Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

Eurovision Song Contest 1976
Participating broadcasterNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
Country Netherlands
National selection
Selection processNationaal Songfestival 1976
Selection date(s)18 February 1976
Selected artist(s)Sandra Reemer
Selected song"The Party's Over"
Selected songwriter(s)Hans van Hemert
Finals performance
Final result9th, 56 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1975 1976 1977►

The Netherlands was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song "The Party's Over", written by Hans van Hemert, and performed by Sandra Reemer. The Dutch participating broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, NOS was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, after winning the previous edition with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. This was the second of Reemer's three Eurovision appearances for the Netherlands: she had sung in the 1972 contest in a duo with Dries Holten (Andres), and would also take part in the 1979 contest under the name of Xandra.

Prior to the contest, there was controversy when some other national delegations laid accusations that "The Party's Over" plagiarised the 1968 Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days". The allegations of plagiarism were considered and rejected by contest organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), who conceded that the songs were very similar in style and structure, but did not find any similarity between the actual melodies.