Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut in, missing only three contests since then (, , and ). The current Swedish participant broadcaster in the contest is Sveriges Television (SVT), which select its entrant with the national competition Melodifestivalen. Sweden has hosted the contest seven times: three times in Stockholm, three times in Malmö and once in Gothenburg. At the, Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting. Sweden, along with, 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 26 top five results in the contest. After finishing second with "Nygammal vals" performed by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson in, Sweden went on to achieve its seven victories with "Waterloo" by ABBA , "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys , "Fångad av en stormvind" by Carola , "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson , "Euphoria" by Loreen , "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw , and "Tattoo" by Loreen.

Contest history

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 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, who was placed fourth. This remained the country's best result until, when "Nygammal vals" by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson was second. Sweden's first Eurovision victory was in 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, "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by the Herreys gave Sweden its second victory in. "Bra vibrationer" by Kikki Danielsson then finished third in. Carola returned to the contest in, eventually giving Sweden its third win with "Fångad av en stormvind", defeating in a tie-break. "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson gave the country a second win of the decade in. The 1990s also saw two third-place results, for Jan Johansen in and One More Time in. In the 2000s, the best Swedish result was fifth place, which it achieved four times, with Friends in, Fame in , Lena Philipsson in and Carola, who in , 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 and, placing no higher than 18th. The nadir came in, 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 , 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 and ). This includes a fifth victory courtesy of "Euphoria" by Loreen in, a sixth victory courtesy of "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw in , and a seventh victory courtesy of "Tattoo" by Loreen in. 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 and, a fourth place in , and fifth places in , , and.

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.

Participation overview

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winners by OGAE members

Related involvement

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.

Commentators and spokespersons

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 (with the exceptions of 2013 and 2016), Edward af Sillén provided the SVT commentary alongside various dual commentators.

Other shows

Stage directors

Costume designers

Photo gallery