Today sees the Dutch national broadcaster, AVROTROS, confirming their participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the tenth confirmed country in our 10 Days of Confirmations project!
As was revealed earlier today, we’ll once again see the Netherlands participating at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in the host city of Lisbon, with the Dutch broadcaster most probably determining their entry via an internal selection.
It’s been over 42 years since the nation last won the competition, but who can finally bring the contest back to the Netherlands in 2019?
Dutch history at Eurovision
The Netherlands is one of the longest-running participants at the Eurovision Song Contest, having debuted at the first ever contest in 1956 with both Jetty Paerl and Corry Brokken.
The nation became the second ever nation to win Eurovision the following year with the return of Brokken and her entry Net als toen, with the Dutch going on to earn their second victory only 2 years later with Teddy Scholten’s Een beetje.
In total the country has won the contest a total of 4 times, the last of which being with Teach-In in 1975 with their hit song Ding-a-dong. A full 42 years since their last victory, the Dutch will be looking for their long overdue fifth win at the 2018 contest in Lisbon!
Fluctuating results followed the last Dutch win in Stockholm and, following the introduction of the semi-final stage, the nation struggled to qualify to the Eurovision final for a total of 8 years from 2005 to 2012.
Improved results post-2012
The Netherlands’ luck soon changed with Anouk in 2013 who finally brought the nation back to the final with her touching symphonic entry Birds.
Birds was a sign of things to come for the Dutch as The Common Linnets almost brought the trophy home for the nation the following year, narrowly missing out to Austria’s Conchita Wurst in 2014. Despite this, the Dutch duo’s entry Calm after the storm became the most commercially successful Eurovision entry of 2014, charting in over 20 charts across the globe!
Recent years have seen the Netherlands just missing out on Top 10 placings, with both the country’s 2016 and 2017 entries ending in 11th place respectably.
Internal for 2018?
Since 2013, notably when the Dutch results at the competition saw improvements, AVROTROS has opted to select the country’s entries via an internal selection, typically opting to select a known name within the nation.
With yet another internal selection looking likely, who would you like to see representing the Netherlands at Eurovision 2018? Can any of the artists in our poll below bring the country their first victory in over 40 years? Let us know your thoughts!
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