Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Wer Liebe lebt" written by Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl and Eva Richter. The song was performed by Michelle. The German entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark was selected through the national final Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 2 March 2001 and featured twelve competing acts with the winner being selected through two rounds of public televoting. "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle was selected as the German entry for Copenhagen after placing first in the top three during the first round of voting and ultimately gaining 36.6% of the votes in the second round.

As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 19, Germany placed eighth out of the 23 participating countries with 66 points.

Background
Prior to the 2001 Contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in. Germany has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 2000, the German entry "Wadde hadde dudde da?" performed by Stefan Raab placed fifth out of twenty-four competing songs scoring 96 points.

The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Since 1996, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. The broadcaster organised a multi-artist national final in cooperation to select the German entry for the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest.

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001
Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001 was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. The competition took place on 2 March 2001 at the Preussag Arena in Hanover, hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and broadcast on Das Erste as well as in Switzerland on SF 2. Twelve acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote. The national final was watched by 9.23 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 27.4%.

Competing entries
12 acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of the German Phono Academy from proposals received from record companies, while an additional act, Lesley, Joy and Brigitte, was provided by the Swiss-German broadcaster SF DRS which organised an online casting round titled song2001. Joy Fleming represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. The thirteen participating acts were announced on 9 January 2001 with one of the entries, "0190" written by Thomas Hubert Kopp and Edgar Fehse and to have been performed by Love Rocket, being disqualified prior to the competition due to NDR rejecting the group's intended stage performance.

Final
The televised final took place on 2 March 2001. The winner was selected through two rounds of public televoting held in Germany and Switzerland. In the first round of voting, the top three entries were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle, was selected. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured the German group Ballhouse, the German singer Millane Fernandez performing her song "Boom Boom", the German duo Modern Talking performing their song "Win the Race" and the German duo Rosenstolz performing their song "Total Eclipse" together with English singer Marc Almond.

At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 12 May 2001. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 2001 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The 23 participants were made up of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the 12 countries with the highest average scores between the 1996 and 2000 contests competed in the final. As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the contest. During the allocation draw on 9 November 2001, Germany was drawn to perform in position 19, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Estonia. Germany finished in eighth place with 66 points. The 2001 contest marked the only occasion on which two performers participated under identical names: the singer from the Netherlands was also called Michelle.

In Germany, the show was broadcast on Das Erste which featured commentary by Peter Urban. The show was watched by 8.44 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 36.9 per cent. The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German televote, was Axel Bulthaupt.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the contest.