History of Melodi Grand Prix

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Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, began in 1960, the year of Norway's debut in the contest. It has been held almost every year since.

Contents

Overview

Debut in 1960

Norway first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, and the first Melodi Grand Prix was therefore held that same year. Since then, MGP has been organized every year except 1970 (boycott in all Nordic countries), 1991 (internal selection) and 2002 (Norway had not qualified due to the poor result the year before).

Norway's first Eurovision participant, in 1960 in London, was Nora Brockstedt, receiving a fourth place for her evergreen "Voi Voi" in London. She also took part the following year with Sommer i Palma. Although this is 45 years ago, and Nora is well beyond 80, she still records music and releases albums, nowadays as a jazz artist, and now and then show up at concerts, including the spectacular Eurovision memorial gala concert during the annual pan-European gay pride event, the Europride 2005, held in Norway's capital Oslo.

The Norwegian Minister of Culture for the Labour Party from 1990 to 1996, Åse Kleveland, represented Norway in the contest during the 1960s. With her dark, very characteristic, sort of masculine voice, she performed her entry "Intet er nytt under solen" (Nothing New Under The Sun), achieving a third place for Norway. In 1986 she was the sole presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 held in the Grieg Hall in Norway's second city, Bergen.

Two victories

Norway has won the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) three times. The first time was in 1985 in Gothenburg, Sweden, where the female duo Bobbysocks won the trophy achieving 123 points in total for the uptempo schlager tune "La det swinge" (Let it swing). Bobbysocks consists of Hanne Krogh and Elisabeth Andreassen - also known as Bettan - who had both experience from previous ESC finals. The young Hanne Krogh represented Norway already in 1971 with the sweet ballad "Lykken er" (Happiness is), while Bettan took part for Sweden in 1982 in the duo Chips. She also represented Norway in 1994 and 1996, ending up sixth and second with two ballads. Hanne Krogh returned to the Eurovision stage in 1991 being a quarter of the group Just 4 Fun. The two ladies reunited in 2005, first for the grand Eurovision memory concert during EuroPride 2005 in Oslo, then to perform at Eurovision's 50th anniversary show, Congratulations, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The new age revolution

The second victory was brought to Norway by the Nordic-Celtic, mainly instrumental group Secret Garden. With the melody "Nocturne", composer Rolf Løvland and Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry - together with the singer and the Swedish harpist - was awarded with 148 points. This was the very first time an entirely ethnic song won an ESC final, and started a massive wave of ethnic ESC entries until the 1998 contest - already the next year another Celtic melody won, Eimear Quinn's "The Voice". Petter Skavlan's scarce use of words in "Nocturne" - only 24 in the three-minute song altogether - created a great controversy in Norway's neighbouring country Sweden, of whose jury decided to boycott what they looked upon as an inappropriate entry for the so-called "schlager" contest, being one of only three juries not to give the winning composition any points at all (the two other were Austria and Croatia), while six juries awarded it the maximum 12 points.

World-wide fame

Secret Garden went on to become one of the most successful acts to have won the ESC, and is today a global performance, not only on their own, but also being the original group behind songs as "You Raise Me Up", which already has been recorded with different artists more than 125 times and which thanks to artists like Josh Groban and the Irish boyband Westlife is still listened to. Rolf Løvland was also the composer of Norway's other ESC winner, "La det swinge", as well as Norway's ESC entries in 1987 ("Mitt liv" by Kate Gulbrandsen) and 1994 ("Duett" by Bettan and Jan Werner Danielsen).

Expansion and success

Since the last couple of years of the 1990s, a major evolution has been going on within the MGP concept walls. Broadcaster NRK decided it was time to reflect the modern pop music to a higher degree. The national music industry was approached more intensively, in a desire to attract younger, more professional talents. All doubts aside, singing in English should be no drawback anymore, directing the obvious fact that a significant proportion of professional Norwegian artists sing in English these days. The next step implemented was making the event bigger, by moving the MGP final into the number one concert hall of Norway, the Oslo Spektrum, as a permanent location. The Spektrum has a capacity of 9,700, a "handful" more than the TV studios which had been used a few years earlier.

The increased efforts slowly lead to results, with successes in 1998 and 2000. However Norway also experienced its failures. In 2001, Haldor Lægreid came joint last, relegating Norway from the 2002 contest. After another success in 2003, with Jostein Hasselgård coming 4th with "I'm Not Afraid To Move On", Norway again finished last in the contest, with Knut Anders Sørum "High" receiving only 3 points in the 2004 contest, all from neighbours Sweden.

2005 saw another success for Norway. Glam-rock group Wig Wam took the victory in Melodi Grand Prix 2005. The winning song, "In My Dreams" enjoyed vast commercial success, and went to the top of the national single chart, staying at number one for three weeks and spending a total of 19 weeks on the chart. [1]

New format and criticism

For the 2006 Melodi Grand Prix, NRK decided to change the format of the contest. After the success of Sweden in the contest and their national final Melodifestivalen, NRK decided to copy some aspects of the contest. Three semi-finals, each containing six songs, preceded the grand final of the contest in Oslo. The top 2 songs qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs of each semi-final competed for two final spots in the final in a Siste Sjansen (Last chance) round, held before the final. [2]

The first winner of the new format was Christine Guldbrandsen with "Alvedansen", performed in Norwegian. [3] NRK received criticism due to their selection of songs, as 12 of the 18 competing songs were composed by Swedish songwriters. [4] At Eurovision, Guldbransen came 14th in the final, failing to directly qualify Norway to the final of the 2007 contest.

Despite the criticism, NRK was determined to allow anyone to compete in Melodi Grand Prix. For the 2007 contest, 464 songs were submitted to NRK, with more than half of them coming from Sweden. [5] The winner was Guri Schanke's "Ven a bailar conmigo", written by Swedish songwriter Thomas G:son. The song, however, failed to make an impact at Eurovision, coming 18th in the semi-final and failing to qualify to the final.

Norwegians only, and a third Eurovision victory

Maria Haukaas Storeng performing "Hold On Be Strong" at the first semi-final at Eurovision. Maria Eurovision semi-final 2008.jpg
Maria Haukaas Storeng performing "Hold On Be Strong" at the first semi-final at Eurovision.

Confirming that Melodi Grand Prix would again be open to all, NRK opened the submission for entries. 600 submissions were received for MGP, however only 34% came from within Norway. [6] [7] Despite the small number of Norwegian-composed songs, the 2008 edition of Melodi Grand Prix was a Norwegian-only event. This selection again rose suspicions that a change in policy had been made by NRK, however this was denied. [8]

The 2008 winner was Maria Haukaas Storeng with "Hold On Be Strong", composed by Mira Craig. The song went on to qualify to the final, where it came 5th with 182 points. This was Norway's first Top 5 finish since 2003, and was a success for Norway and for Norwegian songwriters. Due to this, NRK decided to close off Melodi Grand Prix to Norwegians only, making it a showcase of Norwegian writing talent. [9]

The 2009 edition was the first to implement these new measures. A respectable figure of 350 songs was submitted to NRK, despite a loss of numbers, which was expected due to the new nationality rules. [10] Although only 18 songs were once again planned to compete in the contest, NRK decided to increase this number to 21, due to the high quality of the entries received. [11] [12]

The winner of the contest was Alexander Rybak and "Fairytale". The song won with the biggest margin of votes seen in the contest's history, [13] and was the first Melodi Grand Prix winner to reach number 1 in the Norwegian singles chart before winning. [14] The song instantly became favourite to win at Eurovision, and has continuously been the favourite with bookmakers. [15]

"Fairytale" went on to win Eurovision, becoming the largest winner in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, receiving 387 points from all 41 voting countries. Rybak scored the biggest winning margin in Eurovision history, beating Iceland's Yohanna by 169 points, as well as receiving the most 12 points to be received by one country in one contest receiving 16. [16] The song also went on to be a chart success around Eurovision, charting in the top 10 in 13 countries, including charting at number 1 in 4 countries. [17]

After Norway's win in 2009, the 2010 contest was held in Oslo, Norway. The contest took place in the Telenor Arena on 25, 27 and 29 May 2010.

Venues

Final

CityVenues (years)Total
Oslo 56
Stavanger 2
Trondheim 1

Semifinals (since 2006)

CityVenues (years)Total
Bodø Bodø Spektrum (2006—2010)5
Alta Finnmarkshallen (2006—2007)2
Kongsvinger Kongsvinger Hall (2008—2009)2
Skien Skien Fritidspark (2009—2010)2
Bergen Framohallen (2006)1
Stokke Brunstad Conference Center (2007)1
Stavanger Sandvigå (2008)1
Ålesund Sunnmørshallen (2009 Second Chance)1
Ørland Ørland hovedflystasjon (2010)1
Sarpsborg Sparta Amfi (2010 Second Chance)1

The Second Chance round was held in Oslo every year from 2006 to 2008. These are not included.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 62 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. The Norwegian participant broadcaster in the contest is Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), which select its entrant with the national competition Melodi Grand Prix.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Alvedansen" written by Kjetil Fluge, Christine Guldbrandsen and Atle Halstensen. The song was performed by Christine Guldbrandsen. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2006 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece. 18 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 4 February 2006 where the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "Alvedansen" performed by Christine Guldbrandsen was selected as the winner with 77,568 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "In My Dreams" written by Trond "Teeny" Holter. The song was performed by the band Wig Wam. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2005 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Eight entries competed in a show that took place on 5 March 2005 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "In My Dreams" performed by Wig Wam was selected as the winner with 75,667 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Ven a bailar conmigo" written by Thomas G:son. The song was performed by Guri Schanke. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. 18 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 10 February 2007 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Ven a bailar conmigo" performed by Guri Schanke was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public televote.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Hold On Be Strong" written by Mira Craig. The song was performed by Maria Haukaas Storeng. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2008 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. 18 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 9 February 2008 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Hold On Be Strong" performed by Maria Haukaas Storeng was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public televote.

Norway participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Fairytale" written and performed by Alexander Rybak. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2009 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. 21 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 21 February 2009 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from four regional jury groups and a public televote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)</span> 2009 song by Alexander Rybak

"Fairytale" is a song composed, written, and recorded by Belarusian-Norwegian singer-songwriter Alexander Rybak. It represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow, winning the contest. It is the first single from Rybak's debut album Fairytales released on 29 May 2009 just after the contest.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "High" written by Thomas Thörnholm, Lars Andersson and Danne Attlerud. The song was performed by Knut Anders Sørum. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2004 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey. Twelve entries competed in a show that took place on 6 March 2004 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "High" performed by Knut Anders Sørum was selected as the winner with 82,427 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "My Heart Is Yours" written by Hanne Sørvaag and Fredrik Kempe. The song was performed by Didrik Solli-Tangen. In addition to participating in the contest, the Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the competition in 2009 with the song "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak. NRK organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2010 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo. 21 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 6 February 2010 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "My Heart Is Yours" performed by Didrik Solli-Tangen was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from four regional jury groups and a public televote.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" written by Arve Furset and VJ Strøm. The song was performed by Jostein Hasselgård. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in 2002 as one of the bottom six countries in the 2001 contest. NRK organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2003 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia. Twelve entries competed in a show that took place on 1 March 2003 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" performed by Jostein Hasselgård was selected as the winner with 78,460 votes.

Norway was represented by 15-year-old Hanne Krogh, with the song "Lykken er", at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in Dublin. "Lykken er" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 20 February.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Haba Haba" written by Beyond51, Big City and Stella Mwangi. The song was performed by Stella Mwangi. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2011 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. 21 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 12 February 2011 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Haba Haba" performed by Stella Mwangi was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from four regional jury groups and a public vote.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Stay" written by Tooji, Peter Boström and Figge Boström. The song was performed by Tooji. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2012 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. 24 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals and a final. Ten entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 11 February 2012 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Stay" performed by Tooji was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public vote.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "A Monster Like Me" written by Kjetil Mørland. The song was performed by Mørland and Debrah Scarlett. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2015 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Eleven entries competed in a show that took place on 14 March 2015 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland and Debrah Scarlett was selected as the winner with 88,869 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Icebreaker" written by Agnete Johnsen, Gabriel Alares and Ian Curnow. The song was performed by Agnete. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 27 February 2016 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "Icebreaker" performed by Agnete was selected as the winner with 166,728 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Grab the Moment" written by Joakim With Steen and Jonas McDonnell. The song was performed by Jowst, which is the artistic name of music producer Joakim With Steen, with unaccredited vocals from Aleksander Walmann. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2017 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 11 March 2017 and the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, the combination of votes from ten international jury groups and a public televote selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected "Grab the Moment" performed by Jowst as the winner with 46,064 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "That's How You Write a Song" written and performed by Alexander Rybak, who had previously represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 and won with the song "Fairytale". The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2018 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 10 March 2018 and the winner was determined over three rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, the combination of votes from ten international jury groups and a public televote selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top two entries to advance to the competition's third round—the Gold Duel. In the third round of voting, a public televote again selected "That's How You Write a Song" performed by Alexander Rybak as the winner with 306,393 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melodi Grand Prix 2018</span> Selection of Norways entry to Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 2018 was the 56th edition of Melodi Grand Prix, Norway's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was held on Saturday, 10 March 2018 in the Oslo Spektrum; which has hosted all the Norwegian finals since 2001. The hosts were Kåre Magnus Bergh and Silya Nymoen, who also hosted the finals in 2015 and 2016, and the former also in 2017. Ten songs participated in the final, and like 2017, the winner was chosen by the viewers together with ten international jury groups. Alexander Rybak won the competition with his self-composed song "That's How You Write a Song". Rybak also won both the Norwegian and international finals in 2009. Rybak represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Portugal in May 2018. There, the song finished as number 15 in the final.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Spirit in the Sky", written by Tom Hugo Hermansen, Fred-René Buljo, Alexandra Rotan, Henrik Tala, Alex Olsson and Rüdiger Schramm. The song was performed by the group Keiino. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2019 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 2 March 2019 and the winner was determined over three rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, the combination of votes from ten international jury groups and a public vote selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, a public vote exclusively selected the top two entries to advance to the competition's third round—the Gold Duel. In the third round of voting, a public vote again exclusively selected "Spirit in the Sky" performed by Keiino as the winner with 231,937 votes.

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with "Give That Wolf a Banana" performed by Subwoolfer. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix2022 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2022 contest. 21 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consists of seven shows: four semi-finals, two last chance round shows and a final. Ten entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final that took place on 19 February 2022 and the winner was determined over two rounds of voting.

References

  1. ↑ Staff. "Wig Wam: In My Dreams" (in Norwegian). VG-lista . Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  2. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (2005-11-15). "Three semifinals, second chance in Norway". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  3. ↑ West-Soley, Richard (2006-02-04). "Christine Guldbrandsen to Athens for Norway". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  4. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (2006-01-07). "NRK criticized because of selection". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  5. ↑ Klier, Marcus (2006-10-12). "464 songs submitted to NRK". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  6. ↑ Viniker, Barry (2007-09-25). "600 songs for Norway". ESCToday. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  7. ↑ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (2007-09-25). "NRK received 600 songs for the 2008 MGP". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  8. ↑ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (2007-12-17). "Norway: NRK's Stian Malme speaks to oikotimes.com". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  9. ↑ Backfish, Emma (2008-06-13). "NRK closes Melodi Grand Prix submissions to foreigners". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-04-12.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ Floras, Stella (2008-09-17). "Norway: Over 350 songs for MGP 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  11. ↑ Floras, Stella (2008-12-17). "Norway: All 21 MGP songs announced". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  12. ↑ Fisher, Luke (2008-12-17). "Norway: NRK goes with 21 entries for Melodi Grand Prix". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  13. ↑ Henrikson, Arve (2009-02-21). "NRK: - Vi har ikke sett maken". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  14. ↑ Staff. "Alexander Rybak: Fairytale" (in Norwegian). VG-lista. Archived from the original on 2012-03-28. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  15. ↑ "Eurovision Win Market Betting Odds". Nicerodds.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  16. ↑ Schacht, Andreas (2009-05-17). "NORWAY WINS EUROVISION SONG CONTEST!". EBU. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  17. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (2009-05-22). "Europe falls for 'Fairytale'". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
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