Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959. In the early 2000s, the competition was the most popular television program in Sweden; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the heats averaged 3.3 million viewers, and over an estimated four million people in Sweden watched the final, almost half of the Swedish population.
Barbro Margareta Svensson, known by her stage name Lill-Babs, was a Swedish singer, actress and television host. From the early 1950s until her death in 2018, she was one of Sweden's best-known and popular singers. She represented Sweden in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes with the song "April, april". She was also well known for the song "Är du kär i mej ännu Klas-Göran?".
Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut in 1958, missing only three contests since then. 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 (1985). At the 1997 contest, Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting.
Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht", and on 18 July 1964 she became the first Swede to have a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, when "Sole Sole Sole", a duet with Italian singer Umberto Marcato, entered the chart, peaking at No. 58. Malmkwist is notable for having recorded in more than 10 languages, including Swedish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and particularly German.
Svante Thuresson was a Swedish jazz musician. He started his career as a drummer before joining the band Gals and Pals in 1963. Svante won the national selection and represented Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in 1966 with Nygammal vals and came in second place; he performed with Lill Lindfors.
Melodifestivalen is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song "Augustin", composed by Harry Sandin, with lyrics by Åke Gerhard, and performed by Brita Borg. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final, after having previously selected the performer internally.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with the song "Alla andra får varann", composed by Ulf Kjellqvist, with lyrics by Åke Gerhard, and performed by Siw Malmkvist. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final. The song was performed once by Östen Warnerbring and once by Ingrid Berggren at the national final, however SR decided that Malmkvist would represent Sweden, as she had been denied that the previous year.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 with the song "Sol och vår", written by Åke Gerhard and Ulf Källqvist, and performed by Inger Berggren. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final titled Eurovisionsschlagern, svensk final.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "En gång i Stockholm", composed by Bobbie Ericsson, with lyrics by Beppe Wolgers, and performed by Monica Zetterlund. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final titled Eurovisionsschlagern, svensk final.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 with the song "Absent Friend", composed by Dag Wirén, with lyrics by Alf Henrikson, and performed by Ingvar Wixell. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final titled Svensk sångfinal, after having previously selected the performer internally.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 with the song "Nygammal vals", composed by Bengt-Arne Wallin, with lyrics by Björn Lindroth, and performed by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final titled Svensk sångfinal.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with the song "Judy, min vän", composed by Roger Wallis, with lyrics by Britt Lindeborg, and performed by Tommy Körberg. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1969. In the national final, a tie occurred between two songs, but after additional voting, the song "Judy, min vän" performed by Tommy Körberg, was selected over the other song, "Hej clown", written by Lasse Berghagen and later ABBA member Benny Andersson, and performed by Jan Malmsjö.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 with the song "You're Summer", composed by Monica Dominique and Carl-Axel Dominique, with lyrics by Lars Forssell, and performed by Nova and the Dolls. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1973.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 with the song "Waterloo", composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by Stig Anderson, and performed by the group ABBA –comprising Andersson, Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Fältskog–. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry for the contest through Melodifestivalen 1974. The song, that was originally performed in Swedish in the national final, was translated into English for Eurovision, something the rules allowed between the years 1973 and 1976.
Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "Den vilda", composed by Peter Grönvall, with lyrics by Nanne Grönvall, and performed by the band One More Time. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1996.
Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with the song "Primaballerina", written by Hans Blum, and performed by Siw Malmkvist. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), selected its entry through the national final Ein Lied für Madrid.
Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 with the song "Zwei kleine Italiener", composed by Christian Bruhn, with lyrics by George Buschor, and performed by Conny Froboess. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Südwestfunk (SWF), selected its entry through a national final.
Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with the song "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli", written by Arne Bendiksen, and performed by Kirsti Sparboe. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), selected its entry through the Melodi Grand Prix 1969. This was the last of three Eurovision appearances in five years for Sparboe.
This is a list of Swedish television related events from 1961.
Sweden 
