Member station NRK First appearance 1960 | Appearances 55 (52 finals) Best result 1st: 1985, 1995, 2009 | |
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National selection events Melodi Grand Prix
1960–1969
1971–2001
2003–present Worst result Last: 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2012
Zero points: 1963, 1978, 1981, 1997 | ||
Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since making its debut in 1960 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. Norway has won the contest three times. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norway's national selection competition, the Melodi Grand Prix.
Contents
Norway's first entrant in the contest in 1960 was Nora Brockstedt, who finished fourth. Åse Kleveland then finished third in 1966. These would remain Norway's only top five results until 1985, when Bobbysocks gave the country its first victory with the song "La det swinge" (Let It Swing). The country achieved two more top five results over the next ten years, with both Karoline Krüger in 1988 and Silje Vige in 1993, finishing fifth. Norway's second victory came in 1995 with Secret Garden's mainly instrumental, Celtic-influenced ethno-piece "Nocturne". In 1996, Elisabeth Andreassen, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to finish second. In 2003, Jostein Hasselgård was fourth. Norway won for the third time in 2009, with Alexander Rybak's smash hit "Fairytale". The 2009 winning score of 387 points being the highest ever winning total (as of 2015). It also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory.
Norway also has the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest. The country has finished last eleven times, failing to score a point four times, in 1963, 1978, 1981 and 1997.
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times. Wig Wam finished ninth with the song "In My Dreams" in 2005, Maria Haukaas Storeng was fifth in 2008 with "Hold On Be Strong", Alexander Rybak won in 2009, Margaret Berger was fourth in 2013 with "I Feed You My Love", Carl Espen finished eighth in 2014 performing "Silent Storm". In 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett finished eighth with "A Monster Like Me", giving the country their 3rd top 10 finish in row. Norway has a total of 11 top five and 22 top ten results in the contest.
Contestants
NOTE:
a. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries. b. ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast.Voting history
As of 2016, Norway's voting history is as follows:
Marcel Bezençon Awards
Press Award
Composer Award
OGAE
Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll was opened allowing members from thirty-nine clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the 2009 contest.