Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Radio-télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF) Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT)
Participation summary
Appearances	64 (55 finals)
First appearance	1956
Highest placement	1st: 1986
Host	1987
Participation history 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 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
External links
RTBF page VRT page
Belgium's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

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.

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^[update]) 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.^[a] 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^[update], 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^[update]) 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 2024^[update], RTBF and VRT each qualified four times out of ten and nine semi-finals respectively.^[3]

Participation overview