The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), selected their entry through a national final.

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) held the national final at its television studios in Munich, hosted by Katja Ebstein who represented Germany in 1980.

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.

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 France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

With two countries left to vote there was a three-way tie between Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, all on 120 points.