Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest

For the most recent participation, see Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.

Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR)
Participation summary
Appearances	51 (44 finals)
First appearance	1957
Highest placement	1st: 1963, 2000, 2013
Host	1964, 2001, 2014
Participation history 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 –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
Related articles
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
External links
DR page
Denmark's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Denmark has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 51 times, making its first appearance in 1957. Having competed in ten consecutive contests until 1966, Denmark was absent for eleven consecutive contests from 1967 to 1977. Since 1978, it has been absent from only four contests. Denmark has won the contest three times: in 1963, 2000 and 2013. The Danish national selection for the contest is Dansk Melodi Grand Prix .

Denmark finished third on its debut in 1957 with Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler, before winning the contest for the first time in 1963 with the song " Dansevise " performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann. The country returned to the top three 25 years later, with third-place finishes for Hot Eyes in 1988 and Birthe Kjær in 1989, while Denmark's only top five result of the 1990s was Aud Wilken's fifth place in 1995.

Denmark won the contest for the second time in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers and the song "Fly on the Wings of Love". Denmark then finished second as hosts in 2001 with "Never Ever Let You Go" performed by Rollo and King, before Malene Mortensen became the first Danish entry to finish last in 2002. Denmark won the contest for the third time in 2013, with "Only Teardrops" performed by Emmelie de Forest. Denmark has placed in the top five 14 times.

History

Denmark's debut

Denmark first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, held in Frankfurt, Germany. The country had intended to compete at the first contest in 1956, but had submitted its application past the deadline and was, therefore, not allowed to compete. Denmark was the first Nordic country to take part in the contest, with Sweden, Norway and Finland following soon after. Iceland, however, did not take part until 1986.

Denmark's first participants were Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler, who sang the song "Skibet skal sejle i nat". Their performance was controversial as, at the end of the song, the couple performed an 11-second kiss, which caused outcry in some countries. Nevertheless, the performance achieved third place.

First victory

Denmark won the contest for the first time in 1963, when Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann sang " Dansevise ". The victory, however, was controversial. When Norway announced its votes, the presenter Katie Boyle had to correct the spokesperson and said that she would call them again later. Viewers around Europe could then see the votes had been changed, changing the outcome of the contest and giving the victory to Denmark at the expense of Switzerland. In fact, the reason why Norway had to announce its votes again was that the Norwegian spokesperson did not follow the right procedure the first time and, therefore, there was doubt whether he gave the correct votes on the first occasion.

The final result was valid and the victory went to Denmark. Accordingly, in 1964, the contest was held in Denmark for the first time.

Absence and return

After the 1966 contest and a record low 14th place, Denmark withdrew from the contest, as DR's new head of entertainment Niels Jørgen Kaiser did not view the contest as being quality entertainment citing dissatisfaction from the viewers. ^[1] Dansk Melodi Grand Prix was not held from that year onwards.

However, in the 1978 contest, after 11 years of absence, and following Niels Jørgen Kaisers departure from DR, Denmark returned to the contest, represented by Mabel and the song "Boom Boom".

1980s

Denmark's most successful time at the contest came between 1984 and 1990, with the country reaching the top eight in six out of seven contests, including four top-five placings. The duo of Hot Eyes represented the nation three times during this period. In 1984, they sang the song "Det' lige det" and finished fourth. In 1985, they became the first and, as of 2020 only act to represent Denmark in two consecutive years. Singing "Sku' du spørg' fra no'en?", they could not repeat their success of the previous year and came 11th. In 1988, Hot Eyes represented Denmark again with "Ka' du se hva' jeg sa'?". The duo scored its best result to date, finishing in third place, losing only to Céline Dion and Scott Fitzgerald. Denmark's other good results during this time were sixth place for Lise Haavik in 1986, fifth for Anne-Cathrine Herdorf and Bandjo in 1987, third for Birthe Kjær in 1989 and eighth for Lonnie Devantier in 1990.

1990s

After 1990, Denmark fell from its high positions of the 1980s and was relegated from the contest on three occasions in the 1990s. In 1993, Tommy Seebach, who had previously represented Denmark in 1979 and 1981, finished 22nd, resulting Denmark being relegated from the contest in 1994. Aud Wilken sang "Fra Mols til Skagen" for the nation at the 1995 contest and came 5th, but this high placing could not be repeated in 1996, as Denmark's entry, "Kun med dig" sung by Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft, did not qualify from the pre-qualifying round of the contest. In 1998, Denmark was once again relegated from the contest following a poor result in 1997. In 1999, the abolition of the language rule, which had required all countries to sing in their official languages, brought a return to success for Denmark, when Michael Teschl and Trine Jepsen finished 8th with "This Time I Mean It".

2000s and 2010s

In 2000, Denmark won the contest with brothers Jørgen and Niels Olsen defying the odds (they were considerably older than their competitors and only one male duo had won before), to win with "Fly on the Wings of Love". The song went on to enjoy huge success around Europe.

At the 2001 contest, held in Copenhagen, Rollo and King came second with the song "Never Ever Let You Go". However, in 2002, Malene Mortensen came 24th (last) with "Tell Me Who You Are", giving Denmark its worst result ever. Therefore, Denmark was relegated from the 2003 contest.

In 2005, Copenhagen hosted Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary.

Since the introduction of semifinals in 2004, Denmark has qualified for the final on eleven out of 16 occasions. Another string of successful participations started in 2010, when Denmark reached the top five for the first time in nine years, finishing fourth with "In a Moment like This" performed by Chanée and N'evergreen. A year later, Denmark finished fifth with "New Tomorrow" performed by the band A Friend in London, and in 2013, Denmark won the contest for the third time, when Emmelie de Forest represented the country with the song "Only Teardrops", winning with Denmark's highest-ever score of 281 points.

In 2014, Denmark reached the top ten for the fourth time in five years, when Basim finished ninth. However, the success did not continue into 2015 and 2016, as Denmark failed to qualify for the final in those years. In 2017, the country returned to the final, finishing 20th with Anja Nissen. Denmark achieved its fifth top ten result of the decade in 2018, with Rasmussen and the song "Higher Ground" finishing ninth. In 2019, Leonora took Denmark to their 12th final with the song "Love Is Forever" and finished 12th in the final with 120 points.

2020s

In 2021, the duo Fyr og Flamme with "Øve os på hinanden", Denmark's first entry fully in Danish since 1997, failed to qualify for the final, finishing 11th in the second semi-final with 89 points. Further non-qualifications followed with Reddi in 2022, Reiley in 2023 and Saba in 2024.

After failing to qualify to the grand final at all three contests after 2019, Denmark after the 2024 contest became the country with the current longest consectutive non-qualification streak, after Ireland (four), Georgia and Latvia (six) broke their consecutive non-qualifications.

After hosting the contest in 2014, Denmark has only managed to qualify 3 times in 10 years (2017, 2018, 2019), after only failing to qualify once (2007) since the introduction of the semi finals in 2004 up until 2014.

Participation overview

Table key

1	First place
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming event

Year	Entrant	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1957	Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler	" Skibet skal sejle i nat "	Danish	3	10	No semi-finals
1958	Raquel Rastenni	" Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog "	Danish	8	3
1959	Birthe Wilke	" Uh, jeg ville ønske jeg var dig "	Danish	5	12
1960	Katy Bødtger	" Det var en yndig tid "	Danish	10	4
1961	Dario Campeotto	"Angelique"	Danish	5	12
1962	Ellen Winther	" Vuggevise "	Danish	10	2
1963	Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann	" Dansevise "	Danish	1	42
1964	Bjørn Tidmand	" Sangen om dig "	Danish	9	4
1965	Birgit Brüel	" For din skyld "	Danish	7	10
1966	Ulla Pia	" Stop – mens legen er go' "	Danish	14	4
1978	Mabel	"Boom Boom"	Danish	16	13
1979	Tommy Seebach	"Disco Tango"	Danish	6	76
1980	Bamses Venner	" Tænker altid på dig "	Danish	14	25
1981	Tommy Seebach and Debbie Cameron	" Krøller eller ej "	Danish	11	41
1982	Brixx	"Video-Video"	Danish	17	5
1983	Gry Johansen	" Kloden drejer "	Danish	17	16
1984	Hot Eyes	" Det' lige det "	Danish	4	101
1985	Hot Eyes	" Sku' du spørg' fra no'en "	Danish	11	41
1986	Lise Haavik	" Du er fuld af løgn "	Danish	6	77
1987	Bandjo with Anne-Cathrine Herdorf	" En lille melodi "	Danish	5	83
1988	Hot Eyes	" Ka' du se hva' jeg sa' "	Danish	3	92
1989	Birthe Kjær	" Vi maler byen rød "	Danish	3	111
1990	Lonnie Devantier	" Hallo Hallo "	Danish	8	64
1991	Anders Frandsen	" Lige der hvor hjertet slår "	Danish	19	8
1992	Lotte Nillson and Kenny Lübcke	" Alt det som ingen ser "	Danish	12	47
1993	Seebach Band	" Under stjernerne på himlen "	Danish	22	9	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1995	Aud Wilken	" Fra Mols til Skagen "	Danish	5	92	No semi-finals
1996	Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft	" Kun med dig "	Danish	Failed to qualify [lower-alpha 1] X		25	22
1997	Kølig Kaj	" Stemmen i mit liv "	Danish	16	25	No semi-finals
1999	Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl	"This Time I Mean It"	English	8	71
2000	Olsen Brothers	"Fly on the Wings of Love"	English	1	195
2001	Rollo and King	"Never Ever Let You Go"	English	2	177
2002	Malene	"Tell Me Who You Are"	English	24 ◁	7
2004	Tomas Thordarson	"Shame on You"	English	Failed to qualify		13	56
2005	Jakob Sveistrup	"Talking to You"	English	9	125	3	185
2006	Sidsel Ben Semmane	"Twist of Love"	English	18	26	Top 11 in 2005 final [lower-alpha 2]
2007	DQ	"Drama Queen"	English	Failed to qualify		19	45
2008	Simon Mathew	"All Night Long"	English	15	60	3	112
2009	Brinck	"Believe Again"	English	13	74	8	69
2010	Chanée and N'evergreen	"In a Moment like This"	English	4	149	5	101
2011	A Friend in London	"New Tomorrow"	English	5	134	2	135
2012	Soluna Samay	"Should've Known Better"	English	23	21	9	63
2013	Emmelie de Forest	"Only Teardrops"	English	1	281	1	167
2014	Basim	"Cliche Love Song"	English	9	74	Host country
2015	Anti Social Media	"The Way You Are"	English	Failed to qualify		13	33
2016	Lighthouse X	"Soldiers of Love"	English			17	34
2017	Anja	"Where I Am"	English	20	77	10	101
2018	Rasmussen	"Higher Ground"	English	9	226	5	204
2019	Leonora	"Love Is Forever"	English, French, Danish	12	120	10	94
2020	Ben and Tan	"Yes"	English	Contest cancelled [lower-alpha 3] X
2021	Fyr og Flamme	" Øve os på hinanden "	Danish	Failed to qualify		11	89
2022	Reddi	"The Show"	English			13	55
2023	Reiley	"Breaking My Heart"	English			14	6
2024	Saba	"Sand"	English			12	36
2025	TBA 1 March 2025 † [2]			TBD 2025 †

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Further information: Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Artist	Song	Language	At Congratulations				At Eurovision
			Final	Points	Semi	Points	Year	Place	Points
Olsen Brothers	"Fly on the Wings of Love"	English	Failed to qualify		6	111	2000	1	195

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters	Photo	Ref.
1964	Copenhagen	Tivolis Koncertsal	Lotte Wæver
2001		Parken Stadium	Natasja Crone Back and Søren Pilmark
2014		B&W Hallerne	Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel and Pilou Asbæk		[3]

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
2005	Copenhagen	Forum Copenhagen	Katrina Leskanich and Renārs Kaupers

Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Further information: OGAE

Year	Song	Performer	Place	Points	Host city	Ref.
2010	"In a Moment like This"	Chanée and N'evergreen	4	149	Oslo	[4]
2013	"Only Teardrops"	Emmelie de Forest	1	281	Malmö	[4]

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	Conductor [lower-alpha 4]	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
1957	Kai Mortensen	N/A		[5]
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964	Kai Mortensen		[lower-alpha 5]
1965	Arne Lamberth	N/A
1966
1978	Helmer Olesen			[6]
1979	Allan Botschinsky
1980				[7]
1981
1982
1983
1984	Henrik Krogsgård		[lower-alpha 6]
1985	Wolfgang Käfer
1986	Egil Monn-Iversen		Host conductor [lower-alpha 6]
1987	Henrik Krogsgård
1988			[lower-alpha 6]
1989	Henrik Krogsgård and Benoît Kaufman [lower-alpha 7]		[lower-alpha 8]
1990	Henrik Krogsgård
1991
1992
1993	George Keller		[lower-alpha 9]
1995	Frede Ewert
1996	Failed to qualify		[lower-alpha 10]
1997	Jan Glæsel
1999	No orchestra		[lower-alpha 11]

Additionally, a live band has performed at the Danish national final since 2020, led by Peter Düring. ^[8]

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2018	Molly Plank	[9]

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1956	Jens Frederik Lawaetz	Did not participate
1957	Svend Pedersen	Svend Pedersen
1958
1959	Sejr Volmer-Sørensen
1960
1961		Ole Mortensen
1962	Skat Nørrevig
1963	Ole Mortensen	Unknown
1964	No commentary [ citation needed ]	Pedro Biker
1965	Skat Nørrevig	Claus Toksvig
1966
1967–1973	No broadcast	Did not participate
1974	Claus Toksvig
1975
1976
1977
1978	Jørgen de Mylius	Jens Dreyer	[10]
1979		Bent Henius	[10]
1980			[10]
1981			[10]
1982		Hans Otto Bisgaard	[10]
1983		Bent Henius	[10]
1984			[10]
1985			[10]
1986			[10]
1987			[10]
1988			[10]
1989			[10]
1990			[10]
1991	Camilla Miehe-Renard		[11]
1992	Jørgen de Mylius		[10]
1993			[10]
1994		Did not participate	[10]
1995		Bent Henius	[10]
1996		Did not participate	[10]
1997		Bent Henius	[12]
1998		Did not participate	[13]
1999	Keld Heick	Kirsten Siggaard	[13]
2000		Michael Teschl	[13]
2001	Hans Otto Bisgaard and Hilda Heick	Gry Johansen	[12]
2002	Keld Heick	Signe Svendsen	[13]
2003	Jørgen de Mylius	Did not participate	[10]
2004		Camilla Ottesen	[10]
2005		Gry Johansen	[10]
2006	Mads Vangsø and Adam Duvå Hall	Jørgen de Mylius	[10]
2007	Søren Nystrøm Rasted and Adam Duvå Hall	Susanne Georgi
2008	Nicolai Molbech	Maria Montell
2009		Felix Smith
2010		Bryan Rice
2011	Ole Tøpholm	Lise Rønne
2012		Louise Wolff
2013		Sofie Lassen-Kahlke
2014
2015		Basim
2016		Ulla Essendrop
2017
2018
2019		Rasmussen
2021	Henrik Milling and Nicolai Molbech	Tina Müller
2022
2023	Nicolai Molbech
2024	Ole Tøpholm	Stéphanie Surrugue  [ da ]	[14] [15]

Gallery

• 
  Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler in Frankfurt (1957)
• 
  Raquel Rastenni in Hilversum (1958)
• 
  Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann (1963)
• 
  DQ in Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Simon Mathew in Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Chanée and N'evergreen in Oslo (2010)
• 
  A Friend in London in Düsseldorf (2011)
• 
  Emmelie de Forest in Malmö (2013)
• 
  Basim in Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Anti Social Media in Vienna (2015)
• 
  Lighthouse X in Stockholm (2016)
• 
  Anja Nissen in Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Rasmussen in Lisbon (2018)
• 
  Leonora in Tel Aviv (2019)
• 
  Reddi in Turin (2022)
• 
  Reiley in Liverpool (2023)
• 
  Saba in Malmö (2024)

See also

• Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
• Dansk Melodi Grand Prix winners
• Denmark in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Notes

1. In order to reduce the number of participating countries at the 1996 event a qualifying round was held among all countries except the hosts. Denmark failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.
2. 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.
3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. All conductors are of Danish nationality unless otherwise noted.
5. Also conducted the Portuguese entry.
6. That year's Danish national final was presented without an orchestra
7. Host conductor
8. Krogsgård conducted the first half of the Danish entry. Part of the way through, as part of the staging, he was beckoned by Birthe Kjær to join her on stage, at which point he left the podium to sing with her backing group while Kaufman conducted the rest of the song. Krogsgård conducted the entire song at the national final.
9. Conducted by Henrik Krogsgård at the national final.
10. Conducted by Frede Ewert at the national final.
11. Although there was no orchestra at the international final, there was one present for the Danish selection show, conducted by Ken Børjesen.

References

1. "Danmark sier nei til Grand Prix NRK fortsatt med". Haugesunds Dagblad (in Norwegian). Haugesund, Norway. 24 June 1966. p. 9. Retrieved 20 April 2024– via National Library of Norway.
2. Granger, Anthony (2024-05-06). "Denmark: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2025 on March 1". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
3. Siim, Jarmo (2 September 2013): "Copenhagen announced as host city of Eurovision 2014". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
4. Cobb, Ryan (21 April 2017). "Analysing ten years of OGAE voting: "Underneath the fan favourite bias is a worthwhile indicator"". escxtra.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
5. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101. ISBN   978-1-84583-065-6.
6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
7. Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84583-118-9.
8. DR's Grand Prix Orkester - Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021, archived from the original on 2021-12-22, retrieved 2021-04-06
9. "THE VOTING RESULTS OF THE 2ND SEASON OF DEPI EVRATESIL". eurovision.am. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
10. "Jørgen de Mylius". Filmography. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 15 July 2013.
11. Eurovision Song Contest 1991. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
12. "Hans Otto Bisgaard". Filmography. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 15 July 2013.
13. "Keld Heick". Filmography. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 15 July 2013.
14. Braun, Christinna (2024-01-25). "Ole Tøpholm vender tilbage til Eurovision" [Ole Tøpholm returns to Eurovision]. Billed Bladet (in Danish). Retrieved 2024-01-25.
15. Van Dijk, Sem Anne (8 May 2024). "Denmark: Stéphanie Surrugue to Announce the Points at Eurovision 2024". Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 May 2024.