Eurovision 2018: Iceland Chooses Ari Ólafsson!

With a run of non-qualifications over the last few years, Iceland is hoping to reignite their Eurovision spark this year. As usual, the nation used their national selection format of Söngvakeppnin to select their act, with a total of 12 participants this year.

There were two semi-finals held with six participants in each, with the top three acts qualifying to the final which took place this weekend. These competing acts would face two rounds of voting, with the first a mixture of jury and televote. The top two entries from the first round move into the second round, where the public has complete control over the voting, and the song with the most votes would go on to represent Iceland at Eurovision this year.

Here are the finalists:

• Fókus – Battleline

• Áttan – Here for You

• Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice

• Heimilistónar – Kúst og fæjó

• Aron Hannes – Gold Digger

• Dagur Sigurðsson – Í stormi

The jury votes revealed a firm favourite in Dagur Sigurðsson, who received the most Top points in the jury voting, and the most votes overall. In second with the jury was Ari Ólafsson, and in third Aron Hannes.

In the televote, Dagur Sigurðsson also stormed ahead, receiving the most votes. In second with the televote was also Ari Ólafsson, and in third was Heimilistónar. With the public and jury both agreeing on top two, unsurprisingly it was Dagur Sigurðsson and Ari Ólafsson who would continue through to the Super Final.

After the second round of voting it was revealed that it would be Ari Ólafsson who would represent Iceland at Eurovision with his song Our Choice! Listen to the song down below: