| Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Sveriges Television (SVT) | |||
| Country |  Sweden | |||
| Selection process | Melodifestivalen 2011 | |||
| Selection date | 12 March 2011 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Popular" | |||
| Artist | Eric Saade | |||
| Songwriters | Fredrik Kempe | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (1st, 155 points) | |||
| Final result | 3rd, 185 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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Sweden was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Popular", written byFredrik Kempe, and performed byEric Saade. The Swedish participating broadcaster,Sveriges Television (SVT), organised the national finalMelodifestivalen 2011 in order to select its entry for the contest. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "Popular" performed by Eric Saade emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
Sweden was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 8, "Popular" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Sweden placed first out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 155 points. In the final, Sweden performed in position 7 and placed third out of the 25 participating countries with 185 points.
Prior to the 2011 contest,Sveriges Radio (SR) until 1979, andSveriges Television (SVT) since 1980, had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Sweden fifty times since SR's first entry in1958.[1] Sweden had won the contest on four occasions: in1974 with the song "Waterloo" performed byABBA, in1984 with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed byHerreys, in1991 with the song "Fångad av en stormvind" performed byCarola, and in1999 with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" performed byCharlotte Nilsson. Following theintroduction of semi-finals for the2004, Sweden's entries, to this point, have featured in every final except for2010 when the nation failed to qualify with the song "This Is My Life" performed byAnna Bergendahl.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, SVT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1959, SR first and SVT later have organised the annual competitionMelodifestivalen in order to select their entries for the contest.
Melodifestivalen 2011 was the Swedish music competition that selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. 32 songs competed in a six-week-long process which consisted of four heats on 5, 12, 19 and 26 February 2011, a Second Chance round on 5 March 2011, and a final on 12 March 2011. The six shows were hosted byMarie Serneholt andRickard Olsson. Eight songs competed in each heat—the top two qualified directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs qualified to the Second Chance round. The bottom four songs in each heat were eliminated from the competition. An additional two songs qualified to the final from the Second Chance round. The results in the heats and Second Chance round were determined exclusively by public televoting, while the overall winner of the competition was selected in the final through the combination of a public vote and the votes from eleven international jury groups. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest contestantsElisabeth Andreassen who representedSweden in 1982 as part of the groupChips as well asNorway in 1985 which she won as part of the duoBobbysocks!,1994 performing in a duet withJan Werner Danielsen and1996.[2]
The final was held on 12 March 2011 at theGlobe Arena inStockholm. Ten songs competed—two qualifiers from each of the four preceding heats and two qualifiers from the Second Chance round. The combination of points from a viewer vote and eleven international jury groups determined the winner. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 473 points to award. The nations that comprised the international jury were Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Russia, San Marino, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. "Popular" performed byEric Saade was selected as the winner with 193 points.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Juries | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Saucedo | "In the Club" | 79 | 70 | 149 | 2 |
| 2 | Sara Varga | "Spring för livet" | 23 | 27 | 50 | 9 |
| 3 | The Moniker | "Oh My God!" | 55 | 69 | 124 | 3 |
| 4 | Brolle | "7 Days and 7 Nights" | 8 | 21 | 29 | 10 |
| 5 | Linda Bengtzing | "E de fel på mig?" | 42 | 16 | 58 | 7 |
| 6 | Nicke Borg | "Leaving Home" | 20 | 37 | 57 | 8 |
| 7 | Swingfly | "Me and My Drum" | 44 | 49 | 93 | 5 |
| 8 | Sanna Nielsen | "I'm in Love" | 75 | 39 | 114 | 4 |
| 9 | The Playtones | "The King" | 46 | 33 | 79 | 6 |
| 10 | Eric Saade | "Popular" | 81 | 112 | 193 | 1 |
Performing 8th in the running order, following Moldova and preceding Cyprus, Sweden was called out as the last qualifier from the second semi-final on 12 May 2011. It was later revealed that Sweden placed first of nineteen competing entries in the second semi-final with 155 points.[3] Soon after, Sweden was drawn to perform 7th in the grand final on 14 May 2011, where it finished in third place with 185 points, beaten only by Italy with 189 points and Azerbaijan with 221 points.[4] This was the best result for Sweden since1999, whenCharlotte Nilsson won the contest.
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