Söngvakeppnin (known from 1986–1989 as Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsstöðva and in 1981, 1983 and 1990–2012 as Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins, ) is an annual

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...

organised by

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic public broadcaster (RÚV) to determine for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

Format

The contest was first organised in 1981, although neither it nor its subsequent 1983 edition were used to determine any representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest until Iceland made its debut in the . Since then,

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

has used to select the Icelandic entry, but has also used an internal selection at times, between 1995 and 1999, and in 2004, 2005, and 2021. has consisted of a multi-artist competition, with between five and ten songs competing. Most contests in the past have been a one-night event. Since 2006, the contest has consisted of a number of semi-finals aired before a final. It was known for RÚV to change the performers for Eurovision. This can be seen in 1986, when winner Pálmi Gunnarsson was joined by

Eiríkur Hauksson Eiríkur Hauksson (born 4 July 1959) is an Icelandic heavy metal vocalist. He represented Iceland at Eurovision in 1986 and in 2007. Career Eiríkur's career as a vocalist began in earnest when the song "Sekur" he wrote and performed with the ...

and Helga Möller to form

ICY Icy commonly refers to conditions involving ice, a frozen state, usually referring to frozen water. Icy or Icey may also refer to: People * Icy Spicy Leoncie, an Icelandic-Indian musician Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ICY (band), a vocal ...

for Eurovision. In 1994, RÚV was not happy with the winning song, and so enlisted Frank McNamara to rearrange the entry and select a new singer. Songs at were previously only allowed to be performed in Icelandic. However, the winning songs were normally translated into English for Eurovision. This rule was abolished in 2008, when English-language songs were allowed to compete for the first time. The rules were later changed again in 2015, and the same is still used at present. The rules now require that in the semi-finals, the songs must be performed in Icelandic. In the final, the finalists will be asked to determine the language they will perform their song in Eurovision.

Winners

The winners of since 1986 have gone on to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest. Iceland has never won the contest, being the only

Nordic Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, the northern European countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and their North Atlantic territories * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern ...

country never to do so, but it has finished second twice: in 1999 (when an internal selection was used), losing to , and in 2009, when it lost to . 2020 was the first time in history where the winner of , in this case Daði og Gagnamagnið, did not advance to Eurovision, as that event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Instead, RÚV internally re-selected Daði og Gagnamagnið to represent the country in , with the song also chosen internally.

Performers and songwriters with multiple wins

The following individuals have won ''Söngvakeppnin'' as a performer or songwriter more than once.

''Söngvakeppnin'' Hall of Fame

or the Hall of Fame was introduced in to acknowledge artists who have outstanding contributions to the competition.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Songvakeppnin Eurovision Song Contest selection events Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest Music of Iceland Annual events in Iceland