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 19 and the final part of our series, we will look at the years 2023 , 2024,2025.

2023 -Teya and Salena “Who the Hell is Edgar?”

At the 2023 contest , held in Liverpool, UK , Austrian broadcaster ORF again went for another internal selection , choosing to send Teya and Salena , with their self-penned song “Who the Hell is Edgar?”. It was a catchy song and well regarded in the betting odds to do very well in Liverpool, as well as being a fan favourite. They qualified for the Grand Final from the Second Semi Final , in second position. However in the Grand Final , they only achieved 15th place , which was a shock as it was such a fan favourite .Going first in the running order probably didn’t do them any favours.

2024 -Kaleen ” We will rave “

At the 2024 contest in Malmö , Sweden, ORF again opted for internal selection . This time Kaleen was selected to represent the nation with the song “We will rave”. Kaleen just made the Grand Final, coming 9th in Semi Final 2. She only made 24th position in the Grand Final with 24 points.

2025 JJ “Wasted Love”

And finally we get right up to date with last year’s contest , held in Basel, Switzerland . JJ was internally selected by ORF.It was apparently the 2014 Austrian Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst who advocated for JJ to represent Austria in Basel, with the belief he could bring Austria another win . JJ was a favourite with the bookies to win the contest . He qualified from Semi Final 2 for the Grand Final , coming 5th and then went on to win the contest in the Grand Final . The song was written by JJ , along with Teya, who represented Austria in 2023. And because of this, this is why we are in Vienna this year.

This concludes our series on the history of Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest . I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have writing it ! Let’s hope that Vienna 2026, will bring us an exciting contest and will unite us by music . In the meantime here’s the Austrian entry for 2026 , Cosmo with “Tanzschein”, who won the Austrian National Final this year, the first National Final in Austria since 2016.

You can see the previous chapters of our Austria at ESC history :

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 Part 17 HERE Part 18 HERE

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