winner, 2009
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak sang at two Eurovision Song Contests, in 2009 and 2018, for Norway, and won in 2009 with “Fairytale”.
- who
- Norwegian singer, actor, violinist, composer, pianist
- born
- 13 May 1986, Minsk
- contests
- 2009, 2018
- win
- 2009
- music
- pop, classical, indie pop, baroque pop, crossover
- voice
- tenore di grazia
- plays
- fiddle, piano, violin
- active
- since 1991
- studied at
- Barratt Due Institute of Music, Columbia College Chicago
- sang for
- Norway
Biography
Alexander Rybak is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer, songwriter and actor, based in Oslo. In 2009 Rybak won the contest in Moscow for Norway with “Fairytale”, a song Rybak wrote, and its 387 points were the most anyone had scored under the voting then in use.
The debut album, Fairytales, reached the top twenty in nine European countries and number one in Norway and Russia. After a second pop album Rybak turned towards children’s and classical music, often playing with youth orchestras. Rybak came back to the contest in 2018 and finished 15th.
Written by ESC Predictions, 8 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, “Alexander Rybak”.
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At Eurovision
Two songs, oldest first, and what became of each.
-
2009 Moscow
“Fairytale”
Winner Won the contest with 387 points, ahead of 24 other songs.
- Sung in
- English
- Written by
- Alexander Rybak
- Running order
- 20th of 25 in the final
- Semi-final
- 1st of 19, 201 points
- Age on the night
- 23
Play: Alexander Rybak — “Fairytale”, the winning performance at Eurovision 2009 hear it YouTube the contest’s channel Spotify search Apple Music search
The story of Eurovision 2009: A pun on Putin, voters called in for questioning, and a record win
-
2018 Lisbon
“That's How You Write a Song”
15th of 26 Finished 15th of 26 in the final, with 144 points.
- Sung in
- English
- Written by
- Alexander Rybak
- Running order
- 7th of 26 in the final
- Semi-final
- 1st of 18, 266 points
- Age on the night
- 31
- Won that year
- Israel: Netta, “Toy”
Away from Eurovision
Awards
- Spellemann Award of the year 2009
As recorded on Wikidata, which is rarely the whole list.
In our contest stories
What we wrote about Alexander Rybak, year by year. Follow a link for the rest of that night.
- 2009 The result
Norway's Alexander Rybak wrote and sang "Fairytale". It scored 387 points out of a possible 492, the highest total the contest had seen. Iceland, in second place, had 218.
- 2018 A returning winner
Norway sent Alexander Rybak, the winner of 2009. He won his semi-final. In the final he came fifteenth.
- 2026 The shows
The anniversary was marked in the final with a medley by former contestants, among them Lordi, Ruslana, Alexander Rybak and Verka Serduchka.
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. Biographical details from Wikidata. The photo is from Wikimedia Commons and is credited beside it. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.