Sweden in The Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden In The Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 52 times since their debut in 1958, being absent a total of five times, in 1956, 1957, 1964, 1970 and in 1976. Since 1959, the Swedish entry has been chosen through an annual televised competition, known since 1967 as Melodifestivalen.

Sweden is one of Eurovision's most successful countries, having won the contest five times as well as having reached the top 5 a total of 19 times. They have also made it to the top ten 35 times. 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, still being one of the best-selling pop groups of all time. Since then Sweden has won in 1984, 1991, 1999 and most recently in 2012 with the song "Euphoria", performed by Loreen. Sweden and United Kingdom are the only countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades, and the only country to host it in five decades (1975, 1985, 1992, 2000, 2013).

From 2005 to 2010, the Swedish results were less successful. Apart from Carola's "Invincible", which came 5th in 2006, their best result in that period was the 18th place. Prior to the 2010 contest Sweden was among the few countries not to have missed a Eurovision final since 1976, but this record was broken in 2010 when Anna Bergendahl failed to make it to the final in Oslo. Later it was revealed that Bergendahl had placed 11th in the semifinal, only 5 points from qualifying. The 2011 contest, however, marked a comeback for Sweden as a Eurovision country when Eric Saade came 3rd with the song "Popular" after a voting system change in Melodifestivalen. The positive tendency continued with the Swedish victory in 2012.

The Eurovision Song Contest has been hosted in Sweden four times, twice in Stockholm (1975 and 2000), once in Gothenburg (1985) and once in Malmö (1992). The next contest in 2013 will be held in Malmö again, but this time in the Malmö Arena.

Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting in 1997.