The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the 1965 contest with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Villa Louvigny on 5 March 1966 and was hosted by Luxembourgish television presenter Josiane Chen.
Eighteen countries participated in the contest, the same that had competed the year before.
The winner was Austria with the song "Merci, Chérie", performed and composed by Udo Jürgens, and written by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger. This was Udo Jürgens third consecutive entry in the contest, finally managing to score a victory for his native country Austria. Austria would not go on to win again until the 2014 edition. This was also the first winning song to be performed in German. The contest is also noted for its historic results for several countries. Austria who came first, Sweden who came second, Norway who came third and Belgium who came fourth all achieved their best results up until then, some of which would stand for several decades. In contrast traditional Eurovision heavyweights such as France, United Kingdom and Italy all achieved their worst result by far up till that point, with the general public in the aforementioned countries meeting these results with a degree of consternation.
The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created this year, possibly due to the 1965 edition's Swedish entry which was sung in English.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Austria | ORF | Udo Jürgens | "Merci, Chérie" | Hans Hammerschmid | 31 |
| 02 | Sweden | SR | Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson | "Nygammal vals" | Gert-Ove Andersson | 16 |
| 03 | Norway | NRK | Åse Kleveland | "Intet er nytt under solen" | Øivind Bergh | 15 |
| 04 | Belgium | RTB | Tonia | "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" | Jean Roderès | 14 |
| Ireland | RÉ | Dickie Rock | "Come Back to Stay" | Noel Kelehan | 14 | |
| 06 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Madeleine Pascal | "Ne vois-tu pas ?" | Jean Roderès | 12 |
| 07 | Yugoslavia | JRT | Berta Ambrož | "Brez besed" | Mojmir Sepe | 9 |
| Spain | TVE | Raphael | "Yo soy aquél" | Rafael Ibarbia | 9 | |
| 09 | United Kingdom | BBC | Kenneth McKellar | "A Man Without Love" | Harry Rabinowitz | 8 |
| 10 | Germany | ARD/HR | Margot Eskens | "Die Zeiger der Uhr" | Willy Berking | 7 |
| Luxembourg | CLT | Michèle Torr | "Ce soir je t'attendais" | Jean Roderès | 7 | |
| Finland | YLE | Ann-Christine | "Playboy" | Ossi Runne | 7 | |
| 13 | Portugal | RTP | Madalena Iglésias | "Ele e ela" | Jorge Costa Pinto | 6 |
| 14 | Denmark | DR | Ulla Pia | "Stop – mens legen er go'" | Arne Lamberth | 4 |
| 15 | Netherlands | NTS | Milly Scott | "Fernando en Philippo" | Dolf van der Linden | 2 |
| 16 | France | ORTF | Dominique Walter | "Chez nous" | Franck Pourcel | 1 |
| 17 | Monaco | TMC | Téréza | "Bien plus fort" | Alain Goraguer | 0 |
| Italy | RAI | Domenico Modugno | "Dio, come ti amo" | Angelo Giacomazzi | 0 |
Broadcasts[]
The contest was reportedly broadcast in Morocco, and in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision.
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF | Unknown | Unknown |
| Belgium (French) | RTB | François Deguelt | Unknown |
| Radio Une | Unknown | ||
| Belgium (Dutch) | BRT | Unknown | |
| Denmark | DR TV | Skat Nørrevig | Unknown |
| Finland | TV-ohjelma 1, Yleisohjelma | Aarno Walli | Poppe Berg |
| Ruotsinkielinen ula-ohjelma | Unknown | ||
| France | Première Chaîne, France Inter | François Deguelt | Unknown |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach | Unknown |
| Ireland | Telefís Éireann | Unknown | Unknown |
| Radió Éireann | Unknown | ||
| Italy | Secondo Programma | Renato Tagliani | Unknown |
| Luxembourg | Télé-Luxembourg, Radio Luxembourg | Unknown | Camillo Felgen |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Unknown | Unknown |
| Netherlands | Nederland 1 | Teddy Scholten | Herman Brouwer |
| Norway | NRK Fjernsynet, NRK | Sverre Christophersen | Unknown |
| Portugal | RTP | Unknown | Unknown |
| Spain | TVE | Federico Gallo | Unknown |
| Radio Peninsular | Unknown | ||
| Sweden | Sveriges TV, SR P1 | Sven Lindahl | Edvard Matz |
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Hans-Joachim Rauschenbach | Unknown |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | François Deguelt | |
| RSR 1 | Unknown | ||
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Unknown | |
| United Kingdom | BBC1 | David Jacobs | Michael Aspel |
| BFBS Radio | Unknown | ||
| Yugoslavia | Televizija Beograd | Unknown | Unknown |
| Televizija Ljubljana | Unknown | ||
| Televizija Zagreb | Unknown |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Czechoslovakia | ČST | Vladimír Dvořák |
| East Germany | Deutscher Fernsehfunk | Unknown |
| Hungary | MTV | Unknown |
| Morocco | RTM | Unknown |
| Poland | TV Polska | Unknown |
| Romania | TVR | Unknown |
| Soviet Union | CT USSR | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- East Germany - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis.
- Soviet Union - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis.