2016 in continental European music in geographical order.

Events

• 13 February – All four members of British rock band Viola Beach, and their manager, are killed when their car crashes off a bridge and into a river in Södertälje, Sweden.^[1]
• 22 April – Romania is forced to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest because of failure to repay an old debt.^[2]
• 14 May – Ukraine win the Eurovision Song Contest, in Stockholm, Sweden, with the song "1944", performed by Jamala.

Scandinavia

• Main article for Scandinavian music in 2016

Denmark

• Main article for Danish music in 2016
• Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
• Danish #1s

Finland

• Main article for Finnish music in 2016
• Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
• Finnish #1 singles2015, #1 albums

Norway

• Main article for Norwegian music in 2016
• Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
• Norway charts

Sweden

• Main article for Swedish music in 2016
• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
• Swedish #1 singles and albums

Netherlands

Dutch #1 singles

Ireland

• Main article for Irish music in 2016

UK

• Main article for British music in 2016

Germany

• German number ones
• EFF, a project of Felix Jaehn is immediately successful with their first single "Stimme".
• Kurdish-German rapper Azad, Bosse, Schiller, AnnenMayKantereit, all have #1 albums.

Switzerland and Austria

• Swiss #1s

France

• French #1s
• Imany has a European hit with "Don't be so shy", with a #1 in Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia.

Italy

Italian number ones

Eastern Europe/ Balkans

• List of Polish #1 singles
• Czech #1 singles
• Hungarian #1 singles

Deaths

• 2 January – Michel Delpech, French singer-songwriter and actor, 69
• 9 January – Jānis Vaišļa, Latvian musician (Pirates of the Sea), 46 (cardiac amyloidosis)^[3]
• 6 February – Eddy Wally, Belgian singer, 83^[4]
• 21 February – Piotr Grudziński, 40, Polish guitarist (Riverside).^[5]
• 22 February – Hans Reffert, German musician and composer, 69^[6]
• 23 February – Johnny Murphy, Irish musician and actor (The Commitments), 72 ^[7]
• 5 March – Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Austrian conductor and cellist, 86^[8]
• 5 March – François-Eudes Chanfrault, French composer, 41^[9]
• 22 April — Ojārs Grīnbergs, Latvian singer, 73^[10][11]
• 26 April – Gabriele Sima, Austrian opera singer, 61^[12]
• 29 April – Dmytro Hnatyuk, Ukrainian operatic baritone, 91^[13]
• 11 May – Peter Behrens, German drummer, actor, musician, and clown, 68^[14]
• 17 May – Huguette Dreyfus, French harpsichordist, 87^[15]Huguette Dreyfus, 87, French harpsichordist.^[16]
• 2 June – Corry Brokken, Dutch singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1957 winner, 83^[17]
• 26 July – Roye Albrighton, German musician (Nektar), 67^[18]
• 27 July – Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer, 87^[19]
• 7 August – Dolores Vargas, Spanish singer, 80^[20]
• 22 August – Toots Thielemans, Belgian jazz musician, 94^[21]