Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Belgium
Member station	VRT, RTBF
National selection events	Internal selection 1956 1964 1965–1966 (artist) 1969 (artist) 1972 (artist) 1974 (artist) 1979 (artist) 1985 1990 1991 (artist) 2003 2007 2009–2010 2012–2013 (artist) 2015 2017–2022 National final De T.V. Maakt Muziek 1957 Eurosong 1958–1963 1965–1966 (song) 1967–1968 1969 (song) 1970–1971 1972 (song) 1973 1974 (song) 1975–1978 1979 (song) 1980–1984 1986–1989 1993 1995 1999 2002–2008 2012 (song) 2014 2016 Euro-Clouseau 1991 (song) Finale nationale Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1992 1998 2000 De gouden zeemeermin 1996 Eurovision: Qui? À vous de choisir! 2011 À vous de choisir la chanson! 2013 (song)
Participation summary
Appearances	62 (52 finals)
Host	1987
First appearance	1956
Highest placement	1st: 1986
Nul points	1962, 1965
External links
Belgium's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Belgium has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 62 times since making its debut as one of seven countries at the first contest in 1956. The only countries with more appearances are Germany (64), France (63) and the United Kingdom (63). Belgium have been absent only three times in total, in 1994, 1997 and 2001, due to low scores in the previous contests that relegated them from the contest. Belgium has won the contest once, in 1986.

In the first 20 years of the contest, Belgium's best result was Tonia's fourth place in 1966. In 1978, Jean Vallée achieved Belgium's first top three placement, when he was second. Sandra Kim became the first and to date only winner for Belgium in 1986, when she won as a 13-year-old in Bergen, performing the song "J'aime la vie". Belgium's only other top three result came in 2003, when the group Urban Trad finished second in Riga, losing out by only two points. Belgium has finished last in the contest eight times, most recently in 2000, and has twice received "nul points" (no points); in 1962 and 1965.

After the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Belgium failed to reach the final for five consecutive years (2005–09). Since 2010, Belgium has become more successful, qualifying for the final in six out of eleven contests and placing in the top 10 four times, with Tom Dice sixth (2010), Loïc Nottet fourth (2015), Laura Tesoro tenth (2016), and Blanche fourth (2017).

Broadcasting[]

Belgium has two national broadcasters of the contest, Dutch-speaking Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) and French-speaking Walloon broadcaster Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF). The two broadcasters rotate selection for the Eurovision Song Contest each year (from 2002 to the cancelled 2020 edition, VRT in the even-numbered years and RTBF in the odd-numbered years; until 1993 BRT/BRTN in the odd-numbered years and RTB/RTBF in the even-numbered years).

Contest history[]

Belgium has participated in Eurovision since the very first contest in 1956, however Tonia's fourth-place at the 1966 contest remained the country's most notable achievement until Jean Vallée finished second in 1978. In the 80s, following good results for Stella (fourth in 1982) and Jacques Zegers (fifth in 1984), Belgium finished last for the sixth time in 1985. This was followed by Belgium's first and (as of 2021) only Eurovision victory in 1986, when Sandra Kim won with her song "J'aime la vie" in Bergen, Norway. Although the lyrics claimed she was 15 years old, she was actually only 13 which prompted runner-ups Switzerland to petition for her disqualification, to no avail.^[a] By winning in 1986, Belgium became the last of the 7 Eurovision founding countries to win the contest, as Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany all had won at least once before. Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Kim earning a never-seen-before number of 176 points (that record remained until 1993, with Ireland scoring 187 points). With an average of 9.26 points per voting nation and 77.2% of the maximum possible score, as of 2021 Kim's record still ranks eighth among all Eurovision winners.

Belgium finished last for the seventh time at the 1993 contest, before achieving its only top ten result of the 90s decade at the 1998 contest in Birmingham, where Mélanie Cohl finished sixth. In the 2000s, Belgium experienced mixed fortunes: the country started the decade by finishing last for the eighth and (as of 2021) final time at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, before achieving its best result of the 21st century in 2003 when Urban Trad sang in an imaginary language and earned second place with 165 points, losing out to Turkey's Sertab Erener by just two points. The country then failed to qualify from the semi-finals for 5 consecutive contests from 2005 to 2009.

The 2010 entry for Belgium was Tom Dice, runner-up of the Belgian Flemish version of The X Factor in 2008. Dice finished first in his semi-final, allowing Belgium to participate in the final for the first time since 2004 and eventually finishing sixth overall, Belgium's best result since 2003 and the best result ever for a Flemish entrant (tied with 1959).^[1] Belgium then experienced a mix of ups and downs for the remainder of the 2010s: while the country failed to qualify for the final on 5 occasions (in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019), Belgium qualified in 2013 (with Roberto Bellarosa placing 12th) before scoring a 3-year-streak in the top 10 thanks to Loïc Nottet (fourth in 2015), Laura Tesoro (tenth in 2016) and Blanche (fourth in 2017).

In October 2019, Hooverphonic was announced as the Belgian representative for the 2020 contest with their entry "Release Me". Due to the cancellation of the 2020 contest in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, broadcasters RTBF and VRT later agreed that the band would be their representative for the 2021 contest instead.^[2] Their 2021 entry "The Wrong Place" went on to finish in 19th place in the final with 74 points.

Disparity between Flemish and French-speaking broadcasters[]

Belgium is a federal country divided into two major linguistic regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, each region having its own broadcaster (VRT in Flanders and RTBF in Wallonia). The broadcasters take turns to send the Belgian entry to Eurovision, and as of 2021 Flemish VRT is in charge on odd years while French-speaking RTBF is in charge on even years.

There has been a significant difference in the results achieved by the 2 broadcasters.^[3] French-speaking RTBF is to thank for Belgium's only Eurovision win (in 1986), all of Belgium's ten top 5 placings, and 18 out of Belgium's 25 top 10 placings. On the other hand, Flemish VRT has never won, never placed in the top 5, and has only placed in the top 10 seven times, while scoring 6 out of Belgium's 8 last place finishes.^[3] In the 90s, the relegation rule was introduced (the lowest-placed countries on the scoreboard were not invited the following year, to accommodate for the growing number of participating countries) and Belgium was relegated 3 times (in 1994, 1997 and 2001): 2 times following a poor placing by a VRT-sent act the previous year, and once after RTBF act Nathalie Sorce placed last in 2000.^[3]

Since 2004 and the introduction of the semi-finals, the 2 broadcasters have scored similarly in terms of qualification: RTBF qualified 3 times out of 8 semi-finals, while VRT also qualified 3 times out of 8 semi-finals and broke Belgium's 5 year non-qualification streak, with 2010 contestant Tom Dice qualifying Belgium for the first time.

Participation overview[]

Selection process[]

While VRT normally hosts a national final, Eurosong, when selecting their entries for Eurovision, RTBF usually holds an internal selection process (although it sometimes holds a national final, for example in 1998, 2005^[6][7] and 2011, while VRT internally chose Tom Dice for the 2010 edition, Sennek for the 2018 edition and Hooverphonic for the 2020 and 2021 editions).

Hostings[]

Awards[]

Barbara Dex Award[]

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
2000	Nathalie Sorce	Stockholm	[10]

Related involvement[]

Conductors[]

Year	Conductor[g]	Notes	Ref.
1956	Léo Souris		[11]
1957	Willy Berking	Host conductor
1958	Dolf van der Linden
1959	Francis Bay
1960	Henri Segers
1961	Francis Bay
1962	Henri Segers
1963	Francis Bay
1964	Henri Segers
1965	Gaston Nuyts
1966	Jean Roderes	Host conductor
1967	Francis Bay
1968	Henri Segers
1969	Francis Bay
1970	Jack Say		[12]
1971	Francis Bay
1972	Henri Segers
1973	Francis Bay
1974	Pierre Chiffre
1975	Francis Bay
1976	Michel Bernholc
1977	Alyn Ainsworth
1978	Jean Musy
1979	Francis Bay
1980	No conductor		[13]
1981	Giuseppe Marchese
1982	Jack Say
1983	Freddy Sunder
1984	Jo Carlier
1985	Curt-Eric Holmquist	Host conductor
1986	Jo Carlier
1987	Freddy Sunder	[h]
1988	Daniel Willem
1989	Freddy Sunder
1990	Rony Brack
1991	Roland Verlooven
1992	Frank Fievez
1993	Bert Candries
1995	Alec Mansion
1996	Bob Porter
1998	No conductor

Commentators and spokespersons[]

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Belgium has two public broadcast stations VRT (Dutch speaking region) & RTBF (French speaking region). Both broadcast the event and over the years VRT and RTBF commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including , Jacques Mercier, Luc Appermont and Paule Herreman. However, from the 1991 Contest, André Vermeulen has provided the Dutch language commentary every year, with the exception of the 1996 Contest. Jean-Pierre Hautier provided the French language commentary from the 1994 Contest until the 2012 contest, having died shortly after. In 1962, the BRT used the commentary from NTS (The Netherlands broadcast), possibly for financial reasons.

Since 1998, VRT has supplied an additional commentator to join André Vermeulen; between 1999 and 2010, dual commentary was provided by either Bart Peeters or Anja Daems. Peeters provided the commentary during the years when VRT selected the entries, whilst Daems commentated the years in which RTBF selected the entries. Since 2011, Sven Pichal has replaced Daems as commentator, whilst Peter Van de Veire has replaced Peeters. From 2007, Jean-Louis Lahaye joined Jean-Pierre Hautier as a supplementary commentator for RTBF. After Hautier's death in 2012, Lahaye was joined by Maureen Louys in 2013.

Gallery[]

• 

  Fud Leclerc performing "Ma petite chatte" in Hilversum (1958)

• 

  Xandee performing "1 Life" in Istanbul (2004)

• 

  The KMG's performing "Love Power" in Helsinki (2007)

• 

  Ishtar performing "O Julissi" in Belgrade (2008)

• 

  Copycat in Moscow (2009)

• 

  Tom Dice in Oslo (2010)

• 

  Roberto Bellarosa performing "Love Kills" in Malmö (2013)

• 

  Axel Hirsoux performing "Mother" in Copenhagen (2014)

• 

  Loïc Nottet performing "Rhythm Inside" in Vienna (2015)

• 

  Laura Tesoro performing "What's the Pressure" in Stockholm (2016)

• 

  Blanche performing "City Lights" in Kyiv (2017)

• 

  Sennek performing "A Matter of Time" in Lisbon (2018)

• 

  Eliot performing "Wake Up" in Tel Aviv (2019)

• 

  Hooverphonic performing "The Wrong Place" in Rotterdam (2021)

See also[]

• Belgium in the Eurovision Choir of the Year – A competition organised by the EBU for non-professional choirs.
• Belgium in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Belgium in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Belgium in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

Notes and references[]

Notes[]

References[]