Iceland has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since its debut in . It has missed only three (soon to be four) contests since then, in and , when prevented from competing due to finishing outside qualification places the preceding years, and the and contests due to the inclusion of in the context of the Gaza war. The country's best result is second place, which it achieved with "All Out of Luck" by Selma in and "Is It True?" by Yohanna in . The Icelandic participating broadcaster in the contest is Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), which select its entrant with the national competition Söngvakeppnin.
Iceland has achieved a total of seven top ten placements, with the others being "" by Stjórnin finishing fourth (), "" by Heart 2 Heart seventh (), "Open Your Heart" by Birgitta eighth (), "" by Hatari tenth (), and "10 Years" by Daði og Gagnamagnið fourth (). Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Iceland has failed to qualify for the final nine times, including four years consecutively (2015–18). To date, Iceland is the only Nordic country that has yet to win the contest.
Participation Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) 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 Iceland since its in 1986, 20 years after RÚV was founded.
History Iceland's best result in the contest is second place, which it has achieved twice: in with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by Selma, beaten by 's "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson, and in with "Is It True?" performed by Yohanna, beaten by 's "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak.
However, Iceland's worst result in the contest is last place, which has been achieved four times to date: in when "Það sem enginn sér" by Daníel Ágúst received 0 points, in when "Angel" by Two Tricky received 3 points, in when "Our Choice" by Ari Ólafsson received 15 points in the first semi final, and in when "Scared of Heights" by Hera Björk received 3 points in the first semi final.
With the introduction of semi-finals in , Iceland automatically qualified for the final that year due to Birgitta's eighth place the previous year. In , Iceland reached the final for the first time since then, with "This Is My Life" by Euroband. Iceland qualified for the final in seven consecutive contests between and before failing to qualify for the final from to . In , Hatari brought the country back to the final for the first time since 2014, finishing tenth, which was followed by a fourth-place finish for Daði og Gagnamagnið in , Iceland's joint-second best result to date, and a 23rd-place finish for Systur in . Further non-qualifications came in and . VÆB brought the country back to the final in 2025 breaking the countries two year non qualification streak. They finished 25th in the final, receiving zero points by the juries. RÚV withdrew from 2026 due to Israel's inclusion.
Despite these mixed fortunes, Iceland is the second most successful country never to have won the contest (behind only ).
Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir has participated five times (as a member of a group in 1990 and 1992, as a solo artist in 1994, and as a background vocalist in 1991 and 2006). Hera Björk has also participated five times (as a backing vocalist in 2008, 2009 and 2015, and as a solo artist in 2010 and 2024). Stefán Hilmarsson has participated twice (as a member of a group in 1988 and in a duo with Eyfi in 1991), as have Selma Björnsdóttir (1999 and 2005), Eiríkur Hauksson (as a member of a group in 1986 and as a solo artist in 2007; Eiríkur has additionally participated for Norway in 1991 as a member of Just 4 Fun). Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson entered as a solo artist in 2004 before participating in a duo with Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir in 2012; Greta Salóme later entered as a solo artist in 2016.
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 ICY "" Icelandic 16 19 colspan="2" rowspan="7" Halla Margrét "" Icelandic 16 28 Beathoven "" Icelandic 16 20 Daníel "" Icelandic 22 ◁ 0 Stjórnin "" Icelandic 4 124 Stefán and Eyfi "" Icelandic 15 26 Heart 2 Heart "" Icelandic 7 80 Inga "" Icelandic 13 42 colspan="2" Sigga "" Icelandic 12 49 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Bo Halldórsson "" Icelandic 15 31 Anna Mjöll "" Icelandic 13 51 10 59 Páll Óskar "" Icelandic 20 18 rowspan="5" colspan="2" Selma "All Out of Luck" English 2 146 August and Telma "Tell Me!" English 12 45 Two Tricky "Angel" English 22 ◁ 3 Birgitta "Open Your Heart" English 8 81 Jónsi "Heaven" English 19 16 colspan="2" data-sort-value="-9999" Selma "If I Had Your Love" English colspan="2" rowspan="3" 16 52 Silvía Night "Congratulations" English 13 62 Eiríkur Hauksson "Valentine Lost" English 13 77 Euroband "This Is My Life" English 14 64 8 68 Yohanna"Is It True?"English 2 218 1 174 Hera Björk "" English, French 19 41 3 123 Sjonni's Friends "Coming Home" English 20 61 4 100 Greta Salóme and Jónsi "Never Forget" English 20 46 8 75 Eyþór Ingi "" Icelandic 17 47 6 72 Pollapönk "No Prejudice" English 15 58 8 61 María Ólafs "Unbroken" English rowspan="4" colspan="2" 15 14 Greta Salóme "Hear Them Calling" English 14 51 Svala "Paper" English 15 60 Ari Ólafsson "Our Choice" English 19 ◁ 15 Hatari "" Icelandic 10 232 3 221 Daði og Gagnamagnið ◇ "Think About Things" ◇ English ◇ colspan="4" Daði "10 Years" English 4 378 2 288 Systur "" Icelandic 23 20 10 103 Diljá "Power" English rowspan="2" colspan="2" 11 44 Hera Björk "Scared of Heights" English 15 ◁ 3 Væb "" Icelandic 25 33 6 97
Related involvement Conductors YearConductorNotesGunnar ÞórðarsonHjálmar H. Ragnarssonrowspan="2" Jon Kjell SeljesethJón Ólafsson Nigel Wright Jon Kjell Seljeseth Frank McNamaraÓlafur Gaukur Szymon Kuran
Heads of delegation YearHead of delegation–Felix BergssonRúnar Freyr GíslasonFelix Bergsson
Commentators and spokespersons Iceland has broadcast the show since 1970. The first to be broadcast live was the 1983 edition after the plan to broadcast the 1982 contest failed. Since 1986, RÚV has broadcast the contest on the radio using same commentator for TV and radio and the Internet broadcast since early 2000s.
+ Commentators and spokespersons Year Television channel Radio station Commentator(s) Spokesperson rowspan="16" rowspan="16" Björn Matthíasson Jón O. Edwald Kristmann Eiðsson Dóra Hafsteinsdóttir Jón Skaptason Ragna Ragnars Björn Baldursson Dóra Hafsteinsdóttir Pálmi Jóhannesson Hinrik Bjarnason Guðrún Skúladóttir Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir Hermann Gunnarsson Arthúr Björgvin Bollason Erla Björk Skúladóttir rowspan="4" Árni Snævarr Jakob Frímann Magnússon Sigríður Arnardóttir Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir rowspan="2" Ragnheiður Elín Clausen Eva María Jónsdóttir Logi Bergmann Eiðsson Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Eva María Jónsdóttir (all shows) (all shows) Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir (semi-final) (final) Sigmar Guðmundsson (semi-final) (all shows) Þóra Tómasdóttir Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir RÚV (all shows) rowspan="2" Hrafnhildur Halldórsdóttir Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir Matthías Matthíasson (, final) María Sigrún Hilmarsdóttir (all shows) Benedikt Valsson Sigríður Halldórsdóttir (final) Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson (, final) Björgvin Halldórsson Edda Sif Pálsdóttir RÚV (all shows)RÚV 2 (all shows)ruv.is (all shows) Gísli Marteinn Baldursson (Icelandic)Alex Elliott (English) Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson colspan="6" RÚV (all shows)RÚV 2 (all shows)ruv.is (all shows) (, final) Gísli Marteinn Baldursson (Icelandic)Alex Elliott (English) Hannes Óli Ágústsson RÚV (all shows)RÚV 2 (all shows) Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir Einar Stefánsson Guðrún Dís Emilsdóttir Friðrik Ómar Hjörleifsson Hera Björk RÚV 2 (all shows)RÚV (semi-finals)
Other shows Show Channel Commentator Songs of Europe Björn Baldurson Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest , rowspan="3" Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits RÚV Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light
Photo gallery
In popular culture The 2020 Netflix comedy film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, who portray a fictional duo from Iceland competing in Eurovision. Hannes Óli Ágústsson, who plays Olaf Yohansson in the film, reprised his role for the voting segment of the final, in which he presented the points on behalf of the Icelandic jury.
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