Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Johnny Blue", composed by Ralph Siegel, with lyrics by Bernd Meinunger, and performed by Lena Valaitis. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), selected their entry through a national final. Valaitis had previously taken part in the German final in.

Before Eurovision

Ein Lied für Dublin

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) held the national final at its television studios in Munich, hosted by Katja Ebstein who represented. 12 songs took part and the winner was chosen by a panel of approximately 500 people who had been selected as providing a representative cross-section of the German public.

At Eurovision

On the evening of the final Valaitis performed 3rd in the running order, following and preceding. The 1981 contest is noted for providing one of the closest and most exciting voting sequences in Eurovision history, with the lead changing hands regularly between, Germany, , , and the. With two countries left to vote there was a three-way tie between Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, all on 120 points. Switzerland was the next to vote, and turned out to be the only country which failed to award any points at all to "Johnny Blue", while giving 8 points to the United Kingdom. A maximum 12 points to Germany from the final jury in was not to be enough, as the Swedish jury also awarded 8 points to the United Kingdom, making Bucks Fizz the contest winners by 4 points. Germany finished runners-up for the second year in succession. The German jury awarded its 12 points to France. The show was watched by 10.14 million viewers in Germany.

Voting