Modern Times (band)

Luxembourg has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 39 times since its debut at the first contest in . The Luxembourgish national broadcaster, (RTL), participates in the contest representing the country. The nation participated in all but one event between 1956 and , only missing the . After finishing among the bottom seven countries in 1993, Luxembourg was relegated and prevented from competing in . The nation declined to return to the contest in , and would make no further appearances over the next three decades. The country returned to the event for the first time in 31 years in .

With five wins, Luxembourg is one of the contest's most successful nations, and between 1983 and 1994 the nation jointly held the record for most contest wins by a single country. Luxembourg won the Eurovision Song Contest in , with the song "" performed by Jean-Claude Pascal, in , with the song "" performed by France Gall, recorded back-to-back wins in and , when represented by "" by Vicky Leandros and "" by Anne-Marie David, and most recently in , with the song "" performed by Corinne Hermès. The contest has been held in Luxembourg four times, in , , , and , all of which took place in Luxembourg City. In addition to its five wins, Luxembourg recorded two third-place finishes in and , and in total has placed within the top five 13 times and the top ten 20 times. Luxembourg's fortunes in the contest changed in later years, with the nation's final seven appearances in the 1980s and 1990s resulting in four placements in the bottom five, ultimately leading to the nation's relegation and subsequent non-participation in 1993. On its return in 2024, Luxembourg qualified from the semi-finals and ultimately finished in 13th place in the final. It again qualified for the final in .

Contest history

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is open to members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Between 1956 and 1993, (CLT) participated in the contest on behalf of Luxembourg; since 2024, , a division of the RTL Group, participates in the event representing the country.

One of seven countries to take part in the of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, Luxembourg has competed in the contest on 38 occasions since its debut entry. The nation participated in all but one event between 1956 and , with no Luxembourgish entry having participated in the . On each occasion that Luxembourg participated in the contest the country was represented by one song, with the exception of the first contest when each nation was represented by two songs.

Luxembourg has won the contest on five occasions, marking it as one of the contest's most successful nations. The country's first win was recorded in with the song "" performed by Jean-Claude Pascal. Four years later the nation were awarded a second victory, with the song "" performed by France Gall winning the contest in . Luxembourg recorded back-to-back victories in and becoming the second country to win the event in two consecutive eventswhen represented by the song "" performed by Vicky Leandros, and "" by Anne-Marie David, respectively. The nation achieved its most recent victory in , with the song "" performed by Corinne Hermès. With its fifth win Luxembourg became the joint-most successful Eurovision nation at that time, equalling the record for the most number of victories by a single country previously set by a record which would remain until recorded their sixth win in . All of Luxembourg's winners, however, were not of Luxembourgish descent, with four of the five artists being French and one, Leandros, being Greek.

During its original participation run between 1956 and 1993 the rules of the contest for the majority of those editions stated that each country was required to perform in one of the national languages of that country. The large majority of Luxembourgish entries were performed in French, which is one of the official languages of Luxembourg and the main language of communication in the country, while Luxembourgish, the country's national language, has featured in only three of the country's entries, in , , and .

Including its five wins, Luxembourg has placed within the top five on 13 occasions and within the top ten on 20 occasions, including two third-place finishes in and . The majority of the country's top placings, however, were recorded prior to its fifth contest win, and in the decade following its most recent victory Luxembourg's fortunes in the contest began to shift, leading to four appearances in the bottom five between and 1993.

Relegation and absence

After finishing among the bottom seven countries at the 1993 event, Luxembourg was relegated under a new system to accommodate entries from new nations wishing to compete for the first time, and was thus prevented from participating in the 1994 contest. Luxembourg subsequently declined to participate in the and continued to be absent from the contest for three decades, with the increased costs of participating in the event cited as a main contributing factor for the country's absence. Ahead of the Luxembourg was featured within a preliminary participants list for that edition, however, RTL subsequently reconsidered due to the scale of the participation fee, with Luxembourg ultimately absent from the final list of participating countries. RTL had been approached on several occasions in subsequent years about the possibility of returning to the contest and participation in the contest was the subject of discussion within the Luxembourgish parliament in the years following Luxembourg's last entry, as well as the subject of fan-led petitions run both in Luxembourg and in other countries. The organisation however varyingly identified high participation costs, organisational difficulties, the cost and logistical issues of staging the event should Luxembourg win, format incompatibilities at the broadcaster, disinterest among the Luxembourgish viewing public and poor results towards the end of Luxembourg's participation among the reasons future participation was consistently ruled out. In an interview with in April 2024, Luxembourgish singer revealed that he had been contacted by broadcaster San Marino RTV to create a duet that would represent both countries jointly in the contest. Despite the initial availability of Luxembourgish minister of Culture, the project was ultimately discarded for financial reasons.

Return

On 15 December 2022, it was reported that Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourgish prime minister and minister for communications and media, had instigated discussions with RTL regarding the return of Luxembourg to the Eurovision Song Contest in , with a team within the Luxembourgish government formed to facilitate the country's return to the event. On 12 May 2023, ahead of the final of the , the 30th anniversary of Luxembourg's last entry and the 40th anniversary of Luxembourg's last win, RTL and the EBU announced that Luxembourg would return to the contest in 2024. As part of the announcement, RTL and the Luxembourgish government highlighted the promotion of Luxembourgish culture, the development of the cultural section of Luxembourgish society, as well as economic and touristic benefits which participation in the event could bring.

In July 2023, RTL launched its national selection process, with a televised final held on 27 January 2024 at the Rockhal in Esch-sur-Alzette. Interested artists were able to apply to compete in the event, with applicants required to be Luxembourgish citizens, long-term residents, or those with a proven connection to the Luxembourgish music scene and strong involvement with Luxembourgish culture. This marked a change from the majority of previous Luxembourgish selections, which were predominantly held internally and were often led by the RTL organisation in Paris instead of the local Luxembourgish broadcaster; due to this, a large number of the artists who represented Luxembourg in the contest were not of Luxembourgish descent, including all five of the nation's winning artists. The ''Luxembourg Song Contest'' was officially launched on 1 December 2023, with RTL highlighting the event as a showcase for Luxembourgish talent and a platform for established and emerging artists within the Luxembourgish music scene. The chosen entry for 2024, " Fighter" by Tali, qualified for the final and finished 13th. "" by Laura Thorn also qualified for the final in 2025 and finished 22nd.

Participation overview

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

A special competition was held in October 2005 to celebrate the contest's 50th anniversary, with 14 songs from Eurovision history competing to determine the most popular song from the contest's first 50 years, with the winner determined through the combined votes of the viewing public and juries over two rounds. The contest was not relayed by a Luxembourgish broadcaster; however, Luxembourg's winning song from 1965, "", performed by France Gall, was featured among the 14 selected songs.

Hostings

As is customary the winning broadcaster is offered the opportunity to organise the following year's event, which has resulted in Luxembourg hosting the contest on four occasions. On each occasion the contest was held in Luxembourg City, and coincided with one of Luxembourg's victories. The and events were held in the of and presented by Mireille Delannoy and Josiane Shen, respectively. The and contests were held in the (also known at the time as the and ) and presented by Helga Guitton and Désirée Nosbusch, respectively. Although Luxembourg won the contest in 1973 and were offered the opportunity to stage the , RTL declined the offer due to the financial strain of hosting two consecutive events, leading to the BBC to step in as organiser and staging the event in Brighton.

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others. Since 2024, the Luxembourgish head of delegation has been Eric Lehmann.

Conductors

In contests where an orchestra was provided, a conductor was required to lead the musicians during each country's performance. Broadcasters were able to provide their own conductors or could call upon the services of the conductor appointed by the host broadcaster. The conductors which led the orchestra during the Luxembourgish entries each year are listed below.

Jury members

Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except their own. The modern incarnation of jury voting was introduced beginning with the , and , the juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result in the final alongside televoting.

Commentators and spokespersons

RTL has broadcast the contest on various television and radio channels during its participation history and has provided commentary in different languages for the local audiences. On occasion commentary has been relayed from the broadcast feed of other participating countries. Between 1956 and 1991 the contest was broadcast on the French-language television channel of RTL (presently known as RTL9), and was also broadcast on the German-language television channel (previously known as ''RTL plus'', now titled RTL) between 1984 and 1988; in 1992 and 1993 the contest was broadcast on the Luxembourgish-language channel RTL Hei Elei. The contest is also known to have been broadcast on RTL's radio stations, in 1966 on the French-language Radio Luxembourg, in 1962 and 1973 on the Luxembourgish-language , in 1973 on the English-language Radio Luxembourg, and in 1979 on the German-language RTL Radio. Upon its return to the contest in 2024, RTL provided a wide array of broadcast options through television, radio and online streaming, with English, French and Luxembourgish language commentators recruited to provide context during the live shows.

As part of the contest's voting procedure, each participating broadcaster nominates a spokesperson which announces the results of their country's vote during the final. Since 1994, the year Luxembourg began its most recent hiatus from the contest, the spokespersons have been connected through satellite links, which replaced the use of telephone lines in previous events. Désirée Nosbusch, who had previously hosted the , served as Luxembourg's spokesperson upon the country's return in 2024, and thus became the first Luxembourgish spokesperson to be seen in vision during the contest.

Creative directors

As part of the broadcaster's delegation team, a creative director may be employed to provide guidance on the staging of the competing entry at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2024, RTL collaborated with the Ukrainian director on the staging of the Luxembourgish entry in Malmö. In 2025, the staging was designed by the Ukrainian team TRI.Direction, led by Nataliia Lysenkova, Nataliia Rovenska and Mariia Hryhorashchenko, with choreography by Denys Stulnikov.

Photo gallery

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1958 - Solange Berry.png, Solange Berry in Hilversum (1958)
File:Eurovisie Songfestival 1962 te Luxemburg, voor Luxemburg Camillo Felgen, Bestanddeelnr 913-6609.jpg, Camillo Felgen in Luxembourg (1962)
File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - France Gall.jpg, France Gall in Naples (1965)
File:David Alexandre Winter (Luxemburg), Bestanddeelnr 923-3696.jpg, David Alexandre Winter in Amsterdam (1970)
File:Eurovisie Songfestival 76 Den Haag Jurgen Marcus (Luxemburg), Bestanddeelnr 928-5031.jpg, Jürgen Marcus in The Hague (1976)
File:Eurovision Song Contest 1980 - Sophie & Magaly.jpg, Sophie and Magaly in the Hague (1980)
File:Tali Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Final Malmö dressrehearsal semi 1 02.jpg, Tali in Malmö ()
File:Laura Thorn at ESC2025 for Luxembourg 23.jpg, Laura Thorn in Basel ()

Notes and references

Notes

References

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Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest