France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song "Un, deux, trois", composed by Tony Rallo, with lyrics by Jean-Paul Cara, and performed by Catherine Ferry. The French participating broadcaster, Télévision Française 1 (TF1), selected its entry through a national final.

On the night of the final Ferry performed 17th in the running order, following Monaco and preceding Yugoslavia. Prior to the contest most observers noted that the 1976 contest was the easiest for many years to predict, with "Un, deux, trois" and the United Kingdom's "Save Your Kisses for Me" as the only possible winners.^{[citation needed ]} The predictions proved accurate as the two quickly surged well ahead of the field in the voting, and after half the national juries had given their votes France held the lead by 82 points to the United Kingdom's 77. However the United Kingdom scored the stronger in the second half, and ran out the winner with 164 points to France's 147. However "Un, deux, trois" finished a huge 55 points ahead of third-placed Monaco.^[1] "Un, deux, trois" had picked up five maximum 12s (from Austria, Germany, Monaco, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia) and gained the distinction of becoming the first ever non-winning Eurovision song to pick up points from every other national jury. In terms of points received as a percentage of the maximum possible total (72.06%) it remains the most successful runner-up ever under the 12 points system and outranks most subsequent winners.^{[citation needed ]}

The French jury awarded its 12 points to Portugal.