The Netherlands is one of the Founding Seven of the Eurovision Song Contest, among the first participants in 1956. They have only missed four contests in their history (two due to of the observance of their national holiday and two due to relegation), won five times and hosted the contest five times (Hilversum in 1958, Amsterdam in 1970, The Hague in 1976 and 1980, and Rotterdam in 2021).
Though they competed in 2000, the broadcast of the contest was cancelled in the Netherlands due to the Enschede fireworks disaster hours before and the televote was cut off. Their votes were taken from a backup jury.
From 2005 to 2012, the Netherlands were unable to qualify for the grand final, some calling it the country's "Dark Period". That all changed in 2013 when Anouk, chosen by internal selection, qualified for the final for the first time since 2004 and finished in the top 10.
Anouk's success sparked a contest renaissance for the Netherlands. Between 2013 and 2023, the country has been in the final in 7 of the last 9 contests, including four consecutive qualifications between 2016 and 2019. This period resulted in 3 top-10 finishes, including Duncan Laurence's victory in 2019, its first in 44 years.