Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Haba Haba" written by Beyond51, Big City and Stella Mwangi. The song was performed by Stella Mwangi. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2011 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. 21 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals, a Last Chance round and a final. Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 12 February 2011 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Haba Haba" performed by Stella Mwangi was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from four regional jury groups and a public vote.
Norway was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 2, "Haba Haba" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Norway placed seventeenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 30 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its first entry in 1960. Norway had won the contest on two occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks! and in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden. Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. The country had finished last 10 times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Norway has, to this point, finished in the top 10 three times: Wig Wam finished ninth with the song "In My Dreams" in 2005, Maria Haukaas Storeng was fifth in 2008 with "Hold On Be Strong", and Alexander Rybak won in 2009.
The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 30 June 2010. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2011 in order to select the 2011 Norwegian entry.
Before Eurovision
Melodi Grand Prix 2011
Melodi Grand Prix 2011 was the 49th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. 21 songs were selected to compete in a five-week-long process that commenced on 15 January 2011 and concluded with the final on 12 February 2011. All shows were hosted by Per Sundnes and Anne Rimmen and televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no. The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format
The competition consisted of five shows: three semi-finals on 15, 22 and 29 January 2011, a Last Chance round (Sistesjansen) on 5 February 2011 and a final on 12 February 2011. Seven songs competed in each semi-final and the top two entries directly qualified to the final, while the entries that placed third and fourth proceeded to the Last Chance round. Two wildcards were also awarded to the two acts that received the most votes out of the bottom three songs in the semi-finals to proceed to the Last Chance round. An additional two entries qualified to the final from the Last Chance round. The results of the semi-finals and Last Chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the results in the final were determined by jury voting and public televoting. Viewers could cast their votes through telephone and SMS voting.