The Eurovision Song Contest 1966, originally known as the (), was the 11th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 5 March 1966 at Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, and presented by Josiane Shen. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (CLT), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had competed the previous year.
The winner was with the song "", 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. This was also the first winning song to be performed in German. , , and rounded out the top five, with all achieving their best results up to that point.
(CLT) staged the 1966 contest in Luxembourg City, after winning the for with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. The venue selected was Villa Louvigny, which was also the venue for the . The building served as the headquarters of the broadcaster and housed its television studios. It is located in Municipal Park, in the quarter of the centre of the city.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the 1966 contest, the same countries which had participated in the previous year's event.
The event featured two artists which had previously competed in the contest for their countries: Udo Jürgens made a third consecutive appearance in the contest, after previously representing and ; and Domenico Modugno also participated in the contest a third time, after representing and . Also notable among the participants was Milly Scott, representing the , who was the first black singer to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The contest was organised and broadcast by CLT. The same production team which had worked on the 1962 contest returned to help stage this event, with Jos Pauly and René Steichen serving as producers and directors and Jean Roderès serving as musical director. Each participating broadcaster was allowed to appoint their own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of their entry, with the host musical director also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. The contest was presented by Josiane Shen.
Following the confirmation of the eighteen competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 13 January 1966.
New changes to the contest rules was introduced this year; The first allowed music experts to be present in the juries again, while the second rule change stated, that a country could only perform in any of its national languages. This came about after the was sung in English.
This was one of the first contests in which an entry was not accompanied by an orchestra. The Italian entry "" performed by Domenico Modugno had been rearranged since its performance at the Sanremo Music Festival 1966 and officially broke the EBU rule that stated the arrangement should be finalised well in advance. During the Saturday afternoon rehearsal Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three-minute time limit. Following his rehearsal Modugno was confronted by the show's producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modugno was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the contest. Both the producers and EBU scrutineer Clifford Brown felt it was too short notice to fly Gigliola Cinquetti to Luxembourg to represent Italy, so the EBU gave in and allowed Modugno to use his own ensemble instead of the orchestra. Despite websites and the official programme listing Angelo Giacomazzi as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry.
The contest was held at 5 March 1966 at 22:00 (CET) and lasted 1 hour and 27 minutes. The interval act was a performance by the French Dixieland jazz group . The prize for the winning artist and songwriters, a medallion engraved with the Eurovision logo designed by , was presented by the previous year's winning artist France Gall.
The contest is noted for its historic results for several countries. Austria who came first, who came second, who came third and 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 , , and 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.
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country. Known spokespersons at the 1966 contest are listed below.
Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.
The contest was reportedly broadcast in 25 countries, including in the participating countries and Morocco; and in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; with an estimated global audience of 500 million viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.