Sweden's first Eurovision victory was in 1974 with the song "Waterloo", performed by ABBA. Thanks to 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 between 2005 and 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.
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.
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.[23]
^ abcAccording 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.
^That year's Swedish national final had the entries presented as music videos, so there was no orchestra present.
^Berglund also conducted and played accordion for the Yugoslav entry; he re-arranged the French entry as well when the submitted sheet music was deemed too difficult to follow.
^Sundeby, Maria Askerfjord (17 September 2024). "Hit åker Melodifestivalen 2025" [Melodifestivalen 2025 will go here]. SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
^Palmborg, Martin; Elmervik, Linn (17 September 2024). "Mello-städerna 2025 spikade" [The 2025 Mello cities nailed down]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 17 September 2024.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101. ISBN978-1-84583-065-6.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168. ISBN978-1-84583-093-9.
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN978-1-84583-118-9.
^Wærhaug, Sølvi (24 August 1981). «Nesten krise …». VG. s. 36.
^Wærhaug, Sølvi (18 August 1981). «Fire verdensdeler følger Momarkedet». VG. s. 37.
^Nilsson, Helena Elisabet (19 February 2013). "Bidragsbibeln: Robin Stjernberg – You – Melodifestivalen". svt.se. Archived from [svt.se/melodifestivalen/artister/2013/robin-stjernberg/bidragsbibeln-robin-stjernberg-you the original] on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^Petersson, Emma (5 February 2014). "Bidragsbibeln: Sanna Nielsen – Undo – Melodifestivalen". svt.se. Archived from [svt.se/melodifestivalen/artister/2014/sanna-nielsen/bidragsbibeln-sanna-nielsen-undo the original] on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^Petersson, Emma (25 February 2015). "Bidragsbibeln: Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes – Melodifestivalen | SVT.se". svt.se. Archived from [svt.se/melodifestivalen/artister/2015/mans-zelmerlow/bidragsbibeln-mans-zelmerlow-heroes-i-melodifestivalen-2014 the original] on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international finals] (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Premium Publishing. ISBN91-89136-29-2.
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