Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 58 times since making its debut in 1960 and has only been absent twice since then. In 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, and in 2002, they were relegated. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norway's national selection competition, Melodi Grand Prix.
| Norway | |
|---|---|
| |
| Member station | NRK |
| National selection events | National final
Internal selection
|
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 58 (55 finals) |
| First appearance | 1960 |
| Best result | 1st: 1985, 1995, 2009 |
| Nul points | 1963, 1978, 1981, 1997 |
| External links | |
| NRK page | |
| Norway's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 For the most recent participation seeNorway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 | |
Before 1985, Norway's best result in the contest was Åse Kleveland's third-place in 1966. Norway's three victories in the contest were achieved by Bobbysocks in 1985, Secret Garden in 1995 and Alexander Rybak in 2009. Norway also finished second at the 1996 contest, with former Bobbysocks member Elisabeth Andreassen. Norway has finished last in eleven Eurovision Song Contest finals, of which four times with "nul points". Norway has a total of eleven top-five results in the contest, the latest being Margaret Berger's fourth-place in 2013.
History
Norway's first entrant in the contest in 1960 was Nora Brockstedt, who finished fourth. Åse Kleveland then finished third in 1966. Following Kleveland's result, Norway would fail to reach the top ten in 14 out of their next 15 attempts, the exception being Bendik Singers seventh place in 1973.
Before 1985, Norway had only reached the top five in two out of 24 attempts and had finished last six times. In 1985, Bobbysocks gave the country its first victory with the song "La det swinge" (Let It Swing). Norway went on to achieve two more top five results over the next ten years, with both Karoline Krüger in 1988 and Silje Vige in 1993, finishing fifth.
Norway's second victory came in 1995 with Secret Garden's mainly instrumental, Celtic-influenced ethno-piece "Nocturne". In 1996, Elisabeth Andreassen, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to finish second. In 2003, Jostein Hasselgård was fourth.
Norway won for the third time in 2009, with Alexander Rybak's smash hit "Fairytale". The 2009 winning score of 387 points being the highest ever winning total under the voting system used between 1975 and 2015. It also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory. 492 points were able to be rewarded in 2009. (2009-Norway) That's 78.7% of the total points that could be rewarded.
In 2012, Norway finished last in the final for the 11th time. Norway has the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, failing to score a point four times, in 1963, 1978, 1981 and 1997. Austria has also scored "nul points" four times.
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten seven times. Wig Wam finished ninth with the song "In My Dreams" in 2005, Maria Haukaas Storeng was fifth in 2008 with "Hold On Be Strong", Alexander Rybak won in 2009, Margaret Berger was fourth in 2013 with "I Feed You My Love", Carl Espen finished eighth in 2014 performing "Silent Storm", Mørland & Debrah Scarlett finished eighth in 2015 with "A Monster Like Me", Jowst featuring Aleksander Walmann finished tenth with the song "Grab the Moment" in 2017 and Keiino finished sixth with the song "Spirit in the Sky" in 2019 (when they also finished first with the televote in the Grand Final). Norway has a total of 11 top five and 24 top ten results in the contest.
Contestants
1 |
Winner |
2 |
Second place |
3 |
Third place |
◁ |
Last place |
X |
Entry selected but did not compete |
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Bergen | Grieghallen | Åse Kleveland |
| 1996 | Oslo | Oslo Spektrum | Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket |
| 2010 | Oslo | Telenor Arena | Nadia Hasnaoui, Haddy N'jie and Erik Solbakken |
Songs of Europe
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Mysen | Momarken | Rolf Kirkvaag and Titten Tei |
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) |
Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Press Award | "Fairytale" | Alexander Rybak (m & l) | Alexander Rybak | 1 | 387 |  Moscow |
|
| 2015 | Composer Award | "A Monster Like Me" | Kjetil Mørland (m & l) | Mørland & Debrah Scarlett | 8 | 102 |  Vienna |
Winner by OGAE members
| Year | Song | Performer | Place | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | "Fairytale" | Alexander Rybak | 1 | 387 | Moscow |
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–2005 | Jon Ola Sand | |
| 2006–2009, 2012–2015 | Stian Malme | |
| 2010–2011 | Skjalg Solstad | |
| 2016–present | Stig Karlsen |
Commentators and spokespersons
| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Erik Diesen | Kari Borg Mannsåker | |
| 1961 | Leif Rustad | Mette Janson | |
| 1962 | Odd Grythe | Kari Borg Mannsåker | |
| 1963 | Øivind Johnsen | Roald Øyen | |
| 1964 | Odd Grythe | Sverre Christophersen | |
| 1965 | Erik Diesen | ||
| 1966 | Sverre Christophersen | Erik Diesen | |
| 1967 | Erik Diesen | Sverre Christophersen | |
| 1968 | Roald Øyen | ||
| 1969 | Sverre Christophersen | Janka Polanyi | |
| 1970 | No commentator | Did not participate | |
| 1971 | Sverre Christophersen | No spokesperson | |
| 1972 | Roald Øyen | ||
| 1973 | John Andreassen | ||
| 1974 | Sverre Christophersen | ||
| 1975 | |||
| 1976 | Jo Vestly | ||
| 1977 | John Andreassen | ||
| 1978 | Bjørn Scheele | Egil Teige | |
| 1979 | Egil Teige | Sverre Christophersen | |
| 1980 | Knut Aunbu | Roald Øyen | |
| 1981 | Sverre Christophersen | ||
| 1982 | Bjørn Scheele | Erik Diesen | |
| 1983 | Ivar Dyrhaug | ||
| 1984 | Roald Øyen | Egil Teige | |
| 1985 | Veslemøy Kjendsli | Erik Diesen | |
| 1986 | Knut Bjørnsen | Nina Matheson | |
| 1987 | John Andreassen and Tor Paulsen | Sverre Christophersen | |
| 1988 | John Andreassen | Andreas Diesen | |
| 1989 | Sverre Christophersen | ||
| 1990 | Leif Erik Forberg | ||
| 1991 | John Andreassen and Jahn Teigen | ||
| 1992 | John Andreassen | ||
| 1993 | Leif Erik Forberg | ||
| 1994 | Jostein Pedersen | ||
| 1995 | Annette Groth | ||
| 1996 | Jostein Pedersen | Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft | |
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | |||
| 1999 | |||
| 2000 | Marit Åslein | ||
| 2001 | Roald Øyen | ||
| 2002 | Did not participate | ||
| 2003 | Roald Øyen | ||
| 2004 | Ingvild Helljesen | ||
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | Per Sundnes | Synnøve Svabø | |
| 2008 | Per Sundnes and Hanne Hoftun | Stian Barsnes-Simonsen | |
| 2009 | Synnøve Svabø | ||
| 2010 | Olav Viksmo-Slettan | Anne Rimmen | |
| 2011 | Nadia Hasnaoui | ||
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | Tooji | ||
| 2014 | Margrethe Røed | ||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | Elisabeth Andreassen | ||
| 2017 | Marcus & Martinus | ||
| 2018 | Aleksander Walmann and Jowst | ||
| 2019 | Alexander Rybak | ||
| Not announced before cancellation | |||
| 2021 | Marte Stokstad |
Supervisors
List of supervisors of Melodi Grand Prix, better known as MGP-general or GP-general in Norway:
- Per Sundnes (c. 2007–2012)[18]
- Vivi Stenberg (2013–2015)[19]
- Jan Fredrik Karlsen (2016–2017)[20]
- Stig Karlsen (2018–present)[20]
Gallery
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See also
- Melodi Grand Prix
- Norway in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Norway in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
- Norway in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.
Notes and references
Notes
- Although the song was mostly performed in Norwegian, the title and line "Voi Voi" is in Northern Sami.
- Also contains some lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Hebrew, Serbo-Croatian, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian.
- Although the song was performed mostly in Norwegian (and with joik), the title and line "Sámiid ædnan" is in Northern Sami.
- If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
- Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark – 12 points – instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast.
- According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
- Although the song was mostly performed in English, the title and line "Ven a bailar conmigo" is in Spanish.
- Although the song was performed mostly in English (and with joik), the line "Čajet dan čuovgga" is in Northern Sami.
- The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
References
- Klier, Marcus (18 May 2009). "The Eurovision 2009 Marcel Bezençon Awards". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2015". eurovision.tv. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- Cobb, Ryan (21 April 2017). "Analysing ten years of OGAE voting: "Underneath the fan favourite bias is a worthwhile indicator"". escxtra.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "Executive Supervisor". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- "Se hele finalen her". 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- Norli, Kristin (18 May 2009). "Klagerekord mot Svabø" [Complaint record against Svabø]. Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (20 February 2020). "Norway: Olav Viksmo-Slettan Steps Down as Commentator After Ten Contests". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Hondal, Victor (26 May 2012). "EBU announces voting order". ESCToday. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (12 May 2013). "Malmo'13: All The Spokespersons Announced". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (10 May 2014). "ESC'14: Voting Order Announced". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Doyle, Daniel (23 May 2015). "Vienna Calling: Spokespersons revealed". ESCToday. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (14 May 2016). "ESC'16: 42 Spokespersons Revealed For Tonight". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (9 May 2017). "Norway: Marcus & Martinus Announcing The Jury Points". Eurovoix. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- Granger, Anthony (9 May 2018). "Norway: JOWST & Aleksander Walmann To Reveal Norwegian Jury Points". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Herbert, Emily (13 May 2019). "Norway: Alexander Rybak Revealed as Eurovision 2019 Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Sand, Camilla (17 April 2020). "Marte Stokstad blir ny kommentator for Eurovision Song Contest" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- Hagen, Knut-Øyvind (17 April 2020). "Slik blir årets alternative Eurovision Song Contest". NRK (in Norwegian).
- GP-general Per Sundnes slutter i NRK
- – Skulle veldig gjerne hatt en seier i beltet før jeg gir meg
- Gir seg som MGP-general
External links
- Melodi Grand Prix
- Points to and from Norway eurovisioncovers.co.uk
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