Contest year
- Host City
- Cannes, France
- Venue
- Palais des Festivals
- Final Date
- March 18, 1961
- Entries
- 16
- The 1961 contest in Cannes set a new participation record with 16 countries, adding first-time entrants Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia, and was the first edition staged on a Saturday night, establishing a long-running tradition.
- Germany’s Lale Andersen, aged 56, became the contest’s oldest performer at the time.
- Luxembourg won for the first time with “Nous les amoureux”, later widely reinterpreted—then taboo—as a coded song about homosexual love; the United Kingdom finished runner-up for a third straight year.
- via Wikipedia
Presenters
Jacqueline Joubert
Host Country
Final Results
| Country | Artist · Song | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Luxembourg | Jean-Claude Pascal Nous les amoureux | 1 | 31 |
 United Kingdom | The Allisons Are You Sure? | 2 | 24 |
 Switzerland | Franca di Rienzo Nous aurons demain | 3 | 16 |
 France | Jean-Paul Mauric Printemps, avril carillonne | 4 | 13 |
 Denmark | Dario Campeotto Angelique | 5 | 12 |
 Italy | Betty Curtis Al di là | 5 | 12 |
 Norway | Nora Brockstedt Sommer i Palma | 7 | 10 |
 Yugoslavia | Ljiljana Petrović Neke davne zvezde | 8 | 9 |
 Spain | Conchita Bautista Estando contigo | 9 | 8 |
 Monaco | Colette Deréal Allons, allons les enfants | 10 | 6 |
 Finland | Laila Kinnunen Valoa ikkunassa | 10 | 6 |
 Netherlands | Greetje Kauffeld Wat een dag | 10 | 6 |
 Germany | Lale Andersen Einmal sehen wir uns wieder | 13 | 3 |
 Sweden | Lill-Babs April, april | 14 | 2 |
 Austria | Jimmy Makulis Sehnsucht | 15 | 1 |
 Belgium | Bob Benny September, gouden roos | 15 | 1 |