Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Loin d'ici" written by Zoë Straub and Christof Straub. The song was performed by Zoë. The Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) organised the national final Wer singt für Österreich? in order to select the Austrian entry for the 2016 contest in , Sweden. Ten songs competed in a televised show where a jury panel and a public vote first selected the top two entries to proceed to a second round of voting. In the second round, a public vote exclusively selected "Loin d'ici" performed by Zoë as the winner. This was the first time that the Austrian song was performed entirely in the French language at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Austrian song was also the only entry performed in the final entirely in a language other than English.

Austria was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 12, "Loin d'ici" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Austria placed seventh out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 170 points. In the final, Austria performed in position 24 and placed thirteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 151 points.

Prior to the 2016 contest, Austria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-eight times since its first entry in 1957. The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Austria had featured in only four finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in the 2012. Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.

...
Wikipedia