When people think of Iceland, they have images of beautiful landscapes, sheep, the northern lights, and glaciers. Many are unaware of the scandals, corruption, and overall fascinating events show up in Iceland news stories throughout the year.







If you have listened to previous episodes of this show, such as the interviews with Dóra, the former President of the City Council, Alda Sigmundsdóttir, Kári Stefánsson, Andie Fontaine, Jón Gnarr, and Andri Snær Magnasson, you will have heard about some of the corruption and drama in Iceland.



I love that those episodes provide insight from the point of view of people who live in Iceland. This list is meant to be a round-up based on how Iceland news was reported by news outlets. Of course, I sprinkle in my opinion every so often. Some of the Iceland news stories on this top ten list have made international headlines. However, plenty of them only appeared in the domestic news headlines.



Easily Keep Up with Iceland News Stories



After I started doing a weekly news round-up in my Instagram stories (@allthingsiceland) each Sunday last year, I became even more intrigued with the news here. I feel that the news in any country gives you some insight into the culture and can help you to understand what that society considers important to talk about. Iceland is certainly no different. It became apparent to me that Iceland news stories have given me another great way to tap into what is trending here and to observe how the culture is changing.







If you like hearing about Iceland news stories, I highly recommend checking out my weekly round-up on Instagram. Along with sharing the news, I give you a bit of my opinion on the story and try to make it interactive.



Another option is to sign up for my free email newsletter. It features a mix of Iceland news stories, facts about the country, videos, upcoming events, tips for travelers, and other goodies. I recently decided to start this newsletter because there is so much awesome content out there. I think email is a great way of sharing it with my fellow Icelandophiles.







To read more about each story that I talk about in this episode, I have included links to the original news articles. Feel free to check those out.



Now, let’s jump into the 2019 Iceland news top ten list!



10. Ed Sheeran’s Concert Broke A Record in Iceland



Icelanders like to play it cool if they see a celebrity walk down the street in Reykjavík. However, they seem to go bananas when a big named performer holds a concert. This is exactly what happened when it was announced that Ed Sheeran would be holding a concert during the summer of 2019.



To my surprise, Icelanders were rushing to buy tickets. Like most people in the world, I know some Ed Sheeran songs, but I can’t say that I am very familiar with the majority of his music. I have a feeling that is the case for many Icelandic people. I guess the buzz around this concert was too enticing for many to pass up. Plus, Ed Sheeran is considered a “friend of Iceland ''. He has this honorary title because he wore an Icelandic national football shirt when Iceland played against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup.



Some of my Icelandic friends admitted that they were only going to the concert because so many others in the country will be there.



Photo by Icelandair



A New Icelandic Record for Concert Attendance



The concert ended up breaking a record, which made Iceland news headlines. The first concert date, Saturday August 10th, sold out almost instantly. Sena Live, the event management company putting on the concert, added a second concert day, August 11th, because of the demand. In total, about 50,000 people in Iceland attended an Ed Sheeran concert. That is about 14% of the population. On the first night alone, 30,000 people attended. This is the first time in the recorded history of Iceland that 30,0000 attended a concert in the country. Granted,