Dansk Melodi Grand Prix

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is an annual music competition organised by Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), which determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

This article is about the Danish song contest. For this year's edition, see Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
GenrePop music, folk music, classical music, rock music, etc.
Location(s)Denmark
Years active1957–present
Founded byDanmarks Radio (DR)
WebsiteDR: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix

The festival has produced three Eurovision winners and fourteen top-five placings.[1]


Historical background
Simon Mathew, the 2008 winner, performing in the Eurovision song contest in Belgrade, Serbia

With the introduction of a semi-final at the 2004 contest, and due to Denmark's absence from the 2003 contest, Denmark's 2004 representative, Thomas Thordarsson, had to take part in the semi-final. His song, "Shame on You" did not reach the final, finishing 13th in a field of 22 contestants.

In 2005, DR made a bold step for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Artists were allowed, for the first time ever, to sing in a language other than Danish. Many of the entries that year were sung in English; however, against the odds, the winning song was sung in Danish. Jakob Sveistrup won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with his song "Tænder på dig". It was later re-written for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 to English as "Talking to You". Unlike the year before, Denmark secured a place in the final, finishing third in the semifinal. In the final he came 9th, guaranteeing Denmark a place in the final of the 2006 contest. A year later, Sidsel Ben Semmane sang "Twist of Love" in the final, but managed to finish 18th of 24 songs.

In 2007, after many poor results, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix adopted a semi-final format that had served well for the Swedish preselection, Melodifestivalen. Two semi-finals with 8 songs each were introduced, with the top 4 songs qualifying for the final. The 4 losing songs of each semi-final then took part in one of two wildcard rounds where the listeners of Danish radio stations P3 and P4 chose another two finalists. The winner under this new format, DQ with the song "Drama Queen" (a wildcard entrant), finished 18th in the semifinal, relegating Denmark again.

DR continued to use this format in the 2008 edition which was won by Simon Mathew and the song "All Night Long". At the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, Denmark as in 2005, finished 3rd in the semifinals, qualifying for the grand final. In the final, Mathew got 60 points, finishing 15th in a field of 25 songs.

For the 2009 of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, DR reverted to their one-night final, that was held on 31 January 2009. The final of 10 songs consisted of 6 songs from an open call of songs from the public, with 4 songs being invited by DR to compete.[2]

Winners
Main article: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix winners

Almost all winners of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix have gone on to represent Denmark at Eurovision. Only two entries did not represent Denmark at Eurovision: the 1996 winner ("Kun med dig" by Dorte Andersen and Martin Loft), which failed to qualify for the final from the pre-selection, and the 2020 winner ("Yes" by Ben & Tan), which was slated to be the country's entry before the 2020 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Denmark has won Eurovision three times: in 1963, 2000 and 2013.[3]

The following table lists those entries which finished fifth or higher at Eurovision:

Year Song Artist Position in the Eurovision Song Contest
1957 "Skibet skal sejle i nat" Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler 3rd
1959 "Uh, jeg ville ønske jeg var dig" Birthe Wilke 5th
1961 "Angelique" Dario Campeotto 5th
1963 "Dansevise" Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann 1st
1984 "Det' lige det" Hot Eyes 4th
1987 "En lille melodi" Anne-Cathrine Herdorf 5th
1988 "Ka' du se hva' jeg sa'?" Hot Eyes 3rd
1989 "Vi maler byen rød" Birthe Kjær 3rd
1995 "Fra Mols til Skagen" Aud Wilken 5th
2000 "Smuk som et stjerneskud" Olsen Brothers 1st (as "Fly on the Wings of Love")
2001 "Der står et billede af dig på mit bord" Rollo & King 2nd (as "Never Ever Let You Go")
2010 "In a Moment Like This" Chanée and N'evergreen 4th
2011 "New Tomorrow" A Friend in London 5th
2013 "Only Teardrops" Emmelie de Forest 1st

Discography

Albums
Year Album Peak positions Weeks at #1 Certification
DEN
[4]
2001 MGP 2001 1 3
2002 MGP 2002 1 7
2003 MGP 2003 1 4
2004 MGP 2004 1 3
2005 MGP 2005 1 3
2006 MGP 2006 1 2
2007 MGP 2007 1 4
2008 MGP 2008: Det er bare noget, vi leger! 1 3
2009 MGP 2009 1 2
2011 MGP 2011 1 5
2012 MGP 2012 1 6
2013 MGP 2013 1 4
2014 MGP 2014 1 8
2015 MGP 2015 1 6
2016 MGP 2016 1 2
2017 MGP 2017 2 —
2018 MGP 2018 1
[5]		 *
2019 MGP 2019 1
[6]		 —
2020 MGP 2020 2
[7]		 —

Others

Year Album Peak positions Weeks at #1 Certification
DEN
[4]
2015 Melody Grand Prix 2015 7 N/A

De vindere series

Year Album Peak positions Certification
DEN
[4]
2004 MGP 2004 - De 3 vindere 11
2005 MGP 2005 - De 3 vindere 12
2006 MGP 2006 - De 3 vindere 11
2007 MGP 2006 - De 3 vindere 24
2008 MGP 2008 - Vinderne 33

Others

Year Album Peak positions Certification
DEN
[4]
2014 MGP Jul 7
gollark: ++list_deleted trump
gollark: Trump is extremely apiohazardous.
gollark: Well, a significant percentage of America voted for Trump.
gollark: Well, yes, people are bad sometimes.
gollark: I mostly use a highly underpowered laptop, but the osmarks.tk osmarksßservers are quite good, if underutilized.

See also

References
  1. "DENMARK at the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST". www.eurovisioncovers.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  2. Hondal, Víctor (25 August 2008). "Denmark: One-day Melodi Grand Prix in 2009". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  3. "Denmark - Eurovision Song Contest Tel Aviv 2019". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  4. "MGP discography". danishcharts.dk. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  5. "Album Top-40 Uge 8, 2018". Hitlisten. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  6. "Album Top-40 Uge 9, 2019". Hitlisten. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  7. "Album Top-40 Uge 9, 2020". Hitlisten. Retrieved 11 March 2020.

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