Singer Jóhanna Guðrún secured Iceland a solid second place win with the song “Is It True?”
While Norway, as many expected, won the contest handily – with 387 points – Iceland scored a respectable 218 points, followed by Azerbaijan with 207 points. Jóhanna entertained fans and well-wishers at Austurvellir park yesterday with an outdoor performance that brought in thousands.
Iceland’s Eurovision history has been a mixed bag. Competing for the first time in 1986, the band ICY, performing the song “Gleðibankinn”, ranked only 16th. Iceland has, mercifully, only scored in last place twice. This win is only the second time Iceland has scored this high. The previous achievement, made by Selma Björnsdóttir in 1999 with the song “All Out of Luck”, had marked the highest Iceland has ever scored in Eurovision.
It should be noted that according to the Eurovision website, this year marks the first occassion in which televoting was not the only deciding factor. The final outcomes were determined using “50% televoting and 50% [five-person] jury,” adding, “national juries consisting of five music industry professionals
gathered in all 42 participating countries who ranked the songs in
Eurovision Song Contest style, giving 12 points to their favourite
song, 10 points to their second favourite, etc. The results of the five
jury members were then added up and accounted for 50% of the country’s
votes. Those results were then combined with the televoting results.”
Full Eurovision results can be seen here.