Stefan Raab is making headlines again: He wants to bring Germany back to the top at the ESC – and it starts this week. Time to look back at his greatest successes at the famous European music competition.
Stefan Raab is trying again: he is cooperating with ARD and wants to bring Germany back to the top of the most popular European song contest with the ESC preliminary round. Time for a look back at his greatest successes at the Eurovision Song Contest.
From VIVA to the ESC: Raab’s musical beginnings
Stefan Raab was already known as a musician before his ESC ambitions. In 1996, he composed the song “Hier kommt die Maus” for the popular children’s series. Raab composed the song “Guildo hat euch liebt!” for Guildo Horn, with which he finally competed in the 1998 ESC. Raab’s first ESC attempt ended in seventh place.
For his next attempt at the ESC, Stefan Raab not only composed, but also sang. He performed his song “Wadde hadde dudde da?” at the ESC 2000 and convinced the audience, taking fifth place in the song contest with 96 points. That was his second-best ESC result so far.
Stefan Raab and Ralph Siegel: Germany’s ESC attempts in the 2000s
For the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, Raab had the casting show Stefan sucht den Super-Grand-Prix-Star (SSDSGPS) organized. Max Mutzke won that show and went on to finish eighth at the ESC.
Incidentally, Raab’s biggest competitor at the time was Ralph Siegel, who was similarly successful at the ESC. With titles like “Reise nach Jerusalem” or “Let’s Get Happy”, Siegel was able to impress at the Eurovision Song Contest, even though he had more flops than Raab.
The Lena era: How Stefan Raab finally won the ESC
All doors were now open to Stefan Raab, so he tried again with the ESC in 2010. For Unser Star für Oslo (Our Star for Oslo), the TV titan cooperated with ARD and wanted to find the next ESC star with the help of a constantly changing jury, but also with the help of the audience at home. His plan worked: the audience chose Lena Meyer-Landrut, who took first place at the ESC with the song “Satellite”.
Lena’s success meant that ARD not only continued its cooperation with Stefan Raab, but also that Lena continued to perform as an artist. For Unser Song für Deutschland, the audience was only allowed to choose the song for Lena. However, “Taken by the Stranger” only reached 10th place at the ESC – Raab’s worst result so far.
A year later, Stefan Raab wanted to enter the fray one last time with Unser Star für Baku. The concept was similar to Unser Star für Oslo, with the audience able to choose the star and the song via televoting. Roman Lob eventually came out on top and competed in the 2012 contest with the song “Standing Still”. He came in 8th and Stefan Raab retired from the ESC for the time being.
Chefsache ESC 2025: Where you can watch the preliminary decision
Last year, RTL, ARD and Stefan Raab announced that they would take charge of the German preliminary decision for the ESC 2025. The preliminary round starts this week: on Friday at 8:15 p.m., it kicks off with Chefsache ESC 2025 on RTL. On Saturday at 8:15 p.m., the second show of the preliminary round will follow on RTL. The semi-final and final will follow one week later on February 22 and March 1.
