| Year: | 1981 |
| Country: | Germany |
| Preselection: | Ein Lied für Dublin |
| Preselection Date: | 28 February 1981 |
| Entrant: | Lena Valaitis |
| Song: | Johnny Blue |
| Final Result: | 2nd, 132 points |
Germany was represented by Lena Valaitis, with the song "Johnny Blue", at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 4 April in Dublin. "Johnny Blue" was the winner of the German national final, held on 28 February. Valaitis had previously taken part in the German final in 1976.
The final was held at the Bayerischer Rundfunk TV studios in Munich, hosted by the previous year's German representative Katja Ebstein. 12 songs took part and the winner was chosen by a panel of approximately 500 people who had been selected as providing a representative cross-section of the German public.[1]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriters | Votes | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janz | "Steine" | Paul Janz, Michael Kunze | 2355 | 10 | |
| 2 | Nina Martin | "Männer" | Nina Martinique | 2292 | 11 | |
| 3 | Taco | "Träume brauchen Zeit" | Janine Terlohian, Kathrin Brigl | 2269 | 12 | |
| 4 | Lenz Hauser | "Moment" | Harald Stümpfl, Lenz Hauser | 2856 | 8 | |
| 5 | Thomas Fuchsberger | "Josephine" | Thomas Fuchsberger, Joachim Fuchsberger | 2956 | 7 | |
| 6 | Rudolf Rock and Die Schocker | "Mein Transistorradio" | Michael Cretu, Michael Kunze | 2735 | 9 | |
| 7 | Lena Valaitis | "Johnny Blue" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger | 5023 | 1 | |
| 8 | Martin Mann | "Boogie Woogie" | Rudi Bauer, Gerd Thumser | 4039 | 3 | |
| 9 | Jürgen Renfordt | "Barfuß durch ein Feuer" | Walter Gerke, Mick Hannes | 3963 | 4 | |
| 10 | Leinemann | "Das Ungeheuer von Loch Ness" | Ulf Krüger, Jörn-Christoph Seelenmeyer | 3921 | 5 | |
| 11 | The Hornettes | "Mannequin" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger | 4304 | 2 | |
| 12 | Peter Cornelius | "Träumer, Tramps und Clowns" | Michael Cretu, Michael Kunze | 3769 | 6 |
On the night of the final Valaitis performed 3rd in the running order, following Turkey and preceding Luxembourg. The 1981 contest is noted for providing one of the closest and most exciting voting sequences in Eurovision history, with the lead changing hands regularly between France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. With two countries left to vote there was a three-way tie between Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, all on 120 points. Switzerland was the next to vote, and turned out to be the only country which failed to award any points at all to "Johnny Blue", while giving 8 points to the United Kingdom. A maximum 12 points to Germany from the final jury in Sweden was not to be enough, as the Swedish jury also awarded 8 points to the United Kingdom, making Bucks Fizz the contest winners by 4 points. Germany finished runners-up for the second year in succession.[2] The German jury awarded its 12 points to France.[3]
The show was watched by 10.14 million viewers in Germany.[4]