The Netherlands were present at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, sending their 50th entry. Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, the Dutch broadcaster, sent De Toppers to Moscow after they were internally selected. The competing song was selected at Nationaal Songfestival contest on 1 February, where "Shine" was announced the winner.
Before Eurovision
Rumored artists and artist selection
Dutch Eurovision fans set up an Internet poll in July 2008 with the intent of selecting the best artist to send for the Netherlands. Anouk was selected by the poll, and she has also stated that she would represent the Netherlands in 2009, but would prefer not to participate in a national final. However, on 19 September 2008, NOS announced De Toppers as the Dutch entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The trio, consisting ofRené Froger, Gerard Joling and Gordon, are highly popular in the Netherlands, and NOS hoped that they would boost Eurovision figures in the Netherlands, as well as ratings of the national final.
Possible withdrawal
Since De Toppers were announced as the Dutch representatives for Eurovision 2009, complications within the band and with TROS and NOS have resulted in their entry to Eurovision coming under threat. Disagreements between the band and TROS over the planned docusoap Op weg naar Moskou have become the main reason for the row in the band. The main reason for no agreement between the two bodies is due to the band's manager, Benno de Leeuw, being hospitalised for a week. Since the disagreement started, Gerard Joling has since stated that he has pulled out of the band, and NOS would have to look for a new Dutch representative. NOS has stated that they are trying to patch things up between the band, and if it cannot be solved then NOS will have to look for another entrant: "We made a choice for De Toppers, and that means all three of them or none of them." On 11 November 2008, it was confirmed that Jeroen van der Boom will take Gerard Joling's place in the group, and that De Toppers will still represent the Netherlands in the 2009 contest.
Nationaal Songfestival 2009
The song that De Toppers represented the Netherlands with was selected through a national final titled Nationaal Songfestival 2009. The competition consisted of a final on 1 February 2009 which took place at the Studio 22 in Hilversum, hosted by Jack van Gelder.
Competing entries
Composers were able to submit their entries until 23 November 2008. 330 entries were received by the broadcaster, and De Toppers selected six songs for the competition on 5 December 2008 without knowing the composers in order to remove possible bias that may arise. The group has said that the selected songs were all "happy and powerful compositions". The titles and authors of the six songs were announced on 18 December 2008.
Final
The final took place on 1 February 2009. The winning song, "Shine", was selected by the votes of a five-member jury and public televoting. The five-member jury panel consisted of Tony Berk, Tatjana Simić, Daniël Dekker, Getty Kaspers and Emile Hartkamp. The juries had a total of 210 points to award and the viewers had a total of 420 points to award. Each jury member distributed their points as follows: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone and SMS voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 420 points rounded to the nearest integer: 42 points. During the show, past Dutch Eurovision representatives Saskia & Serge, Ben Cramer, Heddy Lester, Getty Kaspers, Bill van Dijk, Laura Vlasblom from Frizzle Sizzle, Rosina Brochard from Harmony and Marcha were present.
At Eurovision
Since the Netherlands was not one of the "Big Four" nor the host of the 2009 contest, The Toppers had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. The Netherlands competed in the second semi-final on 14 May, performing 19th and last in the running order, following Estonia. However the group failed to qualify The Netherlands to the final for the fifth successive contest.
