Denmark: Will Greenland affect the Eurovision Song Contest 2026?
- Craig Land
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Kingdom of Denmark has regularly been in the headlines in recent months, as the United States of America has stepped up diplomatic pressure in an attempt to acquire the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland.
With Denmark's annual national final, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, taking place tomorrow morning Australian time (this evening in Europe), we therefore consider Greenland's past involvement with the Eurovision Song Contest, while also looking ahead to consider whether current events may affect the upcoming contest.
Is Greenland part of Eurovision?
While the vast Arctic island has its own local public broadcaster which distributes Greenlandic-language radio and television broadcasts, Greenland is unable to participate in Eurovision in its own right for two reasons.
First, Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, forming one of three integral parts of Danish territory along with the Danish mainland and the Faroe Islands.
As a dependent territory of another country, this puts Greenland in the same position as other territories like Madeira, Scotland, Wales and Svalbard, which all participate in Eurovision as part of their administering state. While the other Danish autonomous territory of the Faroe Islands has previously indicated an intention to apply for membership of the European Broadcasting Union (and thus to participate in Eurovision), so far this has not been successful.
Greenland faces the additional hurdle that it is located outside of the European Broadcasting Area, thus making its local broadcaster ineligible for EBU membership. While there is an active independence movement in Greenland, this would therefore pose additional barriers to Greenlandic participation at Eurovision even by an independent Greenlandic state.
Despite these challenges, Greenlandic artists are eligible to, and have, participated in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to represent Denmark at Eurovision.
Greenland's past attempts to participate at Eurovision
Unlike Denmark's other autonomous territory of the Faroe Islands, Greenland is yet to see representation on the Eurovision stage. However, two acts from Greenland have previously tried to represent Denmark by participating at Danish national finals over the years.
In 1979, Greenlandic singer-songwriter Rasmus Lyberth participated in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with his song Faders bøn. Taking the stage with just his guitar, Rasmus gave what is still to date the only Eurovision-related performance in the Greenlandic language, and finished a respectable 11th in the national final.
It would then be 40 years until the next attempt by a Greenlandic act to take the Eurovision stage, when Julie & Nina participated in DMGP 2019 with their dramatic ballad League of Light. Mostly performed in English, the song still featured some words in Greenlandic.
Widely favoured as a potential favourite to win the national final in 2019, Julie & Nina qualified for the superfinal but ultimately finished in second place to Leonora and her cheerful tune Love is Forever.
Will Greenland cast a shadow over Eurovision 2026?
Although there are no Greenlandic participants in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2026, Greenland continues to be a subject of discussion in relation to Denmark's participation at Eurovision 2026.
While Eurovision officially claims to be an apolitical celebration of music, it is no secret that growing geopolitical ruptures have had an enormous influence on the Contest in recent years.
With US President Trump having stepped up his rhetoric about acquiring Greenland since the start of the year, speculation has therefore increased about whether this could influence voting patterns at this year's contest.
European leaders have been unanimous in rejecting any US attempts to acquire Greenland by any means, while Denmark has ruled out any possibility of selling the territory. In January 2026, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen further emphasized that, if forced to choose, Greenland would prefer to remain as part of Denmark than become an American territory.
With such strength of feeling across Europe in support of Danish sovereignty, could we see a similar wave of solidarity for Denmark at this year's Contest as was previously seen for Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022?
Betting markets certainly seemed to think so in mid-January, with Denmark climbing as high as sixth-favourite to win Eurovision 2026 outright.
In more recent weeks, however, as President Trump eased his rhetoric and announced a new framework for a future deal with Denmark in relation to Greenland, however, odds have eased, with Denmark currently 15th in the odds for this year's contest.
With almost three months until the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, though, it remains to be seen whether further developments might affect the situation.
The Danish representative for Eurovision 2026 will be selected at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2026, with the favourites including former X Factor Denmark contestant Ericka Jane and Eurovision 2025 participant Sissal.
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