Amaury Vassili | ||
| 2013 | Marine Vignes | |||
| 2014 | Cyril Féraud, Natasha St-Pier | Elodie Suigo | ||
| 2015 | Stéphane Bern, Marianne James | Mareva Galanter, Jérémy Parayre | Virginie Guilhaume | |
| 2016 | Marianne James, Jarry | Élodie Gossuin | ||
| 2017 | Stéphane Bern, Marianne James, Amir | |||
| 2018 | Stéphane Bern, Christophe Willem, Alma | Christophe Willem, André Manoukian | ||
| 2019 | Stéphane Bern, André Manoukian | Sandy Héribert, André Manoukian | Julia Molkhou | |
| 2021 | Stéphane Bern, Laurence Boccolini | Laurence Boccolini | Carla | |
| 2022 | Élodie Gossuin | |||
| 2023 | Anggun, André Manoukian | Anggun | ||
| 2024 | Nicky Doll | Natasha St-Pier | ||
Photo gallery
André Claveau in Hilversum (1958)
Guy Mardel in Naples (1965)
Dan Ar Braz in Oslo (1996)
Jonatan Cerrada in Istanbul (2004)
Les Fatals Picards in Helsinki (2007)
Sébastien Tellier in Belgrade (2008)
Patricia Kaas in Moscow (2009)
Jessy Matador in Oslo (2010)
Amaury Vassili in Düsseldorf (2011)
Amandine Bourgeois in Malmö (2013)
Lisa Angell in Vienna (2015)
Madame Monsieur in Lisbon (2018)
Bilal Hassani in Tel Aviv (2019)
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See also
- France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- France in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
- France in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.
Notes
- The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Voted by previous winners.
References
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