The Netherlands has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in . The country has missed five contests, twice because the dates coincided with Remembrance of the Dead (1985 and 1991), twice because of being relegated due to poor results the previous year (1995 and 2002), and once due to the inclusion of in the context of the Gaza war (2026). It has missed the final despite qualifying once, in 2024, due to the alleged personal misconduct of its entrant which led to disqualification. The umbrella organisation of the Dutch public broadcasting system, (NPO), will perform the duties of the participating broadcaster starting in 2027. The Netherlands has hosted the contest five times: in Hilversum (), Amsterdam (), The Hague ( and ), and Rotterdam ().
The Netherlands has won the contest five times, with "" performed by Corry Brokken (), "" by Teddy Scholten (), "" by Lenny Kuhr in a four-way tie (), "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In (), and "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence (). The country's other top five results are "" by Sandra and Andres (fourth, ), "I See a Star" by Mouth and MacNeal (third, ), "Amsterdam" by Maggie MacNeal (fifth, ), "" by Marcha (fifth, ), "" by Edsilia Rombley (fourth, ), and "Calm After the Storm" by The Common Linnets (second, ). It finished last in , , , , and in the second semi-final in .
After the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, the Netherlands failed to reach the final for eight years in a row from 2005 to 2012, but has since participated in nine of the last thirteen finals.
History 1956–1969: Nederlandse Televisie Stichting The Netherlands was one of seven countries to participate in the contest's inaugural edition in , represented by the public broadcaster Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS). From the contest's inception, NTS established an annual national final, , to select its Eurovision entries. Success followed quickly: in , Corry Brokken won the contest in Frankfurt with "", giving the Netherlands its first victory. As a result, NTS hosted the in Hilversum. The Netherlands secured a second victory just two years later at the in Cannes, where Teddy Scholten performed "", a song about being unfaithful in a relationship. Because NTS had only recently hosted the 1958 edition, it declined to host again; the was therefore held in London.
This initial period of success was followed by a string of poor results, including consecutive nul-points finishes in and . Despite these competitive struggles, the Dutch entries set significant milestones for diversity and representation within the contest. In , the Netherlands was represented by Anneke Grönloh, the first performer of Asian origin to appear in the competition. Two years later, in , Dutch representative Milly Scott became the first Black artist to participate. Following another last-place finish in with Ronnie Tober's "", the Netherlands achieved a major turning point in . At the international final in Madrid, the Dutch entry, "" by Lenny Kuhr, finished in a four-way tie for first place alongside , the , and . Because the contest lacked a tie-breaking mechanism at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners.
1970–2009: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting In May 1969, NTS merged into the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), which assumed responsibility for the country's Eurovision participation beginning in 1970. Following the four-way tie of 1969, the Netherlands won a drawing of lots against France to secure the hosting rights for the . The event was staged at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam and hosted by Willy Dobbe. The Netherlands continued to achieve strong results throughout the early 1970s; Sandra and Andres finished fourth in with "", followed by a third-place finish in with "I See a Star" by Mouth and MacNeal. In , Teach-In won the and went on to secure the country's fourth Eurovision victory in Stockholm. Their entry, "Ding-a-dong", received six 12-point scores and became the first song in Eurovision history to win the contest from the opening position of the running order.
As the reigning champions, the Netherlands hosted the at the Congresgebouw in The Hague, with 1957 winner Corry Brokken serving as presenter. Returning artist Sandra Reemer placed ninth with "The Party's Over". The Congresgebouw hosted the competition again in after , having won two consecutive editions, declined hosting duties. The Dutch entry that year, Maggie MacNeal's "Amsterdam", achieved a fifth-place finish. In 1982, the national selection courted controversy when the song "" was chosen over "Fantasy Island"; performed by Bill van Dijk, it ultimately finished third-to-last at the . The Netherlands withdrew from the contest for the first time in , because the event coincided with the national Remembrance of the Dead. Instead, the contest was aired with Dutch commentary as part of an experimental Europa TV broadcast the following day.
In , facing financial constraints, NOS collaborated with fellow public broadcaster Veronica, which agreed to broadcast the contest and cover the participation fees. The following year, Marcha finished in a joint-fifth place with "", marking the country's first top-five result since 1980. The Netherlands withdrew for a second time in , as the final again fell on Remembrance Day. In 1993 and 1994, NOS internally selected an artist, and used to select the song. This method yielded a sixth-place finish for Ruth Jacott and "" in , but proved less successful in when Willeke Alberti's "" placed 23rd, resulting in the country's relegation from the .
returned in 1996 with a revamped format featuring five semi-finals. The eventual winners, Maxine and Franklin Brown, placed seventh in Oslo with "". Two years later, Edsilia Rombley secured fourth place with "", achieving the Netherlands' best Eurovision result since 1975. However, fortunes declined into the new millennium; Michelle's 18th-place finish with "Out on My Own" in led to a forced relegation from the . The Netherlands returned in with Esther Hart, who placed 13th with "One More Night" and was honoured with the Marcel Bezençon Artistic Award. This brief recovery was cut short by the introduction of the semi-final format in ; following Glennis Grace's failure to qualify with "My Impossible Dream" in , the Netherlands entered a lengthy non-qualification streak.
2010–2025: TROS and AVROTROS In 2010, TROS succeeded NOS as participating broadcaster, after NOS decided that handling the country's Eurovision participation no longer aligned with its core public broadcasting tasks. That year, Sieneke was selected to perform the song "", but failed to qualify for the final. 3JS had the lowest score of all participants in the , and in , Joan Franka also failed to qualify. The Netherlands missed out on the final eight years in a row, making it the country with the longest period of non-qualification in the contest.
To reverse this trend, TROS shifted its strategy in by internally selecting rock singer Anouk. Granted full artistic freedom, Anouk performed "Birds", advancing to the final and securing the Netherlands' first top 10 finish since . Building on this success, TROS – which merged into AVROTROS the next year – continued to select its entry internally. In , the Common Linnets won their semi-final and finished second overall with "Calm After the Storm". Aside from a non-qualification by Trijntje Oosterhuis, the Netherlands achieved steady success over the next three years, qualifying with Douwe Bob (11th), Ogene (11th), and Waylon (18th). The resurgence culminated in , when Duncan Laurence secured the country's fifth victory – and first in 44 years – with the song "Arcade".
Rotterdam was chosen to host the , which was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced by the non-competitive broadcast Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light from Hilversum. Rotterdam Ahoy staged the rescheduled event in , hosted by Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Edsilia Rombley, and Nikkie de Jager. Automatic finalist Jeangu Macrooy placed 23rd with "Birth of a New Age", notably introducing the Sranan Tongo language to the contest. The country's momentum continued in when S10 finished 11th with "", the first Dutch-language entry since 2010. However, the qualification streak was ended the following year, when Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper failed to advance from the semi-finals. In , Joost Klein placed second in his semi-final with "", but was disqualified prior to the final following an altercation with a production staff member. The most recent Dutch participation in saw Claude finishing 12th with the song "".
On 4 December 2025, AVROTROS announced that it would not take part in the 2026 contest, citing the inclusion of amidst the ongoing Gaza war. The contest was instead broadcast by NOS and NTR. AVROTROS will also not take part in , with the umbrella organisation NPO taking over.
Non-participation The Netherlands has missed only five contests in its Eurovision history. The country was absent in and due to the date of both contests coinciding with the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead,History - Eurovision Song Contest 1985 Eurovision.tvHistory - Eurovision Song Contest 1991 Eurovision.tv in and due to relegation as a result of the country's poor results in the previous year, and in due to the inclusion of in light of the Gaza war.
The Netherlands did compete in , but the broadcast of that year's final on was halted an hour after it commenced due to the Enschede fireworks disaster, which had taken place a few hours before. The points awarded by the Netherlands were taken from the back-up jury vote, as there was no televote after the program was cut short.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◁ Last place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete † Upcoming event