Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Never Forget" written by Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir. The song was performed by Greta Salóme and Jónsi. Jónsi previously represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, where he placed nineteenth in the final of the competition with the song "Heaven". The Icelandic entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan was selected through the national final Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012, organised by the Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). The selection consisted of three semi-finals and a final, held on 14 January, 21 January, 28 January and 11 February 2012, respectively. Five songs competed in each semi-final with the top two as selected by a public televote alongside a jury wildcard advancing to the final. In the final, "Mundu eftir mér" performed by Greta Salóme and Jónsi emerged as the winner through a 50/50 combination of jury voting and public televoting. The song was later translated from Icelandic to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Never Forget".
Iceland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 2, "Never Forget" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 26 May. It was later revealed that the Iceland placed eighth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 75 points. In the final, Iceland performed in position 7 and placed twentieth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 46 points.
Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four 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 three times. In 2011, Iceland managed to qualify to the final and placed twentieth with the song "Coming Home" performed by Sjonni's Friends.
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 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 8 September 2011. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that continued for their 2012 participation.
Before Eurovision
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The four shows in the competition took place in Reykjavík: the three semi-finals were held at the RÚV studios and hosted by Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir, and the final took place at the Harpa venue and hosted by Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir and 1997 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Páll Óskar. The semi-finals and final were broadcast on RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website ruv.is. The final was also streamed online at the Eurovision Song Contest official website eurovision.tv.
Format
Fifteen songs in total competed in Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012 where the winner was determined after three semi-finals and a final. Five songs competed in each semi-final on 14, 21 and 28 January 2012. The top two songs from each semi-final qualified to the final which took place on 11 February 2012. A wildcard act was selected by the jury for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals. The results of the semi-finals and final were determined by 50/50 public televoting and jury voting. All songs were required to be performed in Icelandic during all portions of the competition, however, it will be up to the winning composers to decide the language that will be performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku.