Prior to hosting Eurovision 2026 in Vienna, Austria will pick their host entry through the national final, Vienna Calling – Wer singt für Österreich?. Twelve artists will perform their songs for the opportunity to represent Austria on home soil, thanks to J.J. winning Eurovision 2025 with the popera hit “Wasted Love”.
Not only that, but they will be the first class of national final participants in a decade for a country who would rather keep their selection process in the shadows. With a song selection featuring “Pockets Full with Snow” and a dance machine, it provides promise in showcasing Austria’s diverse music industry, and allows them to try performance ideas before editing for the contest.
Despite being a long-runner at Eurovision–competing in the contest since 1957–Austria never had a strong national final tradition. All three of their winners: “Merci, chérie” in 1966, “Rise Like a Phoenix” in 2014, and “Wasted Love”, were products of an internal selection. Their first national final was a 1981 song selection for Marty Brem, of which the public would select between three songs for him to go to Dublin. Since then, their national final history was quite intermittent, frequently taking breaks when things would go wrong or when the promised song didn’t place as well as expected.
While Austria’s national final history is relatively slim, here’s five songs to get you acquainted before the final on Friday, February 20th!
Gitti and Gary — Kumm, hoit mi (1984)
In between competing with Westend with “Hurricane” in 1983, and representing Austria as a solo act with “Kinder diese Welt” in 1985, Gary also competed in Gitti Seuberth in the national final Aus 12 wird 1 with an entry quite different from the guilty pleasure from 1983. “Kumm, hoit mi” placed second in 1984, but Gary Lux got to go to Luxembourg as one of Anita’s backing singers!
Gruppe Papageno – Papagena (1990)
Six years after Aus 12 wird 1, following Thomas Forstner’s top five placing in 1989, ORF revitalized the national final format again, this time with Ein Lied für Zagreb. The 50/50 jury televote split led to “Das Beste” winning, which was suddenly disqualified when it was revealed that Duett performed the same song in the 1988 German national final. Lost in the drama is the third-placed song, which featured references to The Magic Flute, synthesizers, and a man in a Mozart costume playing the piano!
Kubilay Baş – “Güle güle” (2002)
At the turn of the 21st century, ethno-bops were becoming more popular within the Eurovision circuit. So, why not copy that phenomenon? Kubilay Baş, who was originally from Turkey, showcased Turkish folk elements with an early 2000s dance beat. However, it ended up in joint last with two other songs, each of them receiving no points from the televote and an online jury.
Klimmstein feat. Joe Sumner — Paris, Paris (2011)
To start off Austria’s return to Eurovision on a strong start in 2011, ORF held Düsseldorf – Wir kommen!, a highly ambitious national final featuring an online selection and two rounds of voting. “Paris, Paris”, a quirky song about a suggestive rendezvous in the aforementioned city, also features lines in the Styrian dialect of German, spoken in the southern part of Austria. While it won the initial online vote, it ended up placing third in the televised final.
Zoe — Quel Filou (2015)
Before Zoe Me charmed the Eurovision fandom with “Voyage”, another Zoe from a Germanophone country took the spotlight. Zoe Straub attended a French-language high school in Vienne, which translated to her national final song, “Quel Filou”, not only being in French, but also keeping a French flavor. “Quel filou” ended up in third in the Austrian selection, but it didn’t keep Zoe behind; she won the most recent Austrian national final with “Loin d’ici”, a sweet pop song she took to Stockholm.