Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Germany was represented by Max and the song "Can't Wait Until Tonight" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, held in Istanbul, Turkey. The German representative for Istanbul itself was chosen on March 19 in the national final Germany 12 Points!.
Before Eurovision
Germany 12 Points!
Germany 12 Points! was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The competition took place on 19 March 2004 at the Treptow Arena in Berlin, hosted by Sarah Kuttner and Jörg Pilawa. Ten acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote.Competing entries
Nine acts were nominated by major record labels. Only artists that have released at least one professional music video on television channel VIVA were eligible to participate. The nine participating acts were announced on VIVA starting from 12 January 2004. On 2 March 2004, Maximilian Mutzke was announced as the tenth act participating in the final due to his success in the German singles charts during early 2004.Final
The televised final took place on 19 March 2004. The winner was selected through two rounds of public voting, including options for landline and SMS voting. In the first round of voting, the top two entries were selected to proceed to the second round. The top two entries were: "Can't Wait Until Tonight" performed by Max and "Jigga Jigga!" performed by Scooter. In the second round, the winner, "Can't Wait Until Tonight" performed by Max, was selected.Controversy
After the national final, Sarah Kuttner stated that she and her co-host Jörg Pilawa did not get along very well. She stated that he had taken over some of her lines without telling her, which led to confusion during the live broadcast. Pilawa could also been seen doing faces when Kuttner announced contestant Tina Frank. Later, during a green room scene, Kuttner ironically stated "When I am older, I will marry Jörg Pilawa. Jörg, I love you from the bottom of my heart." Kuttner has also been criticised for using the German words for "" and "shit" during the live broadcast, which usually does not happen on a public channel.Releases
Like every year since 1996, a compilation CD with all entries was revealed. As compilations cannot enter the album charts in Germany, little can be said about its commercial success. The compilation CD also included the song "Right here" by Masha, which was one of the eligible wildcards but did not make it to the national final after all, because it did not reach the top 20 in the single charts. As a bonus track, the CD included "Every Way That I Can" by Sertab Erener, winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest.Chart successes
For the first time ever, all entries in the national final managed to reach the German singles charts. Furthermore, some of the songs also made it to the singles charts in Austria and Switzerland. Max was the first German entrant topping the singles charts since Nicole in 1982, and overall his song was the fourth German entry at number one.| Entry | |||
| "Undone" | 30 | - | 30 |
| "Hungriges Herz" | 24 | 58 | - |
| "Liebe" | 52 | - | - |
| "Der letzte Stern" | 9 | 30 | 27 |
| ''"Ich schenk' dir mein Herz" | 98 | - | - |
| "Can't wait until tonight" | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| "Dancing with the rebels" | 69 | - | - |
| "Höher" | 81 | - | - |
| "Silent tears" | 90 | - | - |
| "Jigga Jigga!" | 10 | 9 | 45 |
Furthermore, “Jigga Jigga!” reached the singles charts in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom and Ireland.