As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

[1] Germany has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole.

On 25 May 2009, ARD and NDR was revealed to have approached music producer and three-time German Eurovision participant (as singer and/or songwriter) Stefan Raab and private broadcaster ProSieben to collaborate in preparing for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with a view of creating a possible winning combination of artist and song.

The competition consisted of five heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final that took place between 2 February 2010 and 12 March 2010 at the Köln-Mülheim Studios in Cologne, hosted by Matthias Opdenhövel and Sabine Heinrich.

The remaining two contestants proceeded to the final where they each performed their three songs bidding for Eurovision and the German entry was selected.

[12][13] By the end of the process, it was announced that over 4,500 applications were received and 20 contestants were selected by Stefan Raab together with an expert panel consisting of ARD representatives.

By 13 March, Lena led the German iTunes download charts with all three of her songs: "Satellite" taking the top spot, followed by "Bee" in second and "Love Me" in third place.

Jennifer Braun's song "I Care for You" took fourth place in the chart, followed by her versions of "Bee" and "Satellite" in 7th and 14th position respectively.

[53][54] On 16 March, the official music video of "Satellite" premiered on Das Erste right before Germany's most watched evening news bulletin Tagesschau.

Shortly after, it was simultaneously shown on four private stations (Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins, N24) before the start of their evening prime time programmes.

[55] As of July 2021, the two officially uploaded YouTube videos of the song have jointly generated more than 109 million views since their release.

[56][57] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

[58] In Germany, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Das Erste which featured commentary by Peter Urban.

[63][64] The four backing vocalists that joined Lena on stage were Anji Hinke, Cheri Kedida, Grace Risch and Maya Saban.

[67] This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.