France has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 68 times since its debut at the first contest in . France is one of only seven countries to be present at the first contest, and has been absent from only two contests in its history, missing the and contests. Since 2001, the French participating broadcaster is . Along with , , , and the , France is one of the "Big Five" countries that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to their participating broadcasters being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). France has won the contest five times.
France first won the contest in with "" performed by André Claveau. Three more victories followed in the 1960s, with "" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in , "" performed by Isabelle Aubret in and "" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in in a four-way tie with the , , and the . France's fifth victory came in , with the song "" performed by Marie Myriam. During its successful run in the 20th century, France has also finished second four times, with "" by Paule Desjardins (), "" by Catherine Ferry (), "White and Black Blues" by Joëlle Ursull (), and "" by Amina (), who lost out to Sweden's "" by Carola in a tie-break.
After reaching the top five in 23 contests in the 20th century, France has had less success in the 21st century, only making the top five four times, with "" by Natasha St-Pier (fourth in ), "" by Sandrine François (fifth in ), "" by Barbara Pravi (second in ), and "" by Slimane (fourth in ). France's other top 10 results in the century are "Et s'il fallait le faire" by Patricia Kaas (eighth in ), "" by Amir (sixth in ), and "" by Louane (seventh in 2025). France finished last for the first time in , when "" by Twin Twin received only two points.
Organisation Several national broadcasters have successively participated in the contest representing France over the years: (RTF; 1956–1964), (ORTF; 1965–1974), (TF1; 1975–1981), (1983–1992), and (1993–2000). Since 2001, is who participates representing France, with the final being broadcast on France 2 (1993–1998, 2015–present) and France 3 (1999–2014), and the semi-final which France votes in was broadcast on France 4 (2005–2010, 2016–2019), later France Ô (2011–2015) and since 2021, . The semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast; viewers who were close enough to Monaco were able to watch that year's semi-final via TMC Monte-Carlo. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year or since 2013, by from 1971 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2012, (also in 1976). In 1982, RTL Radio transmitted the contest due to the country's absence that year.
Since 1999, France, along with , , and the , have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. The participating broadcasters from these countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". returned to the contest in 2011, resulting in the countries becoming members of a "Big Five".
The process to select the French entry in the contest has changed over the years, with either a national final or an internal selection (occasionally a combination of both formats) having been held.
Contest history France is one of the most successful countries in Eurovision, winning the contest five times, coming second five times and coming third seven times. However, France has only hosted the contest three times (1959, 1961, and 1978). France was ranked first in number of victories (either alone or tied with other countries) without interruptions from 1960 to 1993. Moreover, "" performed by Amina was close to victory in , when it finished in joint first place with the same number of points as . Therefore, the 'countback' rule applied, but both countries had an equal number of twelve points (four lots), but the victory went to Sweden, when France had fewer 10-point scores. With the current rules in place, France would have won the competition, because they received points from more countries than Sweden. One year before, France was also close to winning with "White and Black Blues" by Joëlle Ursull. The song finished in joint-second place with 's entry.
However, in recent years, the French results have been mixed. Since 1998, when the televoting was introduced, France has frequently ranked in the bottom 10 countries in the final, coming 15th (), 18th (), 19th ( and ), 22nd (, , and ), 23rd (, , and ), 24th ( and ), 25th (), and 26th (last place, for the first time in its Eurovision history, in ).
France has had some good results during the 21st century. In , "" performed by Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came fourth, being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the , when "" by Sandrine François came fifth and received the Marcel Bezençon international press award for the best entry of that year. The positive experience with Sébastien Tellier in created considerable interest among the French showbiz for the contest, which resulted in Eurovision being seen by the French media as a valuable advertising campaign. With these ambitions, Patricia Kaas represented France in the with "", finishing in eighth place. Kaas received the Marcel Bezençon artistic award, which was voted on by previous winners and presented to the best artist. In the , Amir with his song "" ended in sixth place and broke a 40-year record by scoring the most points in France's Eurovision history, by scoring 257 points in the final. That record would later be broken once again in , as Barbara Pravi with her song "" finished in second place with 499 points, France's best result since 1991, only 25 points behind eventual winners Måneskin from Italy. Slimane finished in fourth place in with "Mon amour", followed by Louane finishing seventh in with "".
Absences Since its debut in 1956, France has only missed two contests, in 1974 and 1982. In 1974, after selecting a singer and song to represent the country at the contest, France withdrew after the French president Georges Pompidou died in the week of the contest.History – Eurovision Song Contest 1974 Eurovision.tv If it had participated, France would have been represented by Dani with the song "".
In November 1981, TF1 declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in. Eurovision is a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as "drivel"]."1982 Eurovision source in French took over due to the public reaction to TF1's withdrawal, hosting a national final to select the French entry as well, from the 1983 contest.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◁ Last place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete † Upcoming event
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Mathé Altéry "" French rowspan="2" rowspan="2" colspan="2" rowspan="37" Dany Dauberson "" French Paule Desjardins "" French 2 17 André Claveau "" French 1 27 Jean Philippe "" French 3 15 Jacqueline Boyer "" French 1 32 Jean-Paul Mauric "" French 4 13 Isabelle Aubret "" French 1 26 Alain Barrière "" French 5 25 Rachel "" French 4 14 Guy Mardel "" French 3 22 Dominique Walter "" French 16 1 Noëlle Cordier "" French 3 20 Isabelle Aubret "" French 3 20 Frida Boccara "" French 1 18 Guy Bonnet "" French 4 8 Serge Lama "" French 10 82 Betty Mars "" French 11 81 Martine Clémenceau "" French 15 65 Dani ◇ "" ◇ French ◇ colspan="2" Nicole "" French 4 91 Catherine Ferry "" French 2 147 Marie Myriam "" French 1 136 Joël Prévost "" French 3 119 Anne-Marie David "" French 3 106 "" French 11 45 Jean Gabilou "" French 3 125 Guy Bonnet "" French 8 56 Annick Thoumazeau "" French 8 61 Roger Bens "" French 10 56 Cocktail Chic "" French 17 13 Christine Minier "" French 14 44 Gérard Lenorman "" French 10 64 Nathalie Pâque "" French 8 60 Joëlle Ursull "" French 2 132 Amina "" French 2 146 Kali "" French, Antillean Creole 8 73 Patrick Fiori "" French, Corsican 4 121 colspan="2" Nina Morato "" French 7 74 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Nathalie Santamaria "" French 4 94 Dan Ar Braz and "" Breton 19 18 11 55 Fanny "" French 7 95 colspan="2" rowspan="7" Marie Line "" French 24 3 Nayah "" French 19 14 Sofia Mestari "" French 23 5 Natasha St-Pier "" French, English 4 142 Sandrine François "" French 5 104 Louisa Baïleche "" French 18 19 Jonatan Cerrada "" French, Spanish 15 40 colspan="2" rowspan="7" Ortal "" French 23 11 Virginie Pouchain "" French 22 5 Les Fatals Picards "" French, English ("Franglais") 22 19 Sébastien Tellier "" English, French 19 47 Patricia Kaas "" French 8 107 Jessy Matador "" French 12 82 Amaury Vassili "" Corsican 15 82 colspan="2" rowspan="15" Anggun "" French, English 22 21 Amandine Bourgeois "" French 23 14 Twin Twin "" French 26 ◁ 2 Lisa Angell "" French 25 4 Amir "" French, English 6 257 Alma "" French, English 12 135 "Mercy" French 13 173 Bilal Hassani "" French, English 16 105 Tom Leeb ◇ "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)" ◇ French, English ◇ colspan="2" Barbara Pravi "" French 2 499 Alvan and Ahez "" Breton 24 17 La Zarra "" French 16 104 Slimane "" French 4 445 Louane "" French 7 230 Monroe "" French 11 158 colspan="2"
Hostings
Year Location Venue PresentersCannesPalais des FestivalsJacqueline Joubert Paris Palais des Congrès Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone
Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards
YearCategorySongComposer(s)PerformerFinalPointsHost cityPress Award""Rick Allison (m), Patrick Bruel (m&l), Marie-Florence Gros (l)Sandrine François5104 TallinnArtistic AwardAnse Lazio (m&l), Fred Blondin (m&l)Patricia Kaas8107 Moscow""Daniel Moyne (m), Quentin Bachelet (m),Jean-Pierre Marcellesi (l), Julie Miller (l)Amaury Vassili1582Press Award"Mercy"Émilie Satt (m&l), Jean-Karl Lucas (m&l)13173 LisbonPress AwardArtistic Award""Barbara Pravi (m&l), Lili Poe (l), Igit (m)2499 RotterdamPress AwardArtistic Award""Louane (m&l), Tristan Salvati (m)7230 Basel
Winner by OGAE members
YearSongPerformerFinalPointsHost city""Amir6257 Stockholm
Related involvement
Conductors YearConductorMusical DirectorNotesFranck Pourcelrowspan="3" Franck PourcelFranck PourcelFranck PourcelFranck Pourcelrowspan="16" Alain GoraguerFranck PourcelJean ClaudricJean-Claude PetitJean MusyTony RalloRaymond DonnezAlain GoraguerFrançois RauberGuy Matteonirowspan="19" Sylvano SantorioDavid SprinfieldFrançois RauberMichel BernholcJean-Claude PetitGuy MatteoniRégis DupréJérôme PillementMagdi Vasco NoverrazChristian CraveroAlain GoraguerMichel Bernholc Fiachra TrenchRégis Dupré Martin KochHost conductorrowspan="2" colspan="2"
Heads of delegation YearHead of delegation–Bruno Berberes–Frederic Valencak–Edoardo GrassiSteven Clerima–presentAlexandra Redde-Amiel
Commentators and spokespersons
Since its debut in 1956, French broadcasters has sent commentators to provide coverage on the contest, including Robert Beauvais and Léon Zitrone. During the 1960s, its commentators was relayed in Luxembourg, Monaco, and French-speaking Switzerland.