Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Iceland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 32 times since its debut in 1986, missing only two contests since then, in 1998 and 2002, when prevented from competing due to finishing outside qualification places the preceding years. The country's best result is two second-place finishes, with Selma in 1999 and Yohanna in 2009.

Iceland
Member station	RÚV
National selection events	National final Söngvakeppnin 1986–1994 2000–2001 2003 2006–2020 Internal selection 1995–1997 1999 2004–2005
Participation summary
Appearances	33 (26 finals)
First appearance	1986
Best result	2nd: 1999, 2009
Nul points	1989
External links
Iceland's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Iceland has achieved a total of six top ten placements, with the others being Stjórnin finishing fourth (1990), Heart 2 Heart seventh (1992), Birgitta eighth (2003) and Hatari tenth (2019). Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Iceland has failed to qualify for the final seven times, including four years consecutively (2015–18). As of 2019, Iceland is the only Nordic country that is yet to win the contest.

History

Iceland's best position at the contest is second place, which they have achieved twice: in 1999 when Selma represented Iceland with the song "All Out of Luck", and came second to Sweden's Charlotte Nilsson and in 2009 when Yohanna came second to Norway's Alexander Rybak with the ballad "Is It True?".

In contrast Iceland's worst result in a grand final is last place, which has been achieved twice to date: In 1989 when Daníel Ágúst received nul points for his entry "Það sem enginn sér" and in 2001 when Two Tricky received 3 points for their entry "Angel".

With the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Iceland automatically qualified for the final that year due to Birgitta's 8th place the previous year. In 2008, Iceland reached the final for the first time since then, when Euroband sang "This Is My Life". Iceland qualified for the final in seven consecutive contests between 2008 and 2014; however, it failed to qualify for the final from 2015 to 2018. In 2019 Hatari brought the country back to the final for the first time since 2014.

Despite these mixed fortunes, Iceland is the second most successful country never to win the contest (behind only Malta).

Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir has participated four times (as a member of a group in 1990 and 1992, as a solo artist in 1994, and as a background vocalist in 1991). Hera Björk has participated four times (as background vocalist in 2008, 2009 and 2015 and as solo artist in 2010). Stefán Hilmarsson has participated twice (as a member of a group in 1988 and as a member of a duo 1991), as have Selma Björnsdóttir (1999 and 2005), Eiríkur Hauksson (as a member of a group in 1986 and as a solo artist in 2007), Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson (as a solo artist in 2004 and member of a duo in 2012) and Gréta Salóme Stefánsdóttir (as member of a duo in 2012 and solo artist in 2016).

The Icelandic broadcaster for the contest is Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV).

Contestants

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete

Year	Artist	Language	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1986	ICY	Icelandic	"Gleðibankinn"	16	19	No semi-finals
1987	Halla Margrét	Icelandic	"Hægt og hljótt"	16	28
1988	Beathoven	Icelandic	"Þú og þeir (Sókrates)"	16	20
1989	Daníel Ágúst	Icelandic	"Það sem enginn sér"	22 ◁	0
1990	Stjórnin	Icelandic	"Eitt lag enn"	4	124
1991	Stefán & Eyfi	Icelandic	"Draumur um Nínu"	15	26
1992	Heart 2 Heart	Icelandic	"Nei eða já"	7	80
1993	Inga	Icelandic	"Þá veistu svarið"	13	42	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994	Sigga	Icelandic	"Nætur"	12	49	No semi-finals
1995	Bo Halldórsson	Icelandic	"Núna"	15	31
1996	Anna Mjöll	Icelandic	"Sjúbídú"	13	51	10	49
1997	Paul Oscar	Icelandic	"Minn hinsti dans"	20	18	No semi-finals
1999	Selma	English	"All Out of Luck"	2	146
2000	August & Telma	English	"Tell Me!"	12	45
2001	Two Tricky	English	"Angel"	22 ◁	3
2003	Birgitta	English	"Open Your Heart"	8	81
2004	Jónsi	English	"Heaven"	19	16	Top 11 previous year[lower-alpha 1]
2005	Selma	English	"If I Had Your Love"	Failed to qualify		16	52
2006	Silvía Night	English	"Congratulations"			13	62
2007	Eiríkur Hauksson	English	"Valentine Lost"			13	77
2008	Euroband	English	"This Is My Life"	14	64	8	68
2009	Yohanna	English	"Is It True?"	2	218	1	174
2010	Hera Björk	English, French	"Je ne sais quoi"	19	41	3	123
2011	Sjonni's Friends	English	"Coming Home"	20	61	4	100
2012	Greta Salóme & Jónsi	English	"Never Forget"	20	46	8	75
2013	Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson	Icelandic	"Ég á líf"	17	47	6	72
2014	Pollapönk	English	"No Prejudice"	15	58	8	61
2015	María Ólafsdóttir	English	"Unbroken"	Failed to qualify		15	14
2016	Greta Salóme	English	"Hear Them Calling"			14	51
2017	Svala	English	"Paper"			15	60
2018	Ari Ólafsson	English	"Our Choice"			19 ◁	15
2019	Hatari	Icelandic	"Hatrið mun sigra"	10	232	3	221
2020	Daði og Gagnamagnið	English	"Think About Things"	Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 2] X

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2018–2019	Felix Bergsson	[1][2]

Commentators and spokespersons

Iceland has broadcast the show since 1970. The first to be broadcast live was the 1983 edition after the plan to broadcast the 1982 contest failed. Since 1985, RÚV has broadcast the contest on the radio using same commentator for TV and radio and the Internet broadcast since early 2000s.

Year	Commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1970	No commentator	Did not participate
1971	Unknown
1972	Björn Matthíasson
1973	Jón O. Edwald
1974	Unknown
1975	Dóra Hafsteinsdóttir
1976	Jón Skaptason
1977	No commentator
1978	Ragna Ragnars
1979	Unknown
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985	Hinrik Bjarnason
1986	Þorgeir Ástvaldsson	Guðrún Skúladóttir
1987	Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir
1988	Hermann Gunnarsson
1989	Arthúr Björgvin Bollason	Erla Björk Skúladóttir
1990		Árni Snævarr
1991		Guðríður Ólafsdóttir
1992	Árni Snævarr	Guðrún Skúladóttir
1993	Jakob Frímann Magnússon
1994		Sigríður Arnardóttir
1995		Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir
1996		Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir
1997
1998	Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson	Did not participate
1999	Gísli Marteinn Baldursson	Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir
2000		Ragnheiður Elín Clausen
2001		Eva María Jónsdóttir
2002	Logi Bergmann Eiðsson	Did not participate
2003	Gísli Marteinn Baldursson	Eva María Jónsdóttir
2004		Sigrún Ósk Kristjánsdóttir
2005		Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
2006	Sigmar Guðmundsson
2007
2008		Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir
2009		Þóra Tómasdóttir
2010		Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
2011	Hrafnhildur Halldórsdóttir	Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
2012		Matthías Matthíasson
2013	Felix Bergsson	María Sigrún Hilmarsdóttir
2014		Benedikt Valsson
2015		Sigríður Halldórsdóttir
2016	Gísli Marteinn Baldursson	Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson	[3]
2017		Björgvin Halldórsson	[4]
2018		Edda Sif Pálsdóttir	[5]
2019		Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson	[6][7]

Gallery

• 
  Eiríkur Hauksson in Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Euroband in Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Yohanna in Moscow (2009)
• 
  Hera Björk in Oslo (2010)
• 
  Greta Salóme and Jónsi in Baku (2012)
• 
  Eythor Ingi in Malmö (2013)
• 
  Pollapönk in Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  María Ólafs in Vienna (2015)
• 
  Greta Salóme in Stockholm (2016)
• 
  Svala in Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Ari Ólafsson in Lisbon (2018)
• 
  Hatari in Tel Aviv (2019)

In popular culture

The 2020 Netflix comedy film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga depicted Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as a fictional duo from Iceland competing in Eurovision.

Notes

1. 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.
2. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Granger, Anthony (8 April 2018). "Iceland: Netta Barzilai Tops Alla leið Show One". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
2. Granger, Anthony (3 May 2019). "Iceland: "Cannot Take Qualification For Granted" – Felix Bergsson". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
3. Granger, Anthony (14 May 2016). "ESC'16: 41 Spokespersons Revealed For Tonight". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
4. Granger, Anthony (4 May 2017). "Iceland: Bo Halldórsson To Announce Jury Votes". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
5. Granger, Anthony (29 April 2018). "Iceland: Edda Sif Pálsdóttir Revealed as Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
6. Granger, Anthony (24 April 2019). "Iceland: Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Returns To Commentary Booth For Tenth Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
7. Granger, Anthony (17 May 2019). "Iceland: Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson Announced as Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 July 2020.