Belgium_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Belgium has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 64 times since making its debut as one of seven countries at the first contest in 1956. The only countries with the same number or more appearances are Germany (66), France (65) and the United Kingdom (65). 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.

For the most recent participation, see Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. For the upcoming participation, see Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
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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, in 1962 and 1965.

After the introduction of the semi-finals 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 eight out of 13 contests and placing in the top ten five times, with Tom Dice (sixth in 2010), Loïc Nottet (fourth in 2015), Laura Tesoro (tenth in 2016), Blanche (fourth in 2017), and Gustaph (seventh in 2023).

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.

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 placed 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 2023) only Eurovision victory in 1986, when Sandra Kim won with her song "J'aime la vie". Although the lyrics claimed she was 15 years old, she was actually only 13 which prompted runner-up Switzerland to petition for her disqualification, to no avail.[lower-alpha 1] By winning in 1986, Belgium became the last of the seven 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 2022, 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, 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 2022) 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 five occasions (in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019), Belgium qualified in 2013 (with Roberto Bellarosa placing 12th) before scoring a three-year streak in the top ten, thanks to Loïc Nottet (fourth in 2015), Laura Tesoro (tenth in 2016) and Blanche (fourth in 2017). Following two non-qualifications with Sennek (2018) and Eliot (2019), Belgium recorded three consecutive qualifications with Hooverphonic (2021), Jérémie Makiese (2022) and Gustaph (2023), the latter finishing in seventh place overall.

Disparity between 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 the contest, and since 2021, Flemish VRT has been in charge on odd years while French-speaking RTBF has been in charge on even years.

There has been a significant difference in the results achieved by the broadcasters.[2] The French-speaking RTBF recorded Belgium's only win in 1986, all of Belgium's ten top-five placements, and 18 out of Belgium's 26 top ten placements. On the other hand, the Flemish VRT has placed in the top ten eight times, while scoring six out of Belgium's eight last-place finishes.[2] In the 1990s, the relegation rule was introduced, where the lowest-placing countries would not be allowed to compete the following year, to accommodate for the growing number of participating countries. Belgium was relegated three times, in 1994, 1997 and 2001; twice following a poor placing by a VRT act the previous year, and once after RTBF act Nathalie Sorce placed last in 2000.[2]

Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, the broadcasters have scored similarly in terms of qualification: as of 2023, RTBF and VRT each qualified four times out of nine semi-finals.[3]

Participation overview

Table key
1 First place
2 Second place
3 Third place
◁ Last place
X Entry selected but did not compete
† Upcoming event
More information Year, Artist ...

Selection process

See also: National selections for the Eurovision Song Contest

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[4][5] 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).

More information Year, Selection process ...

Hostings

More information Year, Location ...

Awards

Barbara Dex Award

Further information: Barbara Dex Award
More information Year, Performer ...

Conductors

More information Year, Conductor ...

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years, commentary for the contest on VRT and RTBF has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Nand Baert, Jacques Mercier, Luc Appermont and Paule Herreman. From 1991, André Vermeulen provided the Dutch-language commentary every year except 1996. Jean-Pierre Hautier provided French-language commentary from 1994 to 2012, later dying shortly after the 2012 contest. In 1962, BRT retransmitted the commentary feed from the Dutch broadcaster NTS, possibly for financial reasons.

VRT supplied an additional commentator to join André Vermeulen starting in 1998; 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. Sven Pichal [nl] replaced Daems in 2011, whilst Peter Van de Veire replaced Peeters. In 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.

More information Year, Flemish commentator ...

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Since the 1990 contest, the minimum age for participation is 16, meaning that Kim shall remain the youngest winner unless the age limit is waivered.
  2. The 1956 contest had secret voting and, apart from the winner, no results were released.
  3. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  4. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  5. All conductors are of Belgian nationality unless otherwise noted.
  6. The contest was organized by RTBF, but the Belgian entry was from VRT, hence Walloon Jo Carlier serving as musical director (and conducting for Cyprus) while a Flemish conductor led the Belgian entry.

References

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