would represent France in the future. With these ambitions, the French superstar Patricia Kaas represented France in the 2009 contest. Kaas is one of the most successful French-speaking singers in the world and she has sold over 16 million records worldwide. She ended in 8th place. Kaas received the Marcel Bezençon artistic award, which was voted on by previous winners and presented to the best artist. In the 2016 contest, Amir with his song "" ended in 6th place and broke a 40-year record by scoring the most points in France's Eurovision history, by scoring 257 points in the final. That record would later be broken once again in , as Barbara Pravi with her song "" finished in 2nd place with 499 points, France's best result since 1991, only 25 points behind eventual winners Måneskin from Italy. Absences Since their debut in 1956, France has only missed two contests, in 1974 and 1982. In 1974, after selecting a singer and song to represent them at the contest, France withdrew after the President of France Georges Pompidou died in the week of the contest. If they had participated, France would have been represented by Dani with the song "". In November 1981, TF1 declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in. Eurovision is a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as "drivel"]." took over the job due to public reaction of TF1's withdrawal, hosting a national final to select their entry as well, from the 1983 contest. France and the "Big Five" Since 1999, France, along with , and the , have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. These countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". returned to the contest in 2011, thus upgrading the countries to members of a "Big Five". Participation overview Hostings Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards Winner by OGAE members Related involvement Conductors Heads of delegation Commentators and spokespersons Photogallery See also France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest. France in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21. France in the