Over the 60 years of the Eurovision Song Contest, there have been quite a few songs that were selected or chosen but never made it to the contest. There are many reasons for this to happen, such as the broadcaster/artist withdrawing before the contest started, disagreements with the song, rule breaking, and more.
List of Withdrawn Songs
| Year | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 |  Spain
| José Guardiola | Nubes de colores | Spanish | Replaced with Algo prodigioso. |
| 1967 |  Italy
| Claudio Villa | Non pensare a me | Italian | Replaced at it had been released too early. |
| 1968 |  Norway
| Odd Børre | Jag har aldri vært så glad i no'en som deg | Norwegian | The song's title would've been the longest in Eurovision history. It was also accused of plagiarism due to it sounding allegedly similar to Cliff Richard's song Summer Holiday. |
| 1968 | Spain
| Joan Manuel Serrat | La La La | Catalan | Originally, the winning song of Eurovision 1968, was set to be performed by Joan Manuel Serrat but he demanded to sing it in Catalan. The Franco dictatorship would not allow this and insisted that the entry should be Performed in Spanish, official Language of all Territories of Spain, One week before the contest, Massiel was asked to replace Joan as representative at the Eurovision, because regional languages were repressed under Franco regime. |
| 1974 |  France
| Dani | La vie à 25 ans | French | Withdrawn due to President Pompidou's funeral. |
| 1974 |  Malta
| Enzo Guzman | Paci Fid Dinja (Peace To The World) | Maltese, English | Withdrawn due to lack of funds by the broadcaster |
| 1976 |  Germany
| Tony Marshall | Der Star | German | Disqualified as it had been previously performed in public |
| 1976 | Malta
| Enzo Guzman | Sing Your Song, Country Boy | English | |
| 1978 |  Greece
| Anna Vissi | Mr Nobel | Greek | |
| 1979 |  Turkey
| Maria Rita Epik & 21.Peron | Seviyorum | Turkish | Withdrawn due to pressure from Arab nations due to the 1979 contest being held in Israel. |
| 1980 |  Israel
| Ha'achim ve Ha'achayot | Pizmon Chozer | Hebrew | Withdrawn due to IBA not wanting to host the 1980 contest and the Israeli government turned down a request to extend the IBA budget. Moreover, the date that was eventually set for the 1980 contest by the European Broadcasting Union coincided with Israel's Day of Remembrance for their casualties of war. |
| 1982 | Greece
| Thermis Adamantidis | Sarantapente Kopelles | Greek | Withdrawn a few weeks before the contest by ERT |
| 1984 | Israel
| Ilanit | Balalaika | Hebrew | Withdrawn by EBU. |
| 1987 |  Sweden
| Lotta Engberg | Fyra Bugg och en Coca Cola | Swedish | Re-titled Boogaloo due to the rule regarding the use of brand names. |
| 1988 |  Cyprus
| Yiannis Demetriou | Thimame (San to rock 'n' roll) | Greek | Disqualified because it was a re-work of a song from the 1984 Cypriot final. |
| 1990 |  Austria
| Duett | Das Beste | German | Disqualified as it had been previously entered in the German heats in 1988. |
| 1992 |  Switzerland
| Geraldine Olivier | Soleil, Soleil | German | Withdrawn due to being entered for the National Final to the wrong Swiss broadcaster |
| 1999 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
| Hari Mata Hari | Starac i more | Bosnian | Withdrawn as it had been released by a Finnish artist in 1995 |
| 1999 | Germany
| Corinna May | Hör' den Kindern einfach zu | German | Withdrawn as it was released by another artist in 1997 |
| 2002 |  Lithuania
| B'Avarija | We All | English | Withdrawn after it was revealed a Lithuanian version had been released in 2001 |
| 2005 |  Belarus
| Angelica Agurbash | Boys and Girls | English | Replaced due to negative feedback from the public |
| 2005 |  Lebanon
| Aline Lahoud | Quand tout s'enfuit | French | Withdrawn due to Israel's participation |
| 2006 | France
| Virginie Pouchain | Vous, c'est nous | French | Withdrawn by the composer |
| 2006 |  Serbia and Montenegro
| No Name | Moja ljubavi | Montenegrin | Withdrawn due to independence of both Serbia and Montenegro taking place |
| 2009 |  Georgia
| Stephane & 3G | We Don't Wanna Put In | English | Rejected from the EBU on grounds of politics in the song |
| 2010 | Belarus
| 3+2 | Far Away | English | Replaced due to negative feedback from the public |
| 2010 |  Ukraine
| Vasyl Lazarovich | I love you... | English, Ukrainian | Withdrawn due to negative feedback. NTU later started the process from scratch |
| 2011 | Belarus
| Anastasiya Vinnikova | I am Belarussian | English | Disqualified for previous performance in public before the cut-off date |
| 2012 | Italy
| Nina Zilli | Per Sempre | Italian | Won the San Remo Festival, but RAI changed the entry at the last minute |
| 2012 | Belarus
| Alyona Lanskaya | All my life | English | Disqualified due to accusations of vote-fixing |
| 2012 |  San Marino
| Valentina Monetta | Facebook Uh Oh Oh | English | Re-written as The Social Network Song due to the rule regarding the use of brand names |
| 2013 |  FYR Macedonia
| Lozano & Esma | Imperija | Macedonian | Replaced due to poor feedback from the public |
| 2013 | Belarus
| Alyona Lanskaya | Rhythm Of Love | English | |
| 2013 |  Bulgaria
| Elitsa & Stoyan | Kismet | Bulgarian | Replaced due to copyright allegations |
| 2014 | Belarus
| TEO | Cheesecake | English | Resubmitted to the EBU with new lyrics (the original contained references to Google Maps, which is a violation of the rule regarding the use of brand names) |
| 2015 |  Albania
| Elhaida Dani | Diell | Albanian | Withdrawn by the composer |
| 2015 | Germany
| Andreas Kummert | Heart of Stone | English | Andreas Kummert didn't want to go to the Contest in Vienna |
| 2016 | Malta
| Ira Losco | Chameleon | English | Won the Maltese final, but was decided upon to replace with a new song |
| 2016 | Italy
| Stadio | Un giorno mi dirai | Italian | Won San Remo, but Stadio declined the offer to go to Stockholm |
| 2016 | Albania
| Eneda Tarifa | Përrallë | Albanian | The broadcaster and Eneda decided to change the song into English. |
| 2016 |  Romania
| Ovidiu Anton | Moment of Silence | English | Withdrawn by the EBU less than 3 weeks before the contest due to outstanding financial debts owed by TVR. |
| 2017 |  Russia
| Yulia Samoilova | Flame is Burning | English | Ukraine issued a travel ban against Samoilova, barring her from entering the country |
