Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (Dansk MGP) is an annual music competition organised by Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), which determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The festival has produced two Eurovision winners and twelve top-five placings out of 39 participations for Denmark at the contest, but after a short period of poor charting positions in Eurovision and the Danish charts, Chanee and N'Evergreen scored a top five hit in Oslo and did well in the national Danish charts.
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With the introduction of a semi-final at the 2004 contest, and due to Denmark's absence from the 2003 contest, Denmark's 2004 representative, Thomas Thordarsson, had to take part in the semi-final. His song, "Shame on You" did not reach the final, finishing 13th in a field of 22 contestants.
In 2005, DR made a bold step for Dansk MGP. Artists were allowed, for the first time ever, to sing in a language other than Danish. Many of the entries that year were sung in English; however, against the odds, the winning song was sung in Danish. Jakob Sveistrup won Dansk MGP with his song "Tænder på dig". It was later re-written for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 to English as "Talking to You". Unlike the year before, Denmark secured a place in the final, finishing third in the semifinal. In the final he came 9th, guaranteeing Denmark a place in the final of the 2006 contest. A year later, Sidsel Ben Semmane sang "Twist of Love" in the final, but managed to finish 18th of 24 songs.
In 2007, after many poor results, Dansk MGP adopted a semi-final format that had served well for the Swedish preselection, Melodifestivalen. Two semi-finals with 8 songs each were introduced, with the top 4 songs qualifying for the final. The 4 losing songs of each semi-final then took part in one of two wildcard rounds where the listeners of Danish radio stations P3 and P4 chose another two finalists. The winner under this new format, DQ with the song "Drama Queen" (a wildcard entrant), finished 18th in the semifinal, relegating Denmark again.
DR continued to use this format in the 2008 edition which was won by Simon Mathew and the song "All Night Long". At the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, Denmark as in 2005, finished 3rd in the semifinals, qualifying for the grand final. In the final, Mathew got 60 points, finishing 15th in a field of 25 songs.
For the 2009 and 2019 edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, DR will revert to their one-night final, scheduled to be held on 31 January 2009. The final of 10 songs will consist of 6 songs from an open call of songs from the public, with 4 songs being invited by DR to compete.[1]
For more info, see Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Almost all winners of Dansk MGP have gone on to represent Denmark at Eurovision; the only entry not representing Denmark at Eurovision being the 1996 winner (Kun med dig by Dorte Andersen and Martin Loft), which failed to qualify for the final from the pre-selection. Denmark has won Eurovision twice: in 1963 and 2000.
The following table lists those entries which finished fifth or higher at Eurovision:
| Year | Song | Artist | Position in the Eurovision Song Contest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Skibet skal sejle i nat | Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler | 3rd |
| 1959 | Uh, jeg ville ønske jeg var dig | Birthe Wilke | 5th |
| 1961 | Angelique | Dario Campeotto | 5th |
| 1963 | Dansevise | Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann | 1st |
| 1984 | Det' lige det | Hot Eyes | 4th |
| 1987 | En lille melodi | Anne-Cathrine Herdorf | 5th |
| 1988 | Ka' du se hva' jeg sa'? | Hot Eyes | 3rd |
| 1989 | Vi maler byen rød | Birthe Kjær | 3rd |
| 1995 | Fra Mols til Skagen | Aud Wilken | 5th |
| 2000 | Smuk som et stjerneskud | Olsen Brothers | 1st (as "Fly on the Wings of Love") |
| 2001 | Der står et billede af dig på mit bord | Rollo & King | 2nd (as "Never Ever Let You Go") |
| 2010 | In a Moment Like This | Chanée and N'evergreen | 4th |
| 2011 | New Tomorrow | A Friend In London | 5th |
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