The votes for the fourth annual esctoday.com awards have been cast over the last three and a half weeks and now it is time to reveal the results. We continue with the very last category, which can also be regarded as the top category: Song of the year.

The 2009 esctoday.com Award for Song of the year goes to…

• …Is it true? of Iceland written by Óskar Páll Sveinsson, Tinatin Japaridze and Chris Neil

Óskar Páll Sveinsson, Tinatin Japaridze and Chris Neil wrote the Icelandic entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Performed by Yohanna, Is it true? won the first semi final and finished second in the final.

• You can find the list of all award results revealed so far this year here.

The winner

This is the fourth esctoday.com award for Iceland this year and the sixth one overall following victories in the categories Best duo/group performance and Best duo/group vocal performance in 2008 as well as Best backing performers, Best female vocal performance and Lyricist of the year/English lyrics in 2009. It is still the first award for Song of the year. Previously, this award has gone to Tornerò (Romania) in 2006, Molitva (Serbia) in 2007 and Senhora do mar (Portugal) in 2008. Is it true? was also named Song of the decade in a poll earlier this year, although the voting system was completely different.

The Icelandic entry was written by Óskar Páll Sveinsson, Christopher Neil and Tinatin Japaridze. Óskar Páll Sveinsson, also known as Oskar Paul, has produced a series of successful albums in Iceland, but he is also a well-known name in the international music scene having worked for acts like Robbie Williams, Mike and the Mechanics, Seal, Depeche Mode and Secret Garden. Christopher Neil is just as successful all over the world as he served as a producer and occasional songwriter for singers and bands including Céline Dion, Cher, Bonnie Tyler, a-ha and Rod Stewart. Tinatin Japaridze is a singer and songwriter, who has just launched her career. She was named as "one of the fresh faces to keep an eye out for" by US American Billboard magazine. She also recorded the demo version of Is it true?.

The song is a classic pop ballad. Through the lyrics of the break-up song, the singer asks her companion if the relationship is really over (which is more of a rhethorical question) and whose fault it was that it did not work out: "Is it true?/Is it over?/Did I throw it away?/Was it you?/Did you tell me you would never leave me this way?".

Is it true won the Icelandic national final with almost twice as many votes as the runner-up entry. In the Eurovision Song Contest, the song did almost equally well and won the first semi final but dropped to second place in the grand final behind Norway. It is the best placing for an Icelandic entry in the history of the contest along with the 1999 entry All out of luck. The song was also a commercial success and reached the top of the Icelandic single charts. It also peaked at number two in Sweden, at number three in Norway and at number four in Finland and Greece. Furthermore, the song entered the single charts in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Slovakia.

The complete results

Unlike in the Eurovision Song Contest, Is it true won by a comfortable lead over the Norwegian entry Fairytale. 23.1% mean also the second highest percentage for a winning song in this category following Molitva in 2007, which got 28.9% of the votes among the eight nominees. Rändajad is the entry the best placed entry among those that finished outside the top five, which are always pre-nominated for an award.

1. Is it true? (Iceland) – 23.1%
2. Fairytale (Norway) – 19.0%
3. Rändajad (Estonia) – 14.9%
4. Et s'il fallait le faire (France) – 13.9%
5. Düm tek tek (Turkey) – 12.0%
6. It's my time (United Kingdom) – 6.6%
7. La voix (Sweden) – 6.2%
8. Always (Azerbaijan) – 4.3%

The performance of the winning song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L69Cg9Co7Q

esctoday.com interview with Yohanna in April 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLVoBvETIjg

This was the last winner in the 2009 esctoday.com awards. We want to say thank you to you the many people who took some of their time to cast their votes in the 21 polls as well as in the nomination process. Tomorrow, we will present an overview with all winners and take a look at the statistics.