As we all know , Austria won the 2025 edition of the Eurovision Song contest in Basel, with JJ and “Wasted Love”. and 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 17 of our series, we will look at the years 2016 ,2017,2018.

2016-Zoe -“Loin s’ici”

Zoe won the Austrian National Final and therefore the right to represent Austria at the 2016 ESC in Stockholm , Sweden. What was unique was that rather than use Austria’s national language of German or singing in English , Zoe sang in French ! She qualified for the Grand Final from her semi final and finished 13th in the Grand Final, coming 8th in the televote.

2017 -Nathan Trent -“Running on air”

The Austrian broadcaster 0RF announced in 2017 that they had internally selected Nathan Trent to represent Austria at the 2017 ESC in Kyiv , Ukraine , with the song “Running on air”. He qualified from the second semi final and in the Grand Final finished in 16th place with 93 points.

2018 -Cesar Sampson -“Nobody but You”

ORF again opted for an internal selection for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Cesar Sampson was chosen to represent the nation with his song “Nobody but You”. He qualified for the Grand Final from the first semi final and in the Final was a surprise winner of the Jury vote, placing 3rd overall in the contest.

And that concludes our look back at 2016, 2017, 2018.

In part 18 of our series on past Austrian participants, we will focus on the years 2019, 2021, 2022

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, 1964,1965HERE .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 Part 10 1989.1990.1991 HERE Part 11 1992.1993,1994 HERE Part 12 1995.1996, 1997 HERE Part 13 1999, 2000,2002 HERE Part 14 HERE Part 15 HERE PART 16 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; ORF Eurovision.TV