Norway has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 64 times since making its debut in 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 Norwegian participating broadcaster in the contest is (NRK), which selects its entrant with the national competition Melodi Grand Prix.
Before 1985, Norway's best result in the contest was a third-place with "Intet er nytt under solen" by Åse Kleveland in . Norway's three victories in the contest were achieved by "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks in , "Nocturne" by Secret Garden in , and "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak in . Norway also finished second at the contest, with "" by former Bobbysocks member Elisabeth Andreassen. Norway has finished last in twelve Eurovision finals, of which four times with "nul points". Norway has a total of 12 top-five results in the contest, the latest being a fifth place with "Queen of Kings" by Alessandra in .
Participation (NRK) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Norway since its in 1960.
History NRK's first entrant in the contest was "Voi Voi" performed by Nora Brockstedt in , who finished fourth; Brockstedt would return with "Sommer i Palma", this time placing seventh. "Intet er nytt under solen" by Åse Kleveland then finished third in , following which Norway would fail to reach the top ten in fourteen out of their next fifteen attempts, with the exception being "It's Just a Game" by the Bendik Singers, which placed seventh 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.
Bobbysocks 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 in and Silje Vige in , who both finished fifth.
Norway's second victory came in 1995 with Secret Garden's mainly instrumental Celtic-influenced ethno-piece "Nocturne". In , Elisabeth Andreassen, 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 came fourth.
Norway won for the third time in , with Alexander Rybak and his 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"; 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 twelfth time. Norway has the dubious distinction of finishing last in the Eurovision final more than any other country, and along with Austria, has received "nul points" (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 eight times. Wig Wam finished ninth in , Maria Haukaas Storeng was fifth in , Alexander Rybak won in 2009, Margaret Berger was fourth in , Carl Espen finished eighth in , Mørland and Debrah Scarlett finished eighth in , Jowst finished tenth in , Keiino won the public vote and finished sixth overall in , Subwoolfer finished tenth in , and Alessandra finished fifth in . In total, Norway has 12 top-five and 27 top-ten finishes in the contest.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◁ Last place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Nora Brockstedt "" Norwegian 4 11 colspan="2" rowspan=32" Nora Brockstedt "" Norwegian 7 10 Inger Jacobsen "" Norwegian 10 2 Anita Thallaug "" Norwegian 13 ◁ 0 Arne Bendiksen "" Norwegian 8 6 Kirsti Sparboe "" Norwegian 13 1 Åse Kleveland "" Norwegian 3 15 Kirsti Sparboe "" Norwegian 14 2 Odd Børre "Stress" Norwegian 13 2 Kirsti Sparboe "" Norwegian 16 ◁ 1 Hanne Krogh "" Norwegian 17 65 Grethe Kausland and Benny Borg "" Norwegian 14 73 Bendik Singers "It's Just a Game" English, French 7 89 Anne-Karine and the Bendik Singers "The First Day of Love" English 14 ◁ 3 Ellen Nikolaysen "Touch My Life with Summer" English 18 11 Anne-Karine Strøm "Mata Hari" English 18 ◁ 7 Anita Skorgan "Casanova" Norwegian 14 18 Jahn Teigen "" Norwegian 20 ◁ 0 Anita Skorgan "Oliver" Norwegian 11 57 Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta "" Norwegian 16 15 Finn Kalvik "" Norwegian 20 ◁ 0 Jahn Teigen and Anita Skorgan "" Norwegian 12 40 Jahn Teigen "Do Re Mi" Norwegian 9 53 Dollie de Luxe "" Norwegian 17 29 Bobbysocks "" Norwegian 1 123 Ketil Stokkan "Romeo" Norwegian 12 44 Kate Gulbrandsen "" Norwegian 9 65 Karoline Krüger "" Norwegian 5 88 Britt Synnøve Johansen "" Norwegian 17 30 Ketil Stokkan "" Norwegian 21 ◁ 8 Just 4 Fun "Mrs. Thompson" Norwegian 17 14 Merethe Trøan "" Norwegian 18 23 Silje Vige "" Norwegian 5 120 colspan="2" Elisabeth Andreasson and Jan Werner Danielsen "" Norwegian 6 76 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Secret Garden "" Norwegian 1 148 Elisabeth Andreassen "" Norwegian 2 114 colspan="2" Tor Endresen "San Francisco" Norwegian 24 ◁ 0 colspan="2" rowspan="6" Lars A. Fredriksen "" Norwegian 8 79 Van Eijk "Living My Life Without You" English 14 35 Charmed "My Heart Goes Boom" English 11 57 Haldor Lægreid "On My Own" English 22 ◁ 3 Jostein Hasselgård "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" English 4 123 Knut Anders Sørum "High" English 24 ◁ 3 colspan="2" Wig Wam "In My Dreams" English 9 125 6 164 Christine Guldbrandsen "" Norwegian 14 36 colspan="2" Guri Schanke "" English colspan="2" 18 48 Maria "Hold On Be Strong" English 5 182 4 106 Alexander Rybak "Fairytale" English 1 387 1 201 Didrik Solli-Tangen "My Heart Is Yours" English 20 35 colspan="2" Stella Mwangi "" English, Swahili colspan="2" 17 30 Tooji "Stay" English 26 ◁ 7 10 45 Margaret Berger "I Feed You My Love" English 4 191 3 120 Carl Espen "Silent Storm" English 8 88 6 77 Mørland and Debrah Scarlett "A Monster Like Me" English 8 102 4 123 Agnete "Icebreaker" English colspan="2" 13 63 Jowst "Grab the Moment" English 10 158 5 189 Alexander Rybak "That's How You Write a Song" English 15 144 1 266 Keiino "Spirit in the Sky" English, Northern Sámi 6 331 7 210 Ulrikke ◇ "Attention" ◇ English ◇ colspan="4" Tix "Fallen Angel" English 18 75 10 115 Subwoolfer "Give That Wolf a Banana" English 10 182 6 177 Alessandra "Queen of Kings" English 5 268 6 102 Gåte "Ulveham" Norwegian 25 ◁ 16 10 43 Kyle Alessandro "Lighter" English 18 89 8 82 Jonas Lovv "Ya Ya Ya" English 14 134 4 206 colspan="7" align="center"
Hostings
YearLocationVenuePresentersBergenGrieghallenÅse KlevelandOsloOslo SpektrumIngvild Bryn and Morten HarketTelenor ArenaNadia Hasnaoui, Haddy N'jie and Erik SolbakkenIn addition to the contest proper, Norway hosted Songs of Europe, a special concert programme commemorating the contest's 25th anniversary, at Momarken in Mysen. The show, which was broadcast on 22 August 1981, was presented by Rolf Kirkvaag and Titten Tei. Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards
YearCategorySongComposer(s)PerformerFinalPointsHost cityPress Award"Fairytale"Alexander Rybak (m & l)Alexander Rybak1387 MoscowComposer Award"A Monster Like Me"Kjetil Mørland (m & l)Mørland & Debrah Scarlett8102 Vienna
Winner by OGAE members
YearSongPerformerPlacePointsHost city"Fairytale"Alexander Rybak1387 Moscow
Related involvement Conductors YearConductorMusical directorNotesØivind Berghrowspan="25" Karsten AndersenØivind BerghArne BendiksenCarsten KloumanFrode ThingnæsCarsten KloumanFrode ThingnæsCarsten KloumanSigurd JansenTerje FjærnEgil Monn-IversenTerje Fjærnrowspan="9" Arild StavPete KnutsenRolf LøvlandPete KnutsenGeir LangsletFrode ThingnæsGeir Langsletrowspan="2" 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.
Heads of delegation YearHead of delegation–Jon Ola Sand–, –Stian Malme–Skjalg Solstad–Mads Tørklep
Supervisors List of supervisors of Melodi Grand Prix, better known as MGP-general or GP-general in Norway: YearHead of delegation–2012Per Sundnes2013–2015Vivi Stenberg2016–2017Jan Fredrik Karlsen2018–20242025Tarjei Strøm
Commentators and spokespersons
+ Television and radio commentators and spokespersons Year Television Radio Spokesperson Channel Commentator(s) Channel Commentator(s) Erik Diesen NRK Erik Diesen rowspan="6" Leif Rustad Leif Rustad Odd Grythe Odd Grythe Øivind Johnssen Øivind Johnssen Odd Grythe Odd Grythe Erik Diesen Erik Diesen Sverre Christophersen Erik Diesen Erik Diesen Erik Diesen Sverre Christophersen Roald Øyen Roald Øyen Sverre Christophersen Sverre Christophersen colspan="4" Sverre Christophersen NRK Sverre Christophersen rowspan="3" Roald Øyen Roald Øyen John Andreassen John Andreassen rowspan="14" John Andreassen Erik Heyerdahl John Andreassen Bjørn Scheele Knut Aunbu Bjørn Scheele Roald Øyen NRK P1, NRK P2 Jahn Teigen and Erik Heyerdahl Knut Bjørnsen Knut Bjørnsen John Andreassen NRK P2 John Andreassen Andreas Diesen rowspan="5" Leif Erik Forberg Leif Erik Forberg John Andreassen and Jahn Teigen John Andreassen and Jahn Teigen John Andreassen Leif Erik Forberg and Vidar Lønn-Arnesen Leif Erik Forberg Leif Erik Forberg Jostein Pedersen NRK P1 Jostein Pedersen Sverre Christophersen Annette Groth Jostein Pedersen Stein Dag Jensen and Anita Skorgan Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft NRK1 Stein Dag Jensen Stein Dag Jensen Stein Dag Jensen and Hege Tepstad Roald Øyen Eurovision Song Contest 2001 (Television programme). Copenhagen, Denmark: DR. 12 May 2001. colspan="2" NRK P1 rowspan="5" Roald Øyen NRK2 (Semi-final) NRK1 (All shows) NRK P1 (Final) Ingvild Helljesen NRK1 NRK P1 NRK P1 (Final) Per Sundnes Synnøve Svabø NRK1 (SF1/final) NRK3 (SF2) colspan="2" rowspan="7" Stian Barsnes-Simonsen NRK1 Synnøve Svabø Olav Viksmo-Slettan Anne Rimmen Nadia Hasnaoui Tooji Margrethe Røed NRK1 NRK P1 (Final) Per Sundnes NRK Tegnspråk Sign language interpreters NRK3 (Final) , and NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan NRK P1 (SF2/Final) Ole Christian Øen Elisabeth Andreassen NRK3 (Final) Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan Marcus & Martinus NRK3 (Final) Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby NRK Tegnspråk (Final) Sign language interpreters NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan NRK P1 (Final) Aleksander Walmann and Jowst NRK3 (Final) Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby NRK1 Olav Viksmo-Slettan Alexander Rybak NRK3 (Final) Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby NRK1 colspan="3" NRK1 Marte Stokstad NRK P1 (Final) Ole Christian Øen Silje Skjemstad Cruz NRK3 (Final) and NRK1 Marte Stokstad Jon Marius Hyttebakk and Marit Sofie Strand Tix Jon Marius Hyttebakk Ben Adams NRK3 (Final) , Egil Skurdal, and Nate Kahungu NRK P3 (Final) Arian Engebø, Egil Skurdal, Adelina Ibishi and Nate Kahungu NRK1 Marte Stokstad NRK P1 (Final) Jon Marius Hyttebakk Ingvild Helljesen Tom Hugo Jonas Bergløv and Jon Marius Hyttebakk Elisabeth Andreassen
Costume designers YearCostume designersCåreJånni Enderud
Photo gallery
See also Melodi Grand Prix Norway in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Notes and references Notes
References
External links NRK official site