Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Icebreaker" written by Agnete Johnsen, Gabriel Alares and Ian Curnow. The song was performed by Agnete. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 27 February 2016 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "Icebreaker" performed by Agnete was selected as the winner with 166,728 votes.

Norway was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 15, "Icebreaker" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Norway placed thirteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 63 points.

Prior to the 2016 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 54 times since its first entry in 1960. Norway had won the contest on three occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!, in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden, and in 2009 with the song "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak. Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. The country had finished last eleven times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times, including their 2015 entry "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland and Debrah Scarlett.

The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 May 2015. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. On 22 June 2015, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the 2016 Norwegian entry.

Melodi Grand Prix 2016 was the 54th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The show took place on 27 February 2016 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Silya Nymoen and Kåre Magnus Bergh. Jan Fredrik Karlsen was assigned as the new music producer for the competition, replacing Vivi Stenberg who held the position since 2013. The show was televised on NRK1, broadcast via radio with commentary by Hanne Hoftun on NRK P1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv. The national final was watched by 1.313 million viewers in Norway with a market share of 71.1%, making it the most watched Melodi Grand Prix final since 2010.

A submission period was opened by NRK between 22 June 2015 and 11 September 2015. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete. At the close of the deadline, approximately 1,000 submissions were received. Ten songs were selected for the competition by a jury panel consisting of Jan Fredrik Karlsen (Melodi Grand Prix music producer), Marie Komissar (NRK P3 radio host and music producer), Pia Skevik (NRK P1 radio host and producer) and Stig Karlsen (NRK producer and Melodi Grand Prix project manager). The competing acts and songs were revealed on 19 January 2016 during a press conference at NRK studios, presented by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Silya Nymoen and Jan Fredrik Karlsen and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no. 15-second clips of the competing entries were released during the press conference, while the songs in their entirety were premiered on 2 February.

On 21 January 2016, NRK held a meeting with Freddy Kalas to discuss accusations of self-plagiarism in regards to his entry, "Happy Rush", written by Fredrik Auke (Freddy Kalas), Simen Auke, Mikkel Christiansen, Trond Opsahl and Christoffer Huse. "Happy Rush" was compared to a song the performer had released in 2011 under a different artistic name and in collaboration with the same authors: "Cannabus" by SimenA featuring Freddy Genius. On 22 January, NRK confirmed that the chorus of the song was re-written and that the song received a new title: "Feel Da Rush".

Ten songs competed during the final on 27 February 2016. The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, the results of the public televote were revealed by Norway's five regions and led to the victory of "Icebreaker" performed by Agnete with 166,728 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured performances of several past Norwegian Eurovision entries: Kate Gulbrandsen performed the 1987 entry "Mitt liv", Mørland and Debrah Scarlett performed the 2015 entry "A Monster Like Me", host Silya Nymoen covered Nora Brockstedt's 1960 entry "Voi Voi" and Åse Kleveland performed the 1966 entry "Intet er nytt under solen". Also, 2004 Norwegian entrant Knut Anders Sørum and Reidun Sæther covered Jahn Teigen and Anita Skorgan's 1982 Eurovision entry "Adieu", Teigen's 1978 Eurovision entry "Mil etter mil" and Teigen's 1989 Melodi Grand Prix entry "Optimist", while Teigen himself performed his 1976 Melodi Grand Prix entry "Voodoo".