He’s the Eurovision 2009 winner who stormed to victory in Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix on Saturday evening.
And today Alexander Rybak is riding a wave of momentum with the betting agencies, who have slashed his odds and pushed him all the way from 20th favourite last Friday to 12th favourite today.
The “That’s How You Write a Song” singer has given many Norwegian fans hope that he could surprise in Lisbon this May, and the sea of blue on Eurovision Oddschecker at the time of writing this post suggests there could be an outside chance of that happening.
Alexander’s odds are currently as low as 12/1 at Bet 365, which puts Norway well ahead of fan favourites from Finland (25/1), France (28/1) and Italy (33/1).
The same betting agency has him level with Australia’s Jessica Mauboy (12/1), and ahead of The Netherlands’ Waylon and Sweden’s Benjamin Ingrosso (both at 16/1).
Melodi Grand Prix 2018: Voting Results
Alexander’s rise with the bookies comes as NRK has revealed that he won the Norwegian competition in a landslide.
After all 10 acts performed, the top four advanced to a so-called “silver final”. This was based on the combination of televoting and scores from 10 international juries. Interestingly, jurors only shared their 12 points — though they assigned points from 12, 10 and 8 all the way down to 1. By concealing the overall results the public only got a hint of the international jury’s perspective.
Silver final voting (sølvfinalen)
During the silver final voting was reset to zero. The televote determined which two acts would advance to a so-called “gold duel”.
Alexander won by a huge margin, accumulating more votes than all of his competitors combined.
- Alexander Rybak, “That’s How You Write a Song” | 133,164 votes
- Rebecca, “Who We Are” | 46,260 votes
- Stella & Alexandra, “You Got Me” | 29, 784 votes
- Alexander Walmann, “Talk to the Hand” | 7,927 votes
Gold final voting (gullduell)
Alexander and Rebecca then had a sing-off, and their vote tallies continued to climb.
- Alexander Rybak, “That’s How You Write a Song” | 306,393 votes
- Rebecca, “Who We Are” | 123,504 votes
The full jury votes will not be revealed
We often speak of a divided Europe ??? But being on the @NRKmgp international jury last weekend reminded me how #Eurovision really does bring people together ? Clockwise from top left: ???????????????????? #AllAboard #ESC2018 #NRKMGP ?? pic.twitter.com/rE7jll4Vl4
— William Lee Adams (@willyleeadams) March 12, 2018
Stig Karlsen, Director-General of Melodi Grand Prix, says that the breakdown of the international jury votes and the televotes for those who did not advance will not be revealed publicly. The idea is to keep the spotlight on the positive.
“We want MGP to be a good experience, even for those artists coming further down the results list,” he told NRK. “I think that this way of doing it can contribute positively to the recruitment of artists to MGP.”
Each jury consisted of a chairperson, who watched the dress rehearsal in Oslo and delivered the points live during the show.
This chairperson selected four additional jurors in his or her home country who also watched the dress rehearsal via a live link. Among those on the various juries were Alma, France’s Eurovision 2017 singer; Getter Jaani, Estonia’s Eurovision 2011 singer; and Sacha Jean-Baptiste, Sweden’s acclaimed choreographer. You can see the full list of international jurors and demographic information here.
In an ideal world, France should win, and Norway to come second! And Sweden and Israel to not make the final!
France has touched me most of the songs ready for ESC, but I have not heard the songs that entered the last couple of weeks. To busy with MGP, Norways final. And seeing the result from the Norwegian voters I really think Alexander Rybak can make it again. He has his share more than enough of “dislikers” in Norway, among ESC fans and on the bloggs like Wiwibloggs. But the general public vote for him, the families that watch Eurovision.
Yes queen on all your points apart from Norway. Its so cringe worthy Hun. Take a leaf from my cinnamon book. France, Ukraine, Denmark top 3 please. You know it makes sense xoxo
May not be the best song of the competition but this is way way better than the overrated Australia.
Potential top 3 finish for Rybakk!
Australia does not deserve to be in Eurovision to start with.
That statement there shows that you probably wouldn’t like their song regardless of what it was due to your own bias
You’re just an Australia participation hater. Australia’s entry is so much better! Norway’s song should belong to Sesame Street!
Australia’s is only a new version of Demi’s cheesy song last year…
I do not like the song! If he qualifies for the final, will be just because his fans will vote for him no matter what… lol
These public voting results woke me up and now I’m more worried. I don’t think he’s forgotten ten years after his victory. I guess the wider Eurovision audience won’t react him differently than Norwegian public did. He is far from forgotten. He is one of the most celebrated winners of after 2000 era. I myself liked his song back then and supported him. The song was a masterpiece musically but lyrics-wise, it was not as strong and was in fact very childish. However, he charmed everyone with his cuteness and his energy on the stage so the weak lyrics didn’t… Read more »
He’s aesthetically insulting and his song is hideous
Cute pic for a troll, Ffs
Big like, Mesa x
Norway and Israel wili cut so many points from Czech Republic, like Moldova did last year with Italy. Israel favorite for win, my prediction 3 to 8 place in final Czech Republic favorite 2 for win, my prediction from 8 to 12 place in final Estonia favorite 3, my prediction from 8 to 12 place in final Bulgaria favorite 4, my prediction from 6 to 10 place in final Australia favorite 5, my prediction from 8 to 12 place in final Netherlands favorite 6, my prediciton from 6 to 10 place in final Sweden favorite 7, my prediciton from 1… Read more »
I think it will be mainly Sweden and Czech Republic that will take each others points bc theyre really similair songs, but there are lots of generic pop songs like this this year so i dont think any of them will finish top 5 except for perhaps Israel because its more unique and has the gimmick.
Iceland qualifying? Not ever gonna happen. It’s a bland, forgetfull and outdated song in the strongest semifinal.
Dont ever underestimate Iceland. Their ballad is very gospel and might do well with the older audience and juries. It’s not just gay eurofans that watch ESC.
If Iceland couldn’t qualify with Maria, Greta and Svala, they should definitely not qualify this year. Their last 3 entries were much better and Greta even was one of the fan favorites. The song itself is really bland. Ari’s voice is saving it, though it shouldn’t be enough to get to the final.
Well, you can never know, it’s all predictions and results are unpredictable, so as i said, dont underestimate iceland nor eurovision.
So much hate among the ESC-fans! Eurovision is about Love and peace – right? The Norwegian people likes his song. Just deal with it. Its catchy, sing-a-long. Its fun. Just what Eurovision is about!
junior eurovision or interval act…oops dejavu….. so : bottom entry
Of course it wont win but that’s not the point either. I can see it reaching top 10 however. It is a fun joyous song that gets elevated by Rybaks charm and stage presence. He owns that stage!
And personally I find his song better than all songs currently being in betting top 5.
Norway is in semi 2, so I’m sure he’ll qualify. He is lucky that he’s not in semi 1, otherwise we would likely have whitnessed another Dana International kinda result.
* natural charm
Everything you said is true! But it’s the 1st semi and all the ”favourites” (not YOUR favourites obviously) are in there and Alexander Rybak would have a hard time qualifying.
Not true because he sends something relative fresh that appeals to most. Dana International on the other hand sent a schlager dance song which already in 2011 was dated and on it’s way out of the contest. It wasn’t fresh and didn’t appeal to anybody but a few gay people here and there.
Did you even read my comment? I said that I’m sure that he will qualify. I just meant, that if he WAS in the 1st semi, he wouldn’t. Not because his song is as bad as Dana’s, but because the competition is very strong.
I read your comment. You think it is as bad as Dana International was and that it only will qualify due to being in a weak semifinal. I wrote why it’s different from Dana International and that it would have qualified even if it changed semifinal
Agreed with Catriona. @Ari Not good. Please either apologise, or get blocked.
It’s slang. And you might be overly sensitive, but you certainly are not the schoolmaster here.
Is there a schoolmaster here? Because I think some of you need one. 😀
Say sorry and move on, it’s not difficult.
Never. I have nothing to be sorry for and you do not have the right to censor me. With that said, I have moved on from this conversation.
@Ari You can’t just use a slur and complain about censorship. It’s a very offensive word to use about a transgender person.
You see, some people are about smart moves, others are less afraid of being bold. Now, I don’t perceive it as a slur and I doubt that Dana herself would be as much of snowflake, given how she speaks about other people.
And yes, it IS censoring. Besides, who is he to give me an ultimatum? If anything, the headmaster should apologize to me for his remark.
Rybak is in the weaker Semi-final (SF2), by the way
with Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia all giving him points
Norway is lucky they are not in semi final 1. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
I wanted Rebecca to win Melodi Grand Prix, and I think her song would have been a much better choice for Lisbon. I do not like Alexander’s song, but he is a brilliant performer with a stage presence and a charisma which most of his competitors Can only dream of. Alexander really knows how to sell a mediocre song. He stands no chance of repeating his success from Moscow, but I would not be surprised if he ends up between place 10 and place 15 in the grand final.
the contest is tight and there’s no clear winner so far. Elina from Estonia would have been if she had a better song.
By the way, a lot of kids voted for Rybak, the song is childish and dated, has some ”Cheesecake” for kids flashbacks, but he has the Easter Europe and Scandi votes on lock and that’s a lot of points. By the way, hype machine is on, Rybak was in almost every internet news source in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and etc.
I wouldn’t call Norway a winner this year . People bet on him because he’s Alexander Ryback. That’s it. But however.. this year is really an open race. Even though Israel is one of my favourites I still need to see it live. Those chicken sounds can sound completely ridicoulus live and ruin the song and turn it into a joke act. I don’t think they will allow the recorded sounds so they will have to do the chicken sounds on stage. But still a top 10 contender. Estonia is a fan wank I think. Many eurovision-fans have tastes like… Read more »
Sweden is the most overrated country.
I dont like saying it, but this song is more than average. If it was sung by someone else not so famous it would be at the bottom. The high betting odds are because of the Rybak nostalgia
Alexander Rybak is a national treasure in Norway, of course he won by a land slide! But most viewers won’t even know who he is on the night of the semi seeing as he won almost a decade ago so these odds are nothing to go by imo 🙂
The song doesn’t bother me as much anymore. I’m mostly delighted for the eye candy. He’s still sexy and that’s what really matters. Unless you have a song like Molitva, then you don’t have to be sexy.
Calm down guys ,the real bets are the ones in the semifinals when the televote starts..Do not let yourselfs carried away by some silly bets.Songs from last places it would end up high mark my words,some of them.
Spanish music video: Full news
Malta music video: No news.
Oh? And where’s Israel music video?
They are very selective. That’s a fact. I already know from last year
And then they promote someone with a weak song and who does not need promotion. I’m out of here.
Agreed! It’s blanket coverage on certain national finals down to the outfits that performer wears and then other countries are completely ignored.
The betting odds dont make sense, is Norway voting for themselves in Eurovision this year again?
Please let the odds be wrong this year ! 🙂
Norway should not win this contest wich such a bad song ..
Oh and @William Lee Adams all the odds of Beglium are shortening too .. but yeah nobody cares about this country??
Lol
What about Georgia??
Reveaked today at 15:30 CET
I read that they’re revealing their song today 15:30 CET.
I feel like certain people here see him as a threat, which isn’t ridiculous at all lol
It seems some people habe a lot of money yo waste. This entry will not win. First, nobody is impressed by visuals and fireworks any more (on my it even causes already a negative impact). Then, i fins the lyrics quite ridiculous and the song is quite basic. The oblit positive thing aboit his entry is that he is a good performer. But even here, we have aeen seen it before.
Ohh how many typing mistakes! Sorry!
Oh! I remember him….. He is the most Overrated winner in the 2000s!! Only when I watched the jury vote in MGP this year I realized why he was so Overrated! He took in the two highest voting blocks – former USSR and Scandinavia…. His song even then was super dull. Ok not as dull as 2008 winner but yeah! All we need is a performer with Russian parents born and brought up in the Balkan states to represent one of the Scandinavian nations and we will have one more overrated winner. Maybe they should have greek sounds in their… Read more »
I don’t get the logic behind it, Estonia last year also had a massive televote in Eesti Laul and it crashed in the semi, it doesn’t mean a lot.
UUPDATE your news wiwi!!! Ryan from Ireland said the russians are threatening to ban his video because of gay propaganda. check his twitter
I don’t get the drama, it can only do him good because no many are many are watching his video.
it might be a publicity stunt! ryans smart lol not good for ireland if he gets caught lying though…
Can you spell “desperation”, Team Ireland?
Well you wouldn’t find any would you? You guys are hardly Interpol like.
Don’t shy away guys, just admit you’d hate Ireland and move on.
OK so i hate this song so im just going to ignore the weird betting odds and ask a question here : What’s with georgia ?? Where is the song ???
Coming out later today. Patience, grasshopper.
Don’t count ’em out. This one has something going for it Dana International’s return didn’t: a real hook. I don’t see why people hate it so much, save for disappointment that it isn’t as good as “Fairytale” (which, don’t get me wrong, it most certainly isn’t, by a long shot). It’s fun and cute in the same way as a song like “No Prejudice” or “Que me quiten lo bailao.” It’s kinda childish, but he’s a likable performer who knows how to sell a song. Is he going to win again? Probably not, since unlike Johnny Logan his returning song… Read more »
The problem is that his entry looks like a JESC entry. Many people might not get it, but he will probably win the teenage girls vote.
Joe, the voice of the reason 🙂
I’ve heard that a lot. From what I’ve seen of JESC, it’s leagues ahead. This doesn’t make my skin crawl in the same way JESC does.
One more reason for the non-jury vote reveal could be because Rybak didn’t do quite well with the juries as would appear!! The juries which had this song on top were all very USSR friendly. Only Bulgaria amongst that group didn’t give their flag to Rybak. Like William told us in his vlog!! This song finished last with the UK jury and probably with a few others too it was in bottom 3! At best this song would have finished 4th on the overall jury vote!! ‘Who we are’ would have won the jury vote by a huge margin i… Read more »
He didnt?
I can’t say for certain but it would appear so based on William’s vlog.
Well, out of 10 juries, 4 gave twelve points to Rybak, so I don’t think that he did so bad…
I never said he did badly…. I said he came last place with few countries and was probably 4th amongst the juries amongst the superfinalists.
I love him so much but I don’t really like the song
The NRK voting figures are interesting. Who’s watching and who’s voting in MGP? I tried to find MGP viewing figures, but couldn’t find any. My impression is that the show was bigger some years ago, but I have nothing to back that up.
Adressa.no reported that 1.2 million viewers in Norway watched MGP this year, which is up from last year (1.1 million).
https://www.adressa.no/kultur/2018/03/10/Alexander-Rybak-vant-den-norske-finalen-i-Melodi-Grand-Prix-16255812.ece
Thanks Ethan. 1.2 million viewers is a pretty impressive and my impression is probably wrong.
Esc 2018:
Bulgaria=georgia
Belgium=latvia=croatia
Finland=azerbaidjan=cyprus=israel=moldova=poland=ukraine.
Belgium alanis morissette james bond
Croatia jazzie lady gaga
Czechia jason derulo
Germany ed sheeran
Bulgaria Sia but just for the hair not the song
Spain la la land
Estonia weak pavarotti
Netherlands pseudo elvis priesley
Switzerland madonna lol
Get an originality guys lol
Robyn and her imagination……
Switzerland Madonna really? Get a grip…
Name me one current music artist outside the ESC bubble who’s completely original?
Dua lipa, christine and the queens, and mozart lol
Sorry i can only agree on Mozart 😀
netherlands elvis presley? haha
you think israel and moldova are the same ???
honey did you remember to stretch before that reach
think you forgot Sweden=Czech Republic= Every terrible generic pop song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sOueKvQ2HI
By the way guys, Georgia’s working on it and I think it’ll be any day now that it comes out.
here’s sort of a sneak peak of the song?
wow that sounds kind of similar to bulgaria
I can barely hear the song over the news commentary and the fact that we only get snippets but, …it doesn’t sound as bad as I thought it’d be.
I thought they’d get dead last at first but now I’m not so sure
Just remember, people picked up the phone for Sunstroke Project. They picked up the phone for Verka Serduchka and the Dancing Grannies, too. Not everyone watching Eurovision is as full of themselves as some Wiwibloggs commenters.
yessssss preach. seriously eurovision is about fun, that;s why people watch it. not for salvaboring
escAU, we can have both and be respectful about it. WE will have BOTH. What’s boring is all that nonense that you’re preaching, as if eurovision must fit a single persons criteria, no hun, eurovision is for everybody and i’m LOVING the diversity we have this year.
And ‘that’s why people watch it’, ….you might watch it for the lolz and fun, just like others, but not everyone does, so better speak for yourself.
But they did pick up the phone for Salvador too. So what’s your point? It’s all about the song not the genre. One may like an Israel type of song one year and a Salvador type of song the next one.
Those were other times. And you cant compare sunstroke project to this ffs
“Hey mamma” is STILL a better song that this one is, …and Verka’s performance was STILL way more zany than this performance is.
Either way, even in terms of “fun” this STILL isn’t that good, lmao.
Yeah, the violin stands out…at least.
Like, …his Fairytale performance was STILL more “fun” than this while also being a quality song.
THAT was win-worthy. But THIS…it’s so far from…
indeed, fairytale gave me winner vibes since the beginning, cant say the same about this one but hey, you never know, right?
The best part about this performance is the one where he’s playing the violin :/
i have a feeling he will reach top 5, juries will love this and the televote will also vote for him…
I want Verka back! One of my all time favourite party tracks. No wonder it was even featured in the Hollywood blockbuster.
I totally agree. Being Canadian Verka was the reason how I found out about Eurovision and fell in love with it.
Don’t talk with this guy my friend he is so stupid. I repeat to be well understood BRIEKIMCHI is stupid.
All his comments are stupidity or hateful…this guy is pathetic.
The problem with this song it’s not even funny or cool or original it’s just boring and flat… and i love Alex and his charm but this is just big NO for me
All of them had the Russian diaspora support and so does he. Not a good sign!
SF2 qualifiers for me:
Australia
Sweden (although I hope he’ll finish outside top15)
Poland
Slovenia
Russia (unfortunately the song is meh, but I truly admire her spirit)
Denmark (hated the song at first but I kinda like it now)
Hungary (I hope Europe will appreciate good rock track)
Norway (his smile can pull it off, the song is terrible)
The Netherlands
Latvia or Ukraine (just because it’s Ukraine although I swear I heard that song before somewhere else)
Pretty much agree except i think it will be serbia instead of Slovenia and yes Ukraine will qualify over Latvia, personally id like to see Sweden stay in the Semis.
I agree with you almost 100% although I think Romania will qualify as almost always they do. I don’t see Slovenia making it unless they give us a very modern and polished performance. I would like to see your semi-one and winner predictions though..such a tough call this year. Ps: I know everyone will disagree but I prefer Norway over Sweden.
I think except Conchita, Rybak is maybe the most memorable winning contestant in recent time, although if you were just listening to the songs maybe Euphoria over Fairytale, I think people will remember Rybak and the violin, especially if prompted by the commentators. Whether or not that itself can translate into votes is another question.
He’s forgagatten in the rest of Europe and the song is tragic, I can’t see it going further than bottom five in the semi.
Oh! I remember him…..
He is the most Overrated winner in the 2000s!!
Only when I watched the jury vote in MGP this year I realized why he was so Overrated! He took in the two highest voting blocks – former USSR and Scandinavia….
His song even then was super dull. Ok not as dull as 2008 winner but yeah!
All we need is a performer with Russian parents born and brought up in the Balkan states to represent one of the Scandinavian nations and we will have one more overrated winner.
He’s forgotten? Are you sure? If we ever talk with my friends and family about Eurovision, they automatically also recollect him. Or there are also a lot of people who see him as the king of Eurovision.
You may not like the song, but that doesn’t mean that he’s forgotten in Europe.
Must be because my country didn’t participate in 2009 so no one here knows him.
He’s cute but his song is childish.
He won by a landslide because of who he is. This song is childish and bland, and overall, it has nothing that could appeal the public or the jury. Of course, the Norwegians voted for Alexander Rybak and not for “That’s How You Write a Song”. Rybak sells it great live, but I think it shouldn’t be enought to get a top 20, not even to qualify. SF2 is weak though, so he most probably qualify.
he will most probably qualify*
i wound’t call semi 2 weak, weaker than semi 1 for sure ,but not weak as itself, and i hope Norway will stay in semi,
Sweden ,Ukraine, Australia – 100% will go to the final,
Denmark,Netherlands ,Russia will most probably qualify ,
not so sure about Poland ,Latvia, Hungary,Romania, Georgia and Malta but no room for Norway please, one of the weakest entry this year….
Russia is so weak fml ..
Yes, but it will still qualify as always!
I didn’t care about the studio cut at all, but he sells it so well on stage. I think this could do better than what many believe.
Bookmakers feel it will be 10th! You think it will do better than that?
Odds have shortened substantially since I wrote that post.
This is top 10 and haters will have to deal.
bad song and lyrics are silly…even his charm can’t save or sell it…. flat bland and juts forgettable… hope it stays in semi
Not gonna happen.
No one would care for this song nearly as much if it were done by literally anyone other than him
Yes! That is 100% true. I think his song sounds a lot like San Marino 2012 (The Social Network Song by Valentina Monetta) and that song isn’t really all that loved.
You hate france and like this? lol
I do, it’s that a problem?
Probably one of the worst Norwegian entries. Ever.
And I love Rybak as an artist but he can do so much better than this, that’s why so many people are mad. If he’s trying to ruin his career, maybe he’ll succeed.
WOW. A total landslide! If Europe follows suit in May, Rybak could be the winner. Again.
Thanks to NRK for revealing the vote figures. It’s always good to have transparency with these things. (cough, BBC, cough.)
This has to be the biggest joke of the year.
I like his song! I think top10. But I have a hard time seeing this song recieving high marks from the juries in ESC
You hate france and like this? hahaha
Let FRANCE and people in peace here please, we all know that you are trying to do so stop it doesn’t work.
I do, too. What’s your point?
Briekimchi you must to have serious issues to be so hateful…are you a professional hater? Or just a poor lost child? I complain you….your life seems empty…..