Belgium has participated in Eurovision since the very first contest in , however
Tonia's fourth place at the contest remained the country's most notable achievement until
Jean Vallée placed second in . In the 80s, following good results for
Stella (fourth in ) and
Jacques Zegers (fifth in ), Belgium finished last for the sixth time in . This was followed by Belgium's first and () only Eurovision victory in
1986, when
Sandra Kim won with her song "
J'aime la vie". Although the lyrics claimed she was 15 years old, she was actually only 13 which prompted runner-up Switzerland to petition for her disqualification, to no avail. By winning in 1986, Belgium became the last of the seven Eurovision founding countries to win the contest, as Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany all had won at least once before. Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Kim earning a never-seen-before number of 176 points (that record remained until 1993, with Ireland scoring 187 points). With an average of 9.26 points per voting nation and 77.2% of the maximum possible score, , Kim's record still ranks eighth among all Eurovision winners. Belgium finished last for the seventh time at the contest, before achieving its only top ten result of the 90s decade at the contest, where
Mélanie Cohl finished sixth. In the 2000s, Belgium experienced mixed fortunes: the country started the decade by finishing last for the eighth and () final time at the contest in
Stockholm, before achieving its best result of the 21st century in
2003 when
Urban Trad sang in an imaginary language and earned second place with 165 points, losing out to Turkey's
Sertab Erener by just two points. The country then failed to qualify from the semi-finals for 5 consecutive contests from 2005 to 2009. The entry for Belgium was
Tom Dice, runner-up of the
Belgian Flemish version of
The X Factor in 2008. Dice finished first in his semi-final, allowing Belgium to participate in the final for the first time since 2004 and eventually finishing sixth overall, Belgium's best result since 2003 and the best result ever for a Flemish entrant (tied with ). Belgium then experienced a mix of ups and downs for the remainder of the 2010s: while the country failed to qualify for the final on five occasions (in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019), Belgium qualified in 2013 (with
Roberto Bellarosa placing 12th) before scoring a three-year streak in the top ten, thanks to
Loïc Nottet (fourth in ),
Laura Tesoro (tenth in ) and
Blanche (fourth in ). Following two non-qualifications in 2018 and 2019, Belgium recorded three consecutive qualifications with
Hooverphonic (),
Jérémie Makiese () and
Gustaph (), the latter finishing in seventh place overall. Two more non-qualifications followed in 2024 and 2025.
Disparity between broadcasters There has been a significant difference in the results achieved by the Belgian participating broadcasters. The Walloon broadcasters recorded Belgium's only win in , all of Belgium's ten top-five placements, and 18 out of Belgium's 26 top ten placements. On the other hand, the Flemish broadcasters have placed in the top ten eight times, while scoring six out of Belgium's eight last-place finishes.
Songs by language == Participation overview ==