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Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sweden has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 64 times since making its debut in 1958, missing only three contests since then (1964, 1970, and 1976). The current Swedish participating broadcaster in the contest is Sveriges Television (SVT), which select its entrant through the national competition Melodifestivalen. Sweden has hosted the contest seven times: three times in Stockholm (1975, 2000, 2016), three times in Malmö (1992, 2013, 2024) and one time in Gothenburg (1985). At the 1997 contest, Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting.
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Sweden, along with Ireland, is the most successful country in the Eurovision Song Contest, with a total of seven victories. Sweden also has the most top-five results of the 21st century, with 13; in total, Sweden has achieved 27 top-five results in the contest. After finishing second with "Nygammal vals" performed by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson in 1966, Sweden went on to achieve its seven victories with "Waterloo" by ABBA (1974), "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys (1984), "Fångad av en stormvind" by Carola (1991), "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson (1999), "Euphoria" by Loreen (2012), "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw (2015), and "Tattoo" by Loreen (2023).
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Contest history
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Sveriges Radio (SR) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Sweden since its third edition in 1958. Since 1980, after a restructuring that led to the creation of its television subsidiary Sveriges Television (SVT), it is the latter who participates representing Sweden.
Sweden's first entrant in the contest was "Lilla stjärna" performed by Alice Babs in 1958, who was placed fourth. This remained the country's best result until 1966, when "Nygammal vals" by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson was second.[1]
Sweden's first Eurovision victory was in 1974 with the song "Waterloo", performed by ABBA. Following their victory in Brighton, ABBA went on to gain worldwide success and become one of the best-selling pop groups of all time. In the 1980s, Sweden achieved three successive top three results. After "Främling" by Carola finished third in 1983, "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by the Herreys gave Sweden its second victory in 1984. "Bra vibrationer" by Kikki Danielsson then finished third in 1985. Carola returned to the contest in 1991, eventually giving Sweden its third win with "Fångad av en stormvind", defeating France in a tie-break. "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson gave the country a second win of the decade in 1999. The 1990s also saw two third-place results, for Jan Johansen in 1995 and One More Time in 1996. In the 2000s, the best Swedish result was fifth place, which it achieved four times, with Friends in 2001, Fame in 2003, Lena Philipsson in 2004 and Carola, who in 2006, became the only Swedish performer to achieve three top-five results. Together with Croatia and Malta, Sweden was one of only three countries to have never been relegated under the pre-2004 rules of the contest.
With the exception of 2006, Sweden endured a poor run of results from 2005 to 2009, placing no higher than 18th. The nadir came in 2010, when Anna Bergendahl became the first Swedish entrant to fail to qualify for the final, finishing 11th in the semi-final, only five points from qualification (in 2008, Charlotte Perrelli finished 12th in the semi-final but qualified through the back-up jury selection). Since then, the country has been very successful, finishing in the top ten in all subsequent editions except two (14th place in 2013 and 2021). This includes a fifth victory courtesy of "Euphoria" by Loreen in 2012, a sixth victory courtesy of "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015, and a seventh victory courtesy of "Tattoo" by Loreen in 2023. With her 2023 win, Loreen also became the second performer as well as the first female artist to win the contest more than once. Additional top-five placements during this period are third places in 2011 and 2014, a fourth place in 2022, and fifth places in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
Melodifestivalen
To choose its entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest, SR–between 1959 and 1979–and SVT–since 1980–have organised an annual music competition known since 1967 as Melodifestivalen. It is one of Sweden's most popular television shows, and it has been estimated that more than four million Swedes watch the show annually. All of Sweden's entries for Eurovision have been selected through Melodifestivalen, with the exception of its first entry in 1958, which was internally selected by SR.
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Participation overview
| 1 | First place |
| 2 | Second place |
| 3 | Third place |
| ◁ | Last place |
| X | Entry selected but did not compete |
| † | Upcoming event |
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hostings
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
Winners by OGAE members
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Related involvement
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Conductors
Heads of delegation
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[21]
Commentators and spokespersons
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2019) |
Over the years Swedish commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Jacob Dahlin, Ulf Elfving, Harald Treutiger, Pekka Heino, Kristian Luuk, and Fredrik Belfrage. Since 2009 (with the exceptions of 2013 and 2016), Edward af Sillén provided the SVT commentary alongside various dual commentators.
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Stage directors
Costume designers
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Photo gallery
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See also
- Melodifestivalen
- Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Sweden in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Sweden in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
- Sweden in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.
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Notes
- According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
- The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Specifically the Vörå dialect, an Ostrobothinan variety of Finland Swedish
- Voted by previous winners.
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References
External links
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