Iceland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Hear Them Calling" written and performed by Greta Salóme. Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir previously represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in a duet with Jónsi, where they placed twentieth in the final of the competition with the song "Never Forget". The Icelandic entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden was selected through the national final Söngvakeppnin 2016, organised by the Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). The selection consisted of two semi-finals and a final, held on 6, 13 and 20 February 2016, respectively. Six songs competed in each semi-final with the top three as selected by a public televote advancing to the final. In the final, the winner was selected over two rounds of voting: the first involved a 50/50 combination of regional jury voting and public televoting, which reduced the six competing entries to two superfinalists and the second round selected the winner exclusively through public televoting. "Hear Them Calling" performed by Greta Salóme emerged as the winner after gaining 61.32% of the public vote.

Iceland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 16, "Hear Them Calling" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Iceland placed fourteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 51 points.

Background

Prior to the 2016 contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-eight times since its first entry in 1986. Iceland's best placing in the contest to this point was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1999 with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by Selma and in 2009 with the song "Is It True?" performed by Yohanna. Since the introduction of a semi-final to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Iceland has, to this point, only failed to qualify to the final four times. In 2015, Iceland failed to qualify to the final with the song "Unbroken" performed by Maria Olafs.

The Icelandic national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RÚV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 13 July 2015. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that continued for their 2016 participation.

Before Eurovision Söngvakeppnin 2016 Söngvakeppnin 2016 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition simultaneously celebrated Iceland's 30th Anniversary since their first participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. The three shows in the competition were hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir and Guðrún Dís Emilsdóttir and all took place in Reykjavík: the two semi-finals were held at the Háskólabíó venue and the final took place at the Laugardalshöll. The semi-finals and final were broadcast on RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website ruv.is. The final was also broadcast via radio on Rás 2 and streamed online at the Eurovision Song Contest official website eurovision.tv.

Format Twelve songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2016 where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. Six songs competed in each semi-final on 6 and 13 February 2016. The top three songs from each semi-final, as determined by public televoting qualified to the final which took place on 20 February 2016. The rules stated that a jury was going to select a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals, however, it was later decided that a wildcard would be unnecessary. The winning entry in the final was determined over two rounds of voting: the first to select the top two via 50/50 public televoting and jury voting and the second to determine the winner with 100% televoting. All songs were required to be performed in Icelandic during the semi-final portion of the competition. In the final, the song was required to be performed in the language that the artist intended to perform in at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. In addition to selecting the Icelandic entry for Eurovision, a monetary prize of 1 million Icelandic króna was awarded to the songwriters responsible for the winning entry.

Competing entries On 2 October 2015, RÚV opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 2 November 2015, which was later extended by one week to 9 November 2015. Songwriters were required to be Icelandic, possess Icelandic citizenship or have permanent residency in Iceland between 1 September 2015 and 15 May 2016. However, exceptions would be made for minor collaborations with foreign songwriters as long as two-thirds of the composition and half of the lyrics are by Icelandic composers/lyricists. Composers had the right to submit up to two entries, while lyricists could contribute to an unlimited amount of entries. At the close of the submission deadline, 260 entries were received. A seven-member selection committee was formed under consultation with the Association of Composers (FTT) and the Icelandic Musicians' Union (FÍH) in order to select the top twelve entries. The twelve competing artists and songs were revealed by the broadcaster during the television programme Vikan með Gísla Marteini on 11 December 2015. Among the competing artists are previous Icelandic Eurovision entrants Pálmi Gunnarsson, who represented Iceland in 1986 as part of ICY, and Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir, who represented Iceland in 2012 in a duet with Jónsi. RÚV presented the songs on 15 January 2016 during the Rás 2 radio programmes Virkir morgnar and Poppland. Five of the competing entries that later qualified to the final entered English versions of their songs for the competition.

Artist SongSongwriter(s) Icelandic title English title Alda Dís Arnardóttir "Augnablik" "Now"Alma Guðmundsdóttir, James Wong, Alda Dís Arnardóttir Elísabet Ormslev "Á ný" Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir and Hjörtur Traustason "Hugur minn er" "I Promised You Then"Þórunn Erna Clausen Erna Mist and Magnús Thorlacius "Ótöluð orð" "No Man's Land"Erna Mist, Magnús Thorlacius Eva "Ég sé þig" Sigríður Eir Zophoniasardóttir, Jóhanna Vala Höskuldsdóttir Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir "Raddirnar" "Hear Them Calling"Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir Helgi Valur Ásgeirsson "Óvær" Karl Olgeirsson Ingólfur Þórarinsson "Fátækur námsmaður" Ingólfur Þórarinsson Karlotta Sigurðardóttir "Óstöðvandi" "Eye of the Storm"Kristinn Sigurpáll Sturluson, Karlotta Sigurðardóttir, Ylva Persson, Linda Persson Pálmi Gunnarsson "Ég leiði þig heim" Þórir Úlfarsson Sigga Eyrún "Kreisí" Karl Olgeirsson, Sigríður Eyrún Friðriksdóttir Þórdís Birna Borgarsdóttir and Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson "Spring yfir heiminn" "Ready to Break Free"Júlí Heiðar Halldórsson, Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson

Shows Semi-finals Two semi-finals took place on 6 and 13 February 2016. In each semi-final six acts presented their entries, and the top three entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. The shows also featured guest performances by 101 Boys and 1997 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Páll Óskar in the first semi-final, and Högni Egilsson and 2014 Icelandic Eurovision entrants Pollapönk in the second semi-final. 101 Boys covered the debut 1986 Icelandic Eurovision entry "Gleðibankinn", while Óskar performed the song "Vinnum þetta fyrirfram", which was written specifically to celebrate Iceland's 30th anniversary competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

+ Semi-final 1 – 6 February 2016 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir "Raddirnar" 4,534 3 2 Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir and Hjörtur Traustason "Hugur minn er" 4,536 2 3 Ingólfur Þórarinsson "Fátækur námsmaður" 3,474 4 4 Eva "Ég sé þig" 1,599 6 5 Karlotta Sigurðardóttir "Óstöðvandi" 5,943 1 6 Sigga Eyrún "Kreisí" 2,167 5

+ Semi-final 2 – 13 February 2016 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Þórdís Birna Borgarsdóttir and Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson "Spring yfir heiminn" 4,909 2 2 Erna Mist and Magnús Thorlacius "Ótöluð orð" 2,847 4 3 Helgi Valur Ásgeirsson "Óvær" 1,256 6 4 Elísabet Ormslev "Á ný" 3,464 3 5 Pálmi Gunnarsson "Ég leiði þig heim" 1,606 5 6 Alda Dís Arnardóttir "Augnablik" 6,879 1

Final The final took place on 20 February 2016 where the six entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed. In the semi-finals, all competing entries were required to be performed in Icelandic; however, entries competing in the final were required to be presented in the language they would compete with in the Eurovision Song Contest. Only one entry remained in Icelandic ("Á ný" performed by Elísabet Ormslev), while the other five entries competed in English. In the first round of voting, votes from six regional juries (50%) and public televoting (50%) determined the top two entries. The top two entries advanced to a second round of voting, the superfinal, where the winner, "Hear Them Calling" performed by Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir, was determined solely by televoting. In addition to the performances of the competing artists, the show was opened by a medley featuring past Icelandic Eurovision entrants performing the Icelandic Eurovision songs, while the interval acts featured guest performances by Eurovision Song Contest 1986 winner Sandra Kim, who won for Belgium with the song "J'aime la vie", and Eurovision Song Contest 2012 winner Loreen, who won for Sweden with the song "Euphoria".

+ Final – 20 February 2016 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir "Hear Them Calling" 9,100 11,769 20,869 2 2 Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir and Hjörtur Traustason "I Promised You Then" 8,255 8,218 16,473 4 3 Karlotta Sigurðardóttir "Eye of the Storm" 8,710 10,820 19,530 3 4 Þórdís Birna Borgarsdóttir and Guðmundur Snorri Sigurðarson "Ready to Break Free" 8,255 8,211 16,466 5 5 Elísabet Ormslev "Á ný" 10,790 5,296 16,086 6 6 Alda Dís Arnardóttir "Now" 11,050 11,847 22,897 1

+ Song Northwest Northeast South Southwest ReykjavíkNorth ReykjavíkSouth Total 1 "Hear Them Calling" 1,820 1,170 1,365 1,560 1,495 1,690 9,100 2 "I Promised You Then" 1,625 1,430 1,235 1,235 1,625 1,105 8,255 3 "Eye of the Storm" 1,430 1,755 1,300 1,495 1,560 1,170 8,710 4 "Ready to Break Free" 1,105 1,495 2,210 1,170 975 1,300 8,255 5 "Á ný" 1,430 2,210 1,170 2,080 2,015 1,885 10,790 6 "Now" 1,950 1,300 2,080 1,820 1,690 2,210 11,050 + Jury Members Northwest Samúel Einarsson – musician Bjarney Ingibjörg Gunnlaugsdóttir – vocal teacher, choir leader Valgerður Jónsdóttir – music teacher Northeast Baldvin Eyjólfsson – music teacher Lára Sóley Jóhannsdóttir – violinist, singer Þórunn Gréta Sigurðardóttir – composer, chairman of the Composers' Association of Iceland South Stefán Þorleifsson – musician Jóhann Morávek – principal of the East County Music School Sigrún Gróa Magnúsdóttir – piano teacher Southwest Ólafur Páll Gunnarsson – radio presenter Erla Ragnarsdóttir – singer Eiður Arnarsson – musician Reykjavík North Björn G. Björnsson – stage artist, musician Margrét Eir Hönnudóttir – singer Védís Hervör Árnadóttir – singer Reykjavík South Kamilla Ingibergsdóttir – Of Monsters and Men support member Kristján Sturla Bjarnason – musician Gissur Páll Gissurarson – singer + Superfinal – 20 February 2016 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir "Hear Them Calling" 39,807 1 2 Alda Dís Arnardóttir "Now" 25,111 2

Promotion