Her first Eurovision experience occurred when she took her highly fancied entry '' All Out of Luck '' to the 1999 contest in Jerusalem , placing Iceland in the unaccustomed position of being the pre-contest favourites with many bookmakers . Following a vibrant vocal and visual display on the night — with choreography that appeared to be somewhat influenced by Carola 's famous routine from the 1991 contest — Selma shot into an early lead in the voting , but was gradually pegged back by Sweden , represented by Charlotte Nilsson . Despite trailing Nilsson only very narrowly before the penultimate set of votes were announced , Selma 's hopes of victory came to an abrupt end when Bosnia and Herzegovina awarded maximum points to Sweden and nothing at all to Iceland . However , Selma 's second place in Jerusalem still ranks as Iceland 's best showing in the contest to date . In 2009 , Yohanna managed to get Iceland in second place again
1999 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Selma Björnsdóttir