Marcus & Martinus: 10 facts about Sweden’s Eurovision 2024 act

They went into Melodifestivalen 2024 as huge favourites, and they ended up taking the crown and earning the right to represent the home country Sweden in Eurovision on home soil in Malmö Arena.

They are twin sensations Marcus & Martinus with the surname Gunnarsen, who with their entry “Unforgettable” are hoping to emulate Loreen’s success from last year’s contest.

But now it’s time to find out more about the Norwegian duo, so let’s delve in deeper.

Scroll down for 10 Facts about Marcus & Martinus.

10 facts about Marcus & Martinus

1. First all foreign act to represent Sweden in Eurovision

By winning this year’s Melodifestivalen Marcus & Martinus will now be the first fully non-Swedish act to represent Sweden in Eurovision – as they are Norwegians. American Ashley Haynes was a part of the winning Melfest 2020 trio The Mamas, but they didn’t get to represent Sweden in Eurovision as the competition was cancelled.

2. Became child stars at age 10

The now 22-year old twins won MGPjr in Norway in 2012 at the age of 10 with “To dråper vann” (“Two peas in a pod”), so they have been active in the music business more than half of their life span. The song peaked at number eight on the Norwegian singles chart.

3. Biggest hit still holds several records

In 2015 their single “Elektrisk” was released and it is their biggest hit to date. It stayed for 66 weeks in the official Norwegian singles chart, and it was the first song in the Norwegian language to be streamed more than 100 million times on Spotify. Their debut album “Hei”, where “Elektrisk” was included in a later fan special version, also placed well by staying 126 weeks on the album charts.

4. Identical twins – with slight differences

It’s the question they have been asked the most all their life: “How do we recognise one from the other?”. Here is the answer: Marcus is the older brother by 15 minutes and has slightly more curly hair (plus mostly stands to the left in pictures), and Martinus is the younger brother with a small birth mark above his lip. The latter isn’t that visible unless you get quite close!

5. Made an international career as teens

In 2016 – at the age of 14 – they started a big concert tour in seven European countries, selling out arenas in both Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Austria. It was also during that tour, that they made their first interview in English with our very own William Lee Adams in Stockholm during Eurovision that year.

6. Went to Sweden after Covid

When Covid hit, the twins had to halt all their activities like everyone else. And when the restrictions were finally lifted, they wanted to try and break through in Sweden, where they were just as popular as in their home country. They won Masked Singer in 2022 – as the first duo – and then went on to get 2nd place in Melodifestivalen 2023 with “Air”.

7. Won Melfest with same score as Loreen

They returned to Melodifestivalen in 2024 with “Unforgettable”, being heavy favourites from the moment they were rumoured as one of the contestants in the Swedish national final. They fulfilled the expectations, and together with their Eurovision winning songwriting team of Linnea Deb, Joy Deb (both winning in 2015) and Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt (winning in 2023) they won Melodifestivalen convincingly with 177 points. That was the same score as Loreen achieved in 2023, so maybe that’s an omen before Malmö!

8. Opening the Eurovision final

At the delegation meeting in Malmö the host country were drawn randomly to perform as song nr. 1 in the Eurovision final on 11 May. And maybe performing first is another good omen for the brothers, because they performed as song nr. 1 in Melfest heat 5, winning that heat. Plus…. back in 1984, when the Herreys brothers won for Sweden, they also performed as song nr. 1! Let’s see how that plays out in a couple of weeks.

9. They play division football

When they aren’t travelling around touring or doing promo for their music, they play football for their local 3. Division team Mosjøen IL. The team was promoted from 4. to 3. Division in 2022 with especially Marcus playing a pivotal role in that. He scored no less than 18 goals in 22 matches for the team that season.

10. Have both a Swedish and Norwegian Eurovision winner as favourites

In a recent interview with Wiwibloggs we put the twins to the test, where they had to choose between a Swedish and Norwegian Eurovision winning artist in the form of Alexander Rybak from 2009 and Måns Zelmerlöw from 2015. They told us, that Rybak winning with “Fairytale” is their first core memory of Eurovision, but they still also love Måns’ winning entry “Heroes”.

Stay tuned to Wiwibloggs for more on Marcus & Martinus, and to find out 10 Facts about more of your favourite artists from Eurovision 2024!