Melodifestivalen

Melodifestivalen (Swedish pronunciation: [mɛlʊˈdîːfɛstɪˌvɑːlɛn]; lit. 'the Melody Festival') 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.

The festival has produced seven Eurovision winners and 26 top-five placings for Sweden in the contest. The winner of Melodifestivalen has been chosen by panels of jurors since its inception. Since 1999, the juries have been joined by a public telephone vote which has an equal influence over the outcome. The competition makes a considerable impact on the music charts in Sweden.

The introduction of heats in 2002 raised the potential number of contestants from around twelve to thirty-two. A children's version of the competition, Lilla Melodifestivalen, also began that year. Light orchestrated pop songs, known locally as schlager music, used to be so prevalent that the festival was sometimes referred to as schlagerfestivalen ("the schlager festival") or schlager-sm ("schlager Swedish championship") by the Swedish media. However, other styles of music, such as rap, reggae, and glam rock, have made an appearance since the event's expansion. The introduction of a final in Stockholm has attracted substantial tourism to the city.