As we all know , Austria won the 2025 edition of the Eurovision Song contest in Basel, with JJ and “Wasted Love”. It has now been announced that we will be travelling to Austria’s capital city, Vienna , for the 2026 edition of our beloved contest. JJ’s victory in Basel was the third victory for Austria at the contest , with previous wins being in 1966, with Udo Jurgens and “Mercie Cherie “and again in 2014 when Conchita Wurst took victory for the nation with “Rise like a Phoenix ” in Copenhagen, Denmark.

With this in mind, we at Eurovision Ireland, decided it would be interesting to create a series , looking back over the years at previous Austrian acts and how they fared in the contest , in the years that Austria have taken part . Today, in Part 10 of our series, we will look at the years 1989,1990,1991.

1989-Thomas Forstner-“Nur ein Leid”

Austria were represented at the 1989 Eurovision Song contest in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Thomas Forstner with his song , “Nur ein Leid” ( “Only a song”).He finished 5th , with the winner that year being Yugoslavia , with their song “Rock me ” by Riva. This would be Austria’s highest position in the contest until 2014 when they achieved their second win with Conchita Wurst and “Rise Like a Phoenix”.

1990 -Simone -“Keine Mauer mehr” ( No more Walls)

Simone won the Austrian National Final ,  “Ein Lied für Zagreb” to represent the right to represent Austria at the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb, Yugoslavia . She came 10th with her song ” Keine Mauer mehr”. 1990 was a year where there were many songs dedicated to the fall of the Iron curtain in Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The contest was won by Italy with the late Toto Cutugno with the song ” Insieme 1992″.

1991-Thomas Forstner “Venedig im Regen”

Having represented Austria at the 1989 contest , Thomas Forstner was once again selected to represent the nation at the 1991 contest in Rome, Italy. Sadly he didn’t do so well as in the 1989 contest, he came last with the dreaded “nul points”. The contest was won by Carola from Sweden with “Fångad av en stormvind” ( Captured by a Storm wind).

And that concludes our look back at 1989, 1990 and 1991.

In part 11 of our series on past Austrian participants, we will focus on the years 1992,1993, 1994

You can see Part 1, covering the years 1957,1958 and 1959 HERE , Part 2 covering the years 1960.1961 and 1962 HERE ,Part 3 covering the years 1963, 1964,1965 HERE .Part 4 , covering the years 1966, 1967 and 1968 HERE .Part 5 covering 1971,1972 and 1976,HERE . Part 6 covering the years 1977,1978 and 1979 HERE .Part 7 covering 1980, 1981 and 1982 HERE Part 8 covering 1983, 1984 and 1985 HERE Part 9 covering 1986 , 1987 and 1988 HERE

In the meantime , let us know what you think about Austria at Eurovision by either leaving us a comment in the comments box , or you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and X .

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source : Eurovision Ireland .Eurovisionworld

Visual Sources : Eurovision Library ,You Tube