A deep-dive into my country 
Norway's history in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).
History:
Infamous for being the country who have ended last the most times in ESC-finals and for getting ‘nul points’ (zero points) 4 times (1963, 1978, 1981 and 1997), Norway has, however, won the contest 3 times (1985, 1995 and 2009)
Many countries have never won the ESC, but having the distinction of ending last several times is often best remembered by people.
Music taste is personal and very varied as we know and what Europe likes and does not like is often (though not always) not easy to predict. Songs that are popular in one’s own country are not necessarily embraced in others. We shall take a closer look at the Norwegian 'nul pointers' below.
The Norwegian ‘nul pointers’
1963: Anita Thallaug. She performed for Norway. I don’t know much about her except that she was an actress and singer. I have listened to her song and she has a good voice. To me it sounds much like many songs from that era, the 1960s, and it was performed in Norwegian, the native tongue. No stage performance in those days. I do not see any special reason why it should flop big time, but clearly it was not embraced by the European juries (there were only juries in ESC in those days).
1978: Jahn Teigen. Perhaps the most infamous Norwegian ‘nul pointer’ both because he was a larger-than-life artist but also because he turned defeat to success and subsequently over the years became Norway’s probably greatest male pop-artist. And what a career he had! His ESC-song, a decent pop-song but with a few instances where he went a bit OTT vocally, became an evergreen in Norwegian pop-history.
Teigen started as a singer in a prog.rock band in the early 70s and was known for his strong voice, then joined a comedy-music trio for some years, and also had his own solo career as a pop-artist. This included a multitude of Norwegian MGP-appearances and several in the ESC. He had much national success in the 1990s while in his later years he retired from the music business but was still loved by the Norwegian public. I think this passion came for several reasons.
That he throughout his career had dared to be himself (never taking himself seriously, being a bit comedic at times but genuine with charm and kindness and humour), that he turned his ESC-defeat into something positive, and that he toured Norway over several decades showing his appreciation for his fans and sharing his many wonderful written songs. He passed away some years ago but will always be remembered in this country.
1981: Finn Kalvik. A singer and composer who had decent though not great success with several albums in Norway in the 1970s. He released albums for several decades after this having a modest career. He is best remembered for this ESC-song which bombed at ESC but became popular in Norway and was even recorded in English. The song is a Norwegian folk melody which Europe did not embrace though I do not find it that bad myself.
1997: Tor Endresen. Another ‘nul pointer’. This is a singer who has been around for many decades and has had some success and popularity. The ESC-song was a pop-swing type song which Europe did not embrace. Again, I don’t find the song that bad, though it must be said that it probably was the poorest of his MGP-songs through the years. He took part in MGP many times and personally I think his best song was in 1992 called “Radio Luxembourg”, a very catchy pop-song in homage to that once-radio station, it came second in MGP and could have made the top 12 that year, I think. So, I am glad he got to take part in ESC at last, just a pity it was with the wrong song imo.
The Norwegian Last Places in ESC
12 times according to stats: 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2012, 2024*
*(last in final, but other countries behind in semifinals)
Some of the earlier songs (1960s-mid 1970s) I don’t have much to say about, but the song “Mata Hari” by Anne-Karine Strøm gained some popularity in Norway despite the flop in ESC. Jahn’s Teigen’s song (1978) has been mentioned above, same as Finn Kalvik’s (1981). “Brandenburger Tor” by Ketil Stokkan (1990) is remembered fondly by some ESC-fans and was an homage to the Berlin Wall falling. Tor Endresen’s song in 1997 I also mentioned before. Haldor Lægreid’s ballad in 2001 was not the best, a rather weak entry which flopped in ESC.
Same happened in 2004 with Knut Anders Sørum who had a song which was not terrible I would say, just kind of uninteresting. In 2012 Tooji’s song “Stay” also flopped in ESC despite its modern dance vibes/performance etc. This was more of a surprise since many Norwegians thought it could enter the top 15. Finally 2024 and Gåte is included on official stats, but personally I think with semi finals and thereby entries not getting to the final, ending last in the final should not count as much as in the years with no semis.
Underrating of Norway in ESC
There has been underrating of Norway in ESC same as happens with all other countries. The instances in the past 20 years that especially come to mind seen through my eyes, are:
2005 Wig Wam. 9th place was decent but I think this catchy well-performed Glam-rock song deserved top 5. Wig Wam have always excelled live on stage and I thought their ESC-performance was energetic and great. Perhaps the song came a bit 'early' for ESC since Lordi conquered with a not very dissimilar music style the following year (but with masks which may have added to that song's appeal).
2006 Christine Guldbrandsen. 14th place is something I to this day can't understand. "Alvedansen" was a great song and melody, catchy and with a Norwegian vibe, and performed stylishly in beautiful white dresses by beautiful women. What was there not to like? Certainly deserved top 8 as I see it.
2011 Stella Mwangi. This song failed to qualify for the final which I think was undeserved. It was a 'fresh attempt' in MGP and ESC from Norway, something a bit different, something catchy and a bit ethnic and rhytmic, something that stood out from what Norway often sent to ESC. I thought it was a fun entry which made one want to party/dance and I think it should have been in the final.
The Norwegian ESC Victories
1985: Bobbysocks. Norway went bananas in 1985 after the first Norwegian victory in ESC! We had never been close to winning and with the last places and ‘nul points’ fresh in memory it was a shock to actually win! The Bobbysocks ladies returned across the border from Sweden and were followed by an entourage of cars all the way back to Oslo where people celebrated in the streets as if we had won the Football World Cup! Those who experienced this say they will never forget it! A fun pop-swing song conquered Europe! Being the first ESC-victory, it was very special!
1995: Secret Garden. If the first victory in 1985 was a shock, winning in 1995 with in effect an instrumental melody was quite the huge surprise! A beautiful violin-performed melody with only a few lines of text, it was a ESC-winner very much out of the ordinary. Not everyone enjoyed it, the Swedish commentators infamously criticizing it for not being a proper song, but Europe embraced it and Norway got its second victory! I loved the song but it was a very strong ESC-year (with great songs from Croatia, Sweden and Israel among others) and I did not think it would conquer. I have loved Secret Garden ever since and they will be celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, very impressive!
2009: Alexander Rybak. Not many times I have watched a Norwegian MGP-performance and thought, this song can win ESC. But this happened when I watched Alexander Rybak in the MGP-final. The song was quality, professional, catchy, Norwegian-vibed and the performance was top notch and I thought that this could actually win ESC! And it did indeed go on to conquer in ESC becoming one of the biggest winners of all time! I think NRK understood we had a potential winner on our hands, but ESC 2009 was another great ESC-year (with great songs from Iceland, Azerbaijan and several other countries) and so nothing was taken for granted. I have always liked Aleander Rybak and have entered him several times in FSC. In recent years he has changed his music style toward more showtime-pop as I would call it which I personally think is a pity because his folk-style pop was what I liked the best, but he travels the path of music he enjoys and that is what counts.
Norwegian MGP/ESC: reflections
I think Norway has had many great songs in ESC through the years but also many average ones and some poor ones. This goes for most countries, I guess. I will list my top 10 Norwegian ESC-songs below (but I have liked many more through the years).
In general, I would say the Norwegian public votes with the heart and not tactically in MGP. In other words, we vote for what we like, not primarily what we think will be popular and do well at a certain point in time. Many ballads have won MGP over the years because many Norwegians love ballads, but in recent years more up tempo songs have succeeded. Perhaps because more younger people in Norway have tuned in to watch MGP, there is more media attention also across social networks, Youtube/Spotify etc, and with the increasing amount of participants in ESC over the past few decades a wish to at least get to the ESC-final has become stronger and influence the MGP-voting.
There is an added factor here which I think plays some part, and that is that many Norwegians like to give new faces/artists/often young singers/performers a chance "to shine", be it in pop-IDOL, X-Factor or MGP, something which I think may have aided Alessandra, KEiiNO and now Kyle in recent years.
As for voting in ESC, for other countries' songs, it is true that Norway often vote for Sweden which is partly because there are Norwegians living in Sweden who want to support their home country and because we are well acquainted with Swedish music over many decades. Interestingly enough Sweden votes far less often for Norway so although some people talk about a 'Scandinavian block' in ESC and 'exchanges of votes' things are not quite so simple. I have seen Norway give high points to many countries far outside Scandinavia in ESC and sometimes I am quite surprised by the choices. It makes things more interesting and unpredictable though.
I must add I was a fan of the MF-like semifinals and grand shows we had in MGP some years back, it was great fun and more a music festival than we get now with 9-10 songs and a single final. It think it became too expensive and that was primarily why our national broadcaster NRK decided to return to more traditional variants like we have today. It still works but is not quite the same in my eyes.
My 10 favourite Norwegian ESC-songs (chronologically):
Jahn Teigen & Anita Skorgan (1982)
Kate Guldbrandsen (1987)
Karoline Krüger (1988)
Silje Vige (1993)
Secret Garden (1995)
Christine Guldbrandsen (2006)
Maria Haukaas Mittet (2008)
Alexander Rybak (2009)
Margaret Berger (2013)
KEiiNO (2019)
ESC and Norway in the past 6 years (2019-2025)
I loved KEiiNO in 2019, I think Ulrikke could have made the top 6 in 2020 with her strong ballad, in 2021 I think KEiiNO’s ‘Monument’ should have beaten Tix, in 2022 I found Subwoolfer’s clever -and more sophisticated than many think and not joke song- fun and cool, Alessandra’s song in 2023 was great, while Gåte’s song in 2024 was average but could have been better, a very accomplished Norwegian folk-rock band after all. As for 2025, see below.
It concerns me a little that Norway recently have gotten killed by the juries in ESC. It happened in 2019 with KEiiNO and in 2023 with Alessandra. Neither of those songs were typical ‘critic favourite’ melodies but come on! The total underrating by the juries were suspect in my eyes and lost Norway a few places on the final ranking. Seeing the near-landslide KEiiNO received in the televote across Europe in 2019 was a highlight for sure and an ‘in your face’ to the juries.
I have over the years been uncertain in my view how much the juries should count in ESC. Originally I thought having a 50/50 divide between juries and televote was sensible, also to ensure some quality in entries and considerations, but in recent years I have become more doubtful and wonder if perhaps televotes should count more. Some fans want to get rid of the juries altogether; I am not quite there, but perhaps televotes should count say 60%.
Norway just had its MGP for 2025 and Kyle Alessandro will represent Norway in Switzerland in May. As I have said elsewhere, I did not think it was the best entry, best was Nataleen in my eyes, since I find Kyle’s entry average in every way: average song, average vocals, ok performance but a bit ‘superficial’ lacking identity and personality. But many of my countrymen loved it (liking the boy-ish charm and having gotten to know some of his history though media coverage beforehand, something which may have aided him seeing his mother's hard story and the lyrics of his song) and so we wish the entry the best in the ESC in May and hope it gets to the final! (and if it does, I sincerely hope it won’t be killed by the juries so we get the 'jury-bias' yet another time).
