Iceland originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Think About Things" by Daði og Gagnamagnið, selected through the national final contest Söngvakeppnin 2020 organised by the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.
Background
Prior to the 2020 Contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 36 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 failed to qualify to the final seven times. In 2019, Iceland placed tenth in the grand final with the song "Hatrið mun sigra" performed by the bandHatari. The Icelandic national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið, broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 2006, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that has once again returned for the selection of their 2020 participation.
Before Eurovision
''Söngvakeppnin 2020''
Söngvakeppnin 2020 was the 15th edition of Söngvakeppnin, the national song contest that selects Iceland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Format
Ten songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2020. The winner was decided after two semi-finals, a final and a superfinal. The two semi-finals were held on 8 and 15 February 2020, with five songs competing in each. The final was held in the Laugardalshöll indoor sports arena in Reykjavík on 29 February 2020. There, the top two songs from each semi-final competed, with the top two finalists then competing in a superfinal. The Icelandic national broadcaster also reserved the right to select a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals.
Competing entries
RÚV opened entry submissions from 13 September 2019 until 17 October 2019. Söngvakeppnin entries must have a version in Icelandic which is performed in the semi-final. If a song makes it to the grand final, the lyrics can be performed in the language intended for Eurovision.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 8 February 2020 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided by televoting advanced to the final.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 15 February 2020 and five of the competing acts performed. The top two entries decided by televoting advanced to the final.
Final
The final took place on 29 February 2020 with the four qualifiers from the semi-finals and Nína, who was given a wildcard by the producers. The top two entries based on a 50/50 combination of the votes from international juries and televoting advanced to the superfinal, where the winner was decided by aggregating the results from the first round to the televotes of the second. Due to technical issues, Daði & Gagnamagnið were allowed to re-perform after their superfinal performance.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Iceland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled. In the Eurovision Song Celebration youtube broadcast in place of the heats, it was revealed that the song would have performed 9th, between Poland and Switzerland
