Melodifestivalen is arguably the most recognized Swedish national annual event in history. Every year, starting from the middle of February to the middle of March, six nights are reserved for the festival, in which selected artists sing an original song for the chance to reach the finals. The first four nights are the qualifiers, while the fifth night is deemed as the “second chance” and the last night the final. The Melodifestivalen has been Sweden’s contest to determine which song, chosen by the people, would be allowed to enter the Eurovision Song Contest as the country’s representative.

Night 1:

The winners of the first night included Eric Saade singing “Sting”, the man who entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 with his hit song “Popular”, which frankly only really won because of his stunning looks, and Jessica Anderson with “Can’t Hurt Me Now”.

Night 2: 

Marriette sang “Don’t Stop Believing” in her victory during the second night (no, not Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’. Notice the apostrophe for the difference) and the runner-up was able to move on by singing a new Swedish hit “Möt Mig I Gamla Stan”, directly translated as “Meet me in Gamla Stan”.

Night 3:

The third night brought in some favorable songs such as “Don’t Stop” by Isa, and “Jag är Fri” by Jon Henrik Fjällgren.

Night 4:

“Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw won by a huge margin in this qualifier as the second place song, “Building It Up” by JTR, got half the votes that “Heroes” did.

Second Chance:

While the initial qualifiers showcase seven contestants, the second chance night allows two singers from each night to try again for the finals. This year brought back a duel-type style, which means that four of the eight contestants entered the finals. These winners included:

• Linus Svenning with “Forever Starts Today”
• Hasse Andersson with “Guld och Gröna Skogar” (translated to “Gold and Green Forests”)
• Dinah Nah with “Make Me (La La La)
• Samir and Viktor with “Groupie”

With the twelve contestants of the finals finally determined, the last night was held at Friends Arena in Stockholm, on the 14^th of March.

The Finals:

In order, here are the contestants that participated in the finals of the Melodifestivalen 2015:

1. Samir and Viktor – “Groupie”
2. JTR – “Building It Up”
3. Dinah Nah – “Make Me (La La La)
4. Jon Henrik Fjällgren – “ Jag är Fri”
5. Jessica Andersson – “Can’t Hurt Me Now”
6. Måns Zelmerlöw – “Heroes”
7. Linus Svenning – “Forever Starts Today”
8. Isa – “ Don’t Stop”
9. Magnus Carlsson – “Möt Mig I Gamla Stan”
10. Eric Saade – “Sting”
11. Mariette – “Don’t Stop Believing”
12. Hasse Andersson – “Guld och Gröna Skogar”

Now before announcing who won the actual festival and who will be advancing to the Eurovision Song Contest, here is some groundbreaking news. This year’s victory has seen the largest marginal between first and second place points in the entire 55 years of the Melodifestivalen. The marginal is even bigger than ABBA’s win with their hit song “Waterloo” in 1974.

The winner of the Melodifestivalen 2015 is “Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw!

If you want to check out the song for yourselves to see if it deserved to win, here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCdb6vNuiM