Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Coming Home" written by Sigurjón Brink and Þórunn Erna Clausen. The song was performed by the tribute band Sjonni's Friends. Among the band members was Gunnar Ólason who previously represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 as part of the duo Two Tricky, where they placed twenty-second in the competition with the song "Angel". The Icelandic entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany was selected through the national final Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2011, organised by the Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). The selection consisted of three semi-finals and a final, held on 15 January, 22 January, 29 January and 12 February 2011, respectively. Five songs competed in each semi-final with the top two/three as selected by a public televote advancing to the final. In the final, "Aftur heim" performed by Sigurjón's Friends emerged as the winner exclusively through public televoting. The song was later translated from Icelandic to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Coming Home", while the band was renamed as Sjonni's Friends.
Iceland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 14, "Coming Home" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that the Iceland placed fourth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 100 points. In the final, Iceland performed in position 21 and placed twentieth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 61 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-three 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 2010, Iceland managed to qualify to the final and placed nineteenth with the song "Je ne sais quoi" performed by Hera Björk.
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 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 2 June 2011. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that continued for their 2011 participation.
Before Eurovision
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2011
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2011 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The four shows in the competition were hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir and Guðmundur Gunnarsson and all took place at the RÚV studios in Reykjavík. 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 2011 where the winner was determined after three semi-finals and a final. Five songs competed in each semi-final on 15, 22 and 29 January 2011. The top two songs from each semi-final qualified to the final which took place on 12 February 2011. The results of the semi-finals and final were determined by 100% public televoting. 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 Düsseldorf.