Iceland: 157 entries submitted for Söngvakeppnin 2020

RUV, the Icelandic national broadcaster, has announced that a total of 157 songs have been submitted for the country’s national final, Söngvakeppnin 2020.

157 entries for Eurovision 2020 which a seven member committee will evaluate and cut down to ten. The special committee is made up by representatives from RÚV, the Association of Icelandic Musicians and the Association of Composers and Writers. The national final of Songvakeppnin 2020 will see 10 entries compete for the golden ticket toRotterdam. All the details of the Icelandic hopefuls with their entries will be revealed in January.

The Icelandic national selection will unfold in three shows , two semi final rounds and one final. The two semi finals will take place on 8 and 15 February with the Grand final of Songvakepnnin taking place on 29 February.

THE STORY SO FAR

The Nordic country, which debuted in Eurovision in 1986, was only absent at two editions of the contest, in 1998 and 2002, and that was due to low rankings that its entries received. It is the only country from the Scandinavic ones not to have won the contest, despite its best results in 1999 with Selma and in 2009 with Yohana, when the country finished in the 2nd place

In 2018 Iceland last year was represented by Ari Ólafsson and his entry Our Choice. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the grand final which was the consecutive fourth time the country failed to qualify.

This year Söngvakeppnin 2019 winner, the group Hatari flew the flag in Tel Aviv and performed on stage Hatrið mun sigra, which qualified to the final where it came 10th with 232 points.