Following another successful edition of the Luxembourg Song Contest, RTL the Luxembourgish broadcaster has confirmed the 2026 competition will be held on January 24.
🇱🇺 RTL opens song submissions for Luxembourg Song Contest 2026
Since their Eurovision comeback in 2024, RTL have used the Luxembourg Song Contest to celebrate local talent and to select their artists. Once again, the third edition will take place in the Rockhal, in Esch-sur-Alzette, next to the French border. On January 24 a one-off final will be held and the winner will represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Austria next May.
RTL has opened the song submission window for the Luxembourg Song Contest 2026. Artists and songwriters have until September 21 to submit their songs. After this time, a professional jury will assess the entries. Those selected, will then perform at the live auditions in October in front of an international panel of experts. This expert panel will also select the acts advancing to the live final on January 24.
Additionally, artists and songwriters have the chance to collaborate on projects for the Luxembourg Song Contest and Eurovision itself. RTL have stated that interested parties can enrol on a team-up list by August 3. This will enable artists to find Luxembourgish or international songwriters to work with. As well the opportunity for songwriters to find Luxembourgish talent. All songs created through these partnerships are eligible for the audition round.
The rules for submission are as follows:
- All submissions must abide by the three minute rule and be original works.
- All submissions must not be released before September 1 2025.
- Submissions may be in any language.
- Artists and songwriters may submit up to three songs maximum.
- Applicants must either be – Luxembourgish nationals, have resided in Luxembourg for three consecutive years or have strong cultural connections to the country.
- Applicants need to be 18 by January 24 2026.
- All applicants need to be available from November 2025 to May 2026.
A 40th participation for the Grand Duchy
Luxembourg will take part in the third edition in a row since its comeback in 2024, and for the 40th time overall.
The Grand Duchy was one of the seven founders of Eurovision, taking part in the first ever edition in 1956. The legend says that they were the reason behind Lys Assia’s victory for Switzerland, as the two jury members for Luxembourg were not able to travel to Lugano for the show. As such, the EBU allowed two Swiss nationals to vote in their place, and Switzerland was the subsequent winner.
Luxembourg then participated in every contest until 1993, except for the 1959 edition, when the broadcaster (CTL at the time) rejected its entry late in the process and was unable to find a replacement in times for the contest in Cannes. Out of these thirty-nine participations, five ended up with a victory for Luxembourg, in 1961, 1965, 1972, 1973 and 1983. This makes it the second most successful country in relative numbers of victories (5 out of 39, about 13% of the participations, below Ukraine’s 3 out of 20 or 15%). It is also technically, along with Ukraine, one of two countries with a perfect qualification streak (albeit with only two semi-finals in its history).
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