The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Once again, the contest was held in the French seaside city of Cannes, having also hosted the 1959 edition. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF), the contest was again held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on Saturday 18 March 1961, becoming the first contest to take place on a Saturday evening, a tradition that has continued ever since. The show was directed by Marcel Cravenne and again hosted by Jacqueline Joubert, who had also hosted in 1959.
"Dansevise" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, which took place on 23 March in London. It was performed in Danish by husband and wife duo Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, representing Denmark. This was the first entry performed by a duo to win the contest and also the first Scandinavian win.
Sweden chose their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 through Melodifestivalen 1961. The song "April, april", performed once with Siw Malmkvist, once with Gunnar Wiklund, won. However, none of them was considered acceptable for singing in ESC, so Lill-Babs was chosen as representative instead. In the contest, once more held in Cannes, she finished in 14th place.
Yugoslavia was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1962, held in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Yugoslavia participated for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, held in Cannes, France.
Yugoslavia was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, held in Vienna, Austria.
Spain took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1961. The country was represented by Conchita Bautista with the song "Estando contigo", written by Augusto Algueró and Antonio Guijarro. Televisión Española (TVE) chose the song through a national final.
Colette Deréal was a French actress and singer.
Belgium was represented by Claude Lombard, with the song "Quand tu reviendras", at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in London. The song was chosen at the Belgian preselection, held on 13 February. Former Belgian representative Tonia (1966) and future participant Nicole Josy also took part.
Belgium was represented by Jacques Raymond, with the song "Waarom?", at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 23 March in London. The song was chosen in the national final on 16 February. Raymond had previously finished second in the Belgian final in 1961, and would later represent the country in a duet with Lily Castel in 1971.
Belgium was represented by Bob Benny, with the song "Hou toch van mij", at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 11 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen at the Belgian national final on 15 February. Benny would represent Belgium again in the 1961 contest.
The Netherlands was represented by Teddy Scholten, with the song "Een beetje", at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 11 March in Cannes, France. Song and singer were chosen independently of each other at the Dutch national final, held on 17 February. Scholten went on to win the 1959 contest for the Netherlands, the first time a country had scored two Eurovision victories. The 1957 contest winner Corry Brokken failed in her bid to represent the Netherlands for a fourth consecutive year, while future Dutch representative Greetje Kauffeld was also among those taking part.
Belgium was represented by Bob Benny, with the song "September, gouden roos", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen in the national final on 29 February. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest. Future Belgian entrant Jacques Raymond finished runner-up in the final.
Germany was represented by Lale Andersen, with the song "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder" was chosen at the German national final held on 25 February.
Denmark was represented by Dario Campeotto, with the song "Angelique", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. "Angelique" was chosen as the Danish entry at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on 19 February.
France was represented by Catherine Ferry, with the song "Un, deux, trois", at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in The Hague.
France was represented by Jean-Paul Mauric, with the song "Printemps, avril carillonne", at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, which took place on 18 March in Cannes following Jacqueline Boyer's victory for France the previous year. For 1961, broadcaster RTF opted to hold a national final, which took place on 18 February at 21:20 CET.
France was represented by Martine Clemenceau, with the song "Sans toi", at the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 7 April in Luxembourg City. "Sans toi" was chosen as the French entry at the national final on 6 March.
Finland was represented by Laila Halme, with the song "Muistojeni laulu", at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 23 March in London. "Muistojeni laulu" was chosen as the Finnish entry at the national final organised by broadcaster Yle and held on 14 February. Halme originally finished third in the national final, but replaced the winning singer Irmeli Mäkelä at Eurovision for unknown reasons.
Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Sing It Away" written by Sandhja Kuivalainen, Milos Rosas, Heikki Korhonen, Petri Matara and Markus Savijoki. The song was performed by Sandhja. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) organised the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2016 in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. 18 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three semi-finals and a final, taking place in February 2016. Six entries competed in each semi-final and the top three from each semi-final, as selected solely by a public vote, advanced to the final. Nine entries competed in the final on 27 February where the 50/50 combination of votes from ten jury groups representing different factions of Finnish society and votes from the public selected "Sing It Away" performed by Sandhja as the winner.
Finland 
