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France in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	France Télévisions (2001–present) Formerly Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF; 1956–1964) Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF; 1965–74) Télévision Française 1 (TF1; 1975–1981) Antenne 2 (1983–1992) France Télévision (1993–2000)
Participation summary
Appearances	66
First appearance	1956
Highest placement	1st: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977
Host	1959, 1961, 1978
Participation history 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
External links
France 2 page
France's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

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 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 [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 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). 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. 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 ." 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. 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".

Participation overview

Hostings

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	"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	"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	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
1956	Franck Pourcel	N/A
1957
1958
1959	Franck Pourcel
1960	Franck Pourcel	N/A
1961	Franck Pourcel
1962	Franck Pourcel	N/A
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968	Alain Goraguer
1969	Franck Pourcel
1970
1971
1972
1973	Jean Claudric
1974	Jean-Claude Petit
1975	Jean Musy
1976	Tony Rallo
1977	Raymond Donnez
1978	Alain Goraguer	François Rauber
1979	Guy Matteoni	N/A
1980	Sylvano Santorio
1981	David Sprinfield
1983	François Rauber
1984
1985	Michel Bernholc
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
1999	No orchestra
2000

Heads of delegation

Commentators and spokespersons

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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.

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)
• Anggun in Baku (2012)
• Amandine Bourgeois in Malmö (2013)
• Twin Twin in Copenhagen (2014)
• Lisa Angell in Vienna (2015)
• Amir in Stockholm (2016)
• Alma in Kyiv (2017)
• Madame Monsieur in Lisbon (2018)
• Bilal Hassani in Tel Aviv (2019)
• La Zarra in Liverpool (2023)
• Slimane in Malmö (2024)

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

1. ^ The 1956 contest had secret voting and, apart from the winner, no results were released.
2. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Voted by previous winners.
4. Voted by the national commentators.
5. All conductors are of French nationality unless otherwise noted.
6. Also conducted for Austria, Germany, Monaco, Sweden, and Switzerland
7. Also conducted for Austria and Germany
8. Announced as the French conductor prior to the country's withdrawal
9. Conducted at the national final by François Rauber
10. Conducted at the national final by François Rauber.
11. Koch conducted a small string arrangement added to the performance over the course of rehearsals; he did not take the traditional conductor's bow.
12. Although the international final did not feature the orchestra, there was one for the national final, conducted by Rene Coll.

References

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• France in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest