Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio to determine the song and artist that will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It has been staged under various formats every year since 1959, with the exceptions of 1964, 1970 and 1976. The competition is broadcast live on television and radio, with considerable popularity, being the most popular television programme in Sweden every year since 2000. In 2006, an estimated 4.2 million people, which is almost 47% of Sweden's population, watched the finals, while the semifinals has averaged 3.1 million viewers. The winner is chosen by a number of juries and a national televote. In 2008 the number of televotes in the finale was counted to over 2,4 million, which is a Nordic record. Until 2001 the competition was usually limited to between eight and twelve songs, but since the introduction of semifinals in 2002 that number has risen to 32. The competition is usually seen as being dominated by schlager and dansband music, so much so that the competition is often referred to as Schlagerfestivalen by the Swedish media, but other styles of music such as rap, reggae and glam rock have made an appearance in recent years, with varying degrees of success. The competition's impact on the Swedish music charts is enormous, with 18 participanting songs making the Hitlistan chart in 2005, 23 in 2006 and 21 in 2007. The 2007 competition was won by The Ark with "The Worrying Kind".
Past winners of Melodifestivalen:
1958: Alice Babs - Lilla stjärna (4th in ESC) 1959: Siw Malmkvist - Augustin (9th in ESC, performed by Brita Borg) 1960: Östen Warnerbring/Inger Berggren - Alla andra får varann (10th in ESC, performed by Siw Malmkvist) 1961: Siw Malmkvist/Gunnar Wiklund - April, April (14th in ESC, performed by Lill-Babs) 1962: Inger Berggren - Sol och vår (7th in ESC) 1963: Monica Zetterlund - En gång i Stockholm (13th in ESC) 1964: - 1965: Ingvar Wixell - Annorstädes vals (10th in ESC, as "Absent Friends") 1966: Lill Lindfors & Svante Thuresson - Nygammal vals (2nd in ESC) 1967: Östen Warnerbring - Som en dröm (8th in ESC) 1968: Claes Göran Hederström - Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej (5th in ESC) 1969: Tommy Körberg - Judy, min vän (9th in ESC) 1970: - 1971: Family Four - Vita vidder (6th in ESC) 1972: Family Four - Härliga sommardag (13th in ESC) 1973: Malta - Sommaren som aldrig säger nej (5th in ESC, as "You're Summer") 1974: ABBA - Waterloo (Winner of ESC) 1975: Lasse Berghagen - Jennie, Jennie (8th in ESC) 1976: - 1977: Forbes - Beatles (18th in ESC) 1978: Björn Skifs - Det blir alltid värre framåt natten (14th in ESC) 1979: Ted Gärdestad - Satellit (17th in ESC) 1980: Tomas Ledin - Just nu (10th in ESC) 1981: Björn Skifs - Fångad i en dröm (10th in ESC) 1982: Chips - Dag efter dag (8th in ESC) 1983: Carola Häggkvist - Främling (3rd in ESC) 1984: Herreys - Diggi-loo diggi-ley (Winner of ESC) 1985: Kikki Danielsson - Bra vibrationer (3rd in ESC) 1986: Lasse Holm & Monica Törnell - E' de' det här du kallar kärlek? (5th in ESC) 1987: Lotta Engberg - Fyra bugg och en coca cola (12th in ESC) 1988: Tommy Körberg - Stad i ljus (12th in ESC) 1989: Tommy Nilsson - En dag (4th in ESC) 1990: Edin-Ådahl - Som en vind (16th in ESC) 1991: Carola Häggkvist - Fångad av en stormvind (Winner of ESC) 1992: Christer Björkman - I morgan är en annan dag (22nd in ESC) 1993: Arvingarna - Eloise (7th in ESC) 1994: Roger Pontare & Marie Bergman - Stjärnorna (13th in ESC) 1995: Jan Johansen - Se på mig (3rd in ESC) 1996: One More Time - Den vilda (3rd in ESC) 1997: Blond - Bara hon älskar mej (14th in ESC) 1998: Jill Johnson - Kärleken är (10th in ESC) 1999: Charlotte Nilsson - Tusen och en natt (Winner of ESC, as "Take Me to Your Heaven") 2000: Roger Pontare - När vindarna viskar mitt namn (7th in ESC, as "When Spirits Are Calling My Name") 2001: Friends - Lyssna till ditt hjärta (5th in ESC, as "Listen to Your Heartbeat") 2002: Afro-Dite - Never Let It Go (8th in ESC) 2003: Fame - Give Me Your Love (5th in ESC) 2004: Lena Philipsson - Det gör ont (6th in ESC, as "It Hurts") 2005: Martin Stenmarck - Las Vegas (19th in ESC) 2006: Carola - Evighet (5th in ESC, as "Invincible") 2007: The Ark - The Worrying Kind (18th in ESC) 2008: Charlotte Perrelli - Hero (? in ESC)
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/melodifestivalen-xfrks/biography
