Norway has registered the lowest audience ever for a Melodi Grand Prix final.
The Norwegian broadcaster NRK has revealed that an average of 605,000 people tuned in to watch the final of Melodi Grand Prix 2026, while a total of 865,000 tuned in for at least one minute to the broadcast during its two-hour run. The show registered a market share of 56.4%; however, this is a decrease of 228,000 viewers compared to the final of Melodi Grand Prix 2025.
NRK stated that controversies ahead of the broadcast and strong competition from TV2, who premiered the seventh season of Kompani Lauritzen, might have contributed to lower the viewership.
Despite this, Mads Tørklep, project manager for Melodi Grand Prix, reported that the contest had very good numbers online and on social media, where they have reached a young target group that does not necessarily watch TV. On NRK’s TikTok account, 870,000 people watched last weekend’s MGP coverage.
Melodi Grand Prix 2026 took place last Saturday at the Håkons Hall in Lillehammer, which hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004, and was hosted by Ronny Brede Aase, Marte Stokstad, and Markus Neby. Nine acts competed to win the title of Norway’s Eurovision 2026 representative.
Jonas Lovv received the maximum amount of points from both the jury and the televote, and will thus represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the entry “Ya ya ya”.
The full results of the competition are as follows:
| Artist | Entry | Jury points | Televote pts | Total points | Placement |
| Skrellex | “Into the wild” | 15 | 30 | 45 | 7th |
| Hedda Mae | “Snap back” | 11 | 4 | 15 | 8th |
| Storm | “Lullaby” | 14 | 36 | 50 | 6th |
| Mileo | “Frankenstein” | 54 | 35 | 89 | 4th |
| Silke | “Forevermore” | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9th |
| Alexander Rybak | “Rise” | 66 | 126 | 192 | 2nd |
| Emma | “Northern lights” | 28 | 99 | 127 | 3rd |
| Leonardo Amor | “Prayer” | 60 | 13 | 73 | 5th |
| Jonas Lovv | “Ya Ya Ya” | 96 | 169 | 265 | 1st |
Jonas Lovv has been drawn to perform in the second half of the second semi-final, on May 14.
Source: NRK
Norway debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 and have won the contest three times – in 1985, 1995 and 2009. The country has the dubious record of finishing last the most times, twelve in total, and have received nul points four times. Norway last won the contest in 2009 when Alexander Rybak broke all records with his song “Fairytale”. He scored 387 points in the final, receiving 16 sets of 12 points and scoring points from every country.
