Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest

Netherlands
Member station	AVROTROS (2014–)[1] Former members NTS (1956–1969) NOS (1970–1984, 1987–2009)[2] Veronica (1986) TROS (2010–2013)[2]
National selection events	National Final Nationaal Songfestival 1956–1960 1962–1979 1981–1984 1986–1990 1992–1994 1996–2001 2003–2006 2007 (song) 2009–2012 Internal Selection 1961 1980 2007 (artist) 2008 2013–2018
Participation summary
Appearances	59 (50 finals)
First appearance	1956
Best result	1st: 1957, 1959, 1969, 1975
Worst result	Last: 1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, 2011 SF Nul points: 1962, 1963
External links
songfestival.nl
Netherlands's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

The Netherlands has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956, and has missed only four contests so far (1985, 1991, 1995 and 2002). The Netherlands hosted the contest in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980.

The Netherlands has won the contest four times, with Corry Brokken in 1957, Teddy Scholten in 1959, Lenny Kuhr in a four-way tie in 1969 and Teach-In in 1975, and finished last in 1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, and last in the semifinal in 2011. The Netherlands also finished fourth with Sandra & Andres (1972), third with Mouth & MacNeal (1974), fifth with Maggie MacNeal (1980), fifth with Marcha (1987) and fourth with Edsilia Rombley (1998).

After the introduction of the semifinals in 2004, the Netherlands failed to reach the final for eight years in a row from 2005 to 2012, but have since reached five of the last six finals. By finishing second in 2014, The Common Linnets gave the Netherlands its tenth top five placement and best result since 1975.

History

The Netherlands, presented in the contest as The Netherlands,^[3] has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries competing in the very first contest in 1956. It has missed only four contests so far (1985, 1991, 1995 and 2002). The preselection process was often done through the Nationaal Songfestival, with the winner qualifying to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Netherlands has won the contest four times.

With four victories, the Netherlands ranks in the top 10 most successful Eurovision countries. The country's first two victories came in the 1950s, with Corry Brokken in 1957 and Teddy Scholten in 1959. The 1960s was a mostly unsuccessful decade for the country, the exception was in 1969, when Lenny Kuhr won a third title for the Dutch with "De Troubadour", winning in a four-way tie with France, Spain and the UK. Sandra & Andres finished fourth in 1972 and Mouth & MacNeal were third in 1974, before Teach-In achieved the Netherlands fourth victory in 1975 with Ding-A-Dong. The Netherlands best result of the 1980s was fifth, achieved by both Maggie MacNeal (of Mouth & MacNeal) in 1980 and Marcha in 1987. In the 1990s, Ruth Jacott, with sixth place in 1993 and Edsilia Rombley, with fourth in 1998, achieved the Netherlands best results of the decade. The Netherlands have finished last in the contest final on four occasions, in 1958, 1962, 1963 and 1968. They also finished last in the semi-final in 2011.

Since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004, the Netherlands has reached the final on five occasions, failing to reach the final for eight years in a row, from 2005–2012. Opting for an internal selection has fared well for the Netherlands since 2013, when Anouk became the first Dutch entry in nine years to qualify for the final, where she finished ninth. In 2014, another internal selection proved to be a success, when country duo The Common Linnets, made up of members Ilse DeLange and Waylon, became the Netherlands' most successful entry since 1975, placing second. The Netherlands once again qualified for the final in 2016 (with Douwe Bob) and 2017 (with O'G3NE), finishing 11th both times, and in 2018 (with Waylon), finishing 18th.

The Netherlands has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest four times: in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980. The first three times were after winning the previous year, while the 1980 contest was staged in the Netherlands, after Israel (who had won in 1979) declined to organise the event for a second consecutive year. Similarly, the Netherlands had declined the right to organise the 1960 contest, as they had hosted the event just two years previously.

Non-participations

The Netherlands has missed only four contests in its Eurovision history. The first of these was at the 1985 contest, held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The contest, held on 4 May conflicted with the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead and as such the Netherlands withdrew.^[4]

In 1991 the contest was again held on 4 May, and so the Netherlands withdrew for the same reason as six years earlier.^[5]

There was no Dutch participation in the 1995 and 2002 contests, due to relegation as a result of the country's poor showings in the previous year.

The Netherlands did compete in 2000. But at 22:00 (UTC+2) on Saturday 13 May, the broadcast was cancelled because of the Enschede fireworks disaster which happened a few hours before.^[6] The points awarded by the Netherlands were taken from the back-up jury vote, as there was no televote after the program was cut short.

Contestants

Table key

NOTE: The full results for the first contest are unknown, only the winner was announced. The official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second.

Voting history

As of 2018, Netherlands' voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Belgium 173 2  Sweden 170 3  Germany 167 4  France 162 5  United Kingdom 153 Most points received in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  Belgium 168 2  France 141 3  Ireland 135 4  Germany 132 5   Switzerland 122

Most points given in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Sweden 230 2  Belgium 229 3  Denmark 199 4  Norway 187 5  Israel 185 Most points received in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  Belgium 250 2  France 178 3  Ireland 167 4  Germany 165 5  Denmark 163

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenter	Image
1958	Hilversum	AVRO Studio	Hannie Lips
1970	Amsterdam	Congrescentrum	Willy Dobbe
1976	The Hague	Congresgebouw	Corry Brokken
1980			Marlous Fluitsma

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Artistic Award

Voted by previous winners

Voted by commentators

Composer Award

Commentators

Over the years NOS/TROS commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Willem Duys, Ivo Niehe, Pim Jacobs, Ati Dijckmeester and Paul de Leeuw. Willem van Beusekom provided NOS TV commentary every year from 1987 until 2005.^[9] However, on November 7, 2005 it was announced that Van Beusekom would quit his role as Dutch commentator saying "It's good to step back".^[10] He was replaced by his co-commentator Cornald Maas who commentated on the contest from 2004 until 2010.

On June 29, 2010 Maas was sacked as commentator after putting insults on Twitter about Sieneke, Joran van der Sloot and the Party for Freedom (PVV).^[11] After this, DJ Daniël Dekker, who had been commentating next to Maas, took over together with Jan Smit. In 2014, Maas returned, now himself replacing Dekker, as commentator together with Smit.

1. ^ Douwe Bob, Dutch representative in the 2016 Contest, was the second dual commentator for the second semi-final.

Conductors

All conductors are Dutch except those marked with a flag.

• Fernando Paggi (1956)
• Dolf van der Linden (1957–1962, 1964–68, 1970–71) (musical director in 1958, 1970)
• Eric Robinson (1963)
• Harry van Hoof (1972–79, 1986, 1988–1990, 1992–94)
• Jan Stulen 1976 (musical director, but did not conduct any entry)
• Rogier van Otterloo (1980–82, 1984, 1987) (musical director in 1980)
• Piet Souer (1983)
• Dick Bakker (1996–98)

Photogallery

• 
  Corry Brokken at Hilversum (1958)
• 
  Conny Vandenbos at Naples (1965)
• 
  Edsilia Rombley at Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Hind at Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Sieneke at Bærum, Oslo (2010)
• 
  Anouk at Malmö (2013)
• 
  The Common Linnets at Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Trijntje Oosterhuis at Vienna (2015)
• 
  Douwe Bob at Stockholm (2016)
• 
  O'G3NE at Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Waylon at Lisbon (2018)
• 
  Sandra Reemer with the outfit she wore in 1979
• 
  The 1958 Eurovision scoreboard

See also

• Nationaal Songfestival
• Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Netherlands in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Netherlands in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Netherlands in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

References

External links

• Points to and from the Netherlands eurovisioncovers.co.uk