Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

has participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

60 times since making its debut in and has only been absent twice since then. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, and in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, they were relegated. The contest is broadcast in Norway by

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

, which also broadcasts Norway's national selection competition,

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It det ...

. Before 1985, Norway's best result in the contest was

Åse Kleveland Åse Maria Kleveland (born 18 March 1949) is a Norwegian singer, guitarist, politician and activist. A well-known folk singer and traditional guitarist in Norway, she was appointed Minister of Culture in Norway in 1990, and held the position ...

's third-place in . Norway's three victories in the contest were achieved by

Bobbysocks Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

in , Secret Garden in and

Alexander Rybak Alexander Igorevich Rybak (russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак) or Alyaxandr Iharavich Rybak ( be, Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pian ...

in . Norway also finished second at the contest, with former Bobbysocks member

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...

. Norway has finished last in eleven Eurovision finals, of which four times with "

nul points The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the , and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set f ...

". In 2019, Norway became the third televote-winning country to not win the contest (the previous ones being Italy in 2015 and Russia in 2016). Norway has a total of eleven top-five results in the contest, the latest being

Margaret Berger Margaret Berger (born 11 October 1985) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, music director, and DJ. She made her debut on Sony BMG after she placed second on the second season of '' Norwegian Idol'' in 2004.Hoffman, K. Ross. _Review".html" ;"ti ...

's fourth-place in .

History

Norway's first entrant in the contest was

Nora Brockstedt Nora Brockstedt (20 January 1923 – 5 November 2015) was a Norwegian singer. In her last years, she focused more on the jazz genre, with successful albums like ''As Time Goes By'' (JazzAvdelingen, 2004) and ''Christmas Songs'' (JazzAvdelin ...

in , who finished fourth with the song "

Voi Voi Voi is the largest town in Taita-Taveta County in southern Kenya, in the former Coast Province. It lies at the western edge of the Taru Desert, south and west of the Tsavo East National Park. The Sagala Hills are to the south. Economy Voi is ...

"; Brockstedt would return the next year with " Sommer i Palma", this time placing seventh.

then finished third in with "

Intet er nytt under solen Norway was represented by Åse Kleveland, with the song "Intet er nytt under solen", at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 5 March in Luxembourg City. "Intet er nytt under solen" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi G ...

", following which Norway would fail to reach the top ten in fourteen out of their next fifteen attempts, with the exception being

Bendik Singers The Bendik Singers were a four-member Norwegian vocal group, brought together by singer and composer Arne Bendiksen to participate in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selection, Melodi Grand Prix, in 1973. The group consisted of Anne-Karine ...

’ seventh place finish in . Before , Norway had only received a top-ten score in six out of twenty-four attempts, and had finished last the same number of times.

gave the country its first victory in 1985, with the song " La det swinge". Norway went on to achieve two more top five results over the next ten years, with

Karoline Krüger Karoline Krüger (born 13 February 1970 in Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian singer, actress and composer. Career Krüger's first TV appearance was at the age of 11, in a youth show called ''Halvsju''. She got her breakthrough in 1988, first by ...

in and

Silje Vige Silje Vige (born 24 May 1976, in Jørpeland) is a Norwegian singer from Jørpeland outside Stavanger. Vige won the Melodi Grand Prix with an ethno-ballad written by her father. The win allowed her to compete as Norway's entry in the 1993 Eurovisi ...

in , who both finished fifth. Norway's second victory came in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

with Secret Garden's mainly instrumental Celtic-influenced ethno-piece " Nocturne". In ,

, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to the contest as a solo artist, finishing in second place. In ,

Jostein Hasselgård Jostein Hasselgård (born 24 March 1979) is a Norwegian singer. He was the winner of Norway's national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest and he won Norway a fourth place in the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the ballad ...

came fourth. Norway won for the third time in , with

's hugely successful song " Fairytale". The song’s score of 387 points was the highest ever winning total under the 1975-2015 voting system, and also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory: 492 points in total were distributed between the competing countries in 2009, meaning "Fairytale" received 78.7% of the points that could be rewarded. Rybak later returned to the contest in , performing "

That's How You Write a Song "That's How You Write a Song" is a song written and performed by Belarusian-Norwegian singer Alexander Rybak. It represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. The song was released as a digital download on 15 January ...

"; he received the highest number of votes of the second semi-final, but ultimately placed fifteenth. He remains the only Norwegian entrant to have won a semi-final, as well as the only two-time semi-final winner in the history of the contest. In , Norway finished last in the final for the eleventh time. Norway has the dubious distinction of finishing last in the Eurovision final more than any other country, and along with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, has received "

" (zero points) in the contest on four occasions; in , , and . Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten seven times.

Wig Wam Wig Wam is a Norwegian glam metal band formed in Halden in 2001. Wig Wam's lineup—consisting of vocalist Glam (Åge Sten Nilsen), guitarist Teeny (Trond Holter), bassist Flash (Bernt Jansen) and drummer Sporty (Øystein Andersen)—has remain ...

finished ninth with " In My Dreams" in ,

Maria Haukaas Storeng Maria Haukaas Mittet (née Storeng, born 3 August 1979) also known as simply Maria is a Norwegian recording artist. She gained national recognition in 2004 for her participation in the ''Idol'' reality television series, and international recogn ...

was fifth in with "

Hold On Be Strong "Hold On Be Strong" is a song performed by Norwegian singer Maria Haukaas Storeng, written by Mira Craig. It was presented by in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. Eurovision Song Contest The song was elected through the Melo ...

", Alexander Rybak won in 2009,

was fourth in with "

I Feed You My Love "I Feed You My Love" is a song recorded by Norwegian singer Margaret Berger. The song was written by Karin Park and MachoPsycho and produced by MachoPsycho. It is best known as Norway's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, ...

Carl Espen Carl Espen Thorbjørnsen (born 15 July 1982), better known as simply Carl Espen, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter, who represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. He performed his song "Silent Storm". Music career 2014–prese ...

finished eighth in performing "

Silent Storm ''Silent Storm'' is a 2003 turn-based tactics video game developed by Nival Interactive and published by JoWood. The game is set in a fictionalized World War II Europe with science fiction elements. An advanced game engine, the Silent Storm ...

", Mørland &

Debrah Scarlett Joanna Deborah Bussinger (born 20 July 1993), known professionally as Debrah Scarlett and as of 2019 known under the moniker Red Moon, is a Norwegian-Swiss singer and songwriter. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 along w ...

finished eighth in with " A Monster Like Me",

Jowst Joakim With Steen (born 26 June 1989), better known as Jowst (usually stylised JOWST), is a Norwegian music producer and songwriter. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song " Grab the Moment", along with vocalist A ...

and

Aleksander Walmann Aleksander Walmann Åsgården (born 12 January 1986) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 alongside Jowst with the song "Grab the Moment", finishing in 10th place. Early life and care ...

finished tenth in with "

Grab the Moment "Grab the Moment" is a song by Norwegian music producer JOWST featuring uncredited vocals from Norwegian singer Aleksander Walmann. The song represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. It was released as a digital download on 15 ...

", Keiino finished sixth in with "

Spirit in the Sky "Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in late 1969 from the album of the same name. The single became a gold record, selling two million copies f ...

", placing first with the televote, and Subwoolfer finished tenth in with " Give That Wolf a Banana". In total, Norway has eleven top-five and twenty-five top-ten finishes in the contest.

Participation overview

Hostings

Songs of Europe

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Related involvement

Conductors

Additionally, there was an orchestra present at the 1999 national final, conducted by Geir Langslet (the winning song, however, was presented without orchestral accompaniment) and at the 2015 national final, conducted by

Anders Eljas Anders Erik Gillis Eljas (born 15 January 1953 in Stockholm) is a Swedish musician, orchestrator and conductor. Biography He was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied piano and violin, began his musical career at ...

Heads of delegation

Supervisors

List of supervisors of

, better known as MGP-general or GP-general in Norway:

Commentators and spokespersons

Gallery

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1976 rehearsals - Norway - Anne-Karine Strøm 6.png,

Anne-Karine Strøm Anne-Karine Strøm (born 15 October 1951) is a Norwegian singer, best known for having taken part in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selection, Melodi Grand Prix, in six consecutive years between 1971 and 1976, winning on three occasions ( ...

performing "

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...

" in The Hague () File:Bobbysocks (11096943775).jpg,

performing " La det swinge" in Gothenburg () File:ESC 2007- Guri Schanke.jpg,

Guri Schanke Guri Annika Schanke (; born 14 December 1961) is a Norwegian actress and singer. She is known in Norway for her acting career, and was part of the 2005 round of the Norwegian version of ''Dancing with the Stars'', where she came in second. Caree ...

performing "

Ven a bailar conmigo "" (; English: "Come dance with me"; no, "Kom og dans med meg", italic=no ) was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English and Spanish by Guri Schanke. The song is a Latin-inspired number. Schanke sings about how much ...

" in Helsinki () File:Maria Eurovision semi-final 2008.jpg,

performing "

" in Belgrade () File:Flickr - aktivioslo - Didrik Solli-Tangen på scenen - Første prøve (5).jpg,

Didrik Solli-Tangen Didrik Solli-Tangen (born 11 June 1987) is a Norwegian singer who represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " My Heart Is Yours". Biography Solli-Tangen was born in Porsgrunn. From his early years he was interested ...

performing "

My Heart Is Yours Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "My Heart Is Yours" written by Hanne Sørvaag and Fredrik Kempe. The song was performed by Didrik Solli-Tangen. In addition to participating in the contest, the Norwegian br ...

" in Oslo () File:ESC2013 - Norway 01 (crop).jpg,

performing "

" in Malmö () File:ESC2014 - Norway 01.jpg,

performing "

" in Copenhagen () File:20150520 ESC 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett 3385.jpg, Mørland &

performing " A Monster Like Me" in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Norway 13 (crop).jpg, Agnete performing "

Icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

" in Stockholm () File:JOWST (Norway). Photo 355.jpg,

performing "

" in Kyiv () File:ESC2018 - Norway 02.jpg,

performing "

" in Lisbon () File:Semi2Dress2019-039-20190516-EuroVisionary.jpg, Keiino performing "

" in Tel Aviv () File:ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Norway2.jpg,

Tix Andreas Andresen Haukeland (born 12 April 1993), better known as Tix (stylized as TIX), is a Norwegian singer. He represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Fallen Angel". He has Tourette syndrome, a condition charact ...

performing "

Fallen Angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said ...

" in Rotterdam () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 1 - Norway - Subwoolfer (02).jpg, Subwoolfer performing " Give That Wolf a Banana" in Turin ()

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Melodi Grand Prix

''eurovisioncovers.co.uk'' {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest Melodi Grand Prix

History

Participation overview

Hostings

Songs of Europe

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Supervisors

Commentators and spokespersons

Gallery

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links