SVT have confirmed that Sweden will be taking part in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Italy. They will select their act using the long-running national final format, Melodifestivalen – which has been used to select Sweden’s act every year since 1959. Sweden will be looking to return to the top 10 next year after Tusse finished 14th in Rotterdam with “Voices”.
Sweden’s 2021 result was their first finish outside of the top 10 since the 2013 contest which was held Malmö. Sweden have won the contest six times, with their most recent win courtesy of Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015. The Nordic nation hasn’t missed a Eurovision contest since 1976 when they withdrew due to financial reasons after hosting the contest the year before in Stockholm.
Sweden will be off to Italy in May
Sweden’s broadcaster SVT confirmed the news to ESCToday yesterday, meaning they join the likes of Australia, Norway, The Netherlands and Finland in confirming their participation for 2022.
They also confirmed that the act will be select via Melodifestivalen. More news about the selection will be announced in due course. It was already announced a few weeks ago that there would be no P4 Nästa wildcard spot for next year’s national final. According to SVT, he wildcard has been “paused” for 2022.
As the second most-successful country in the contest, Sweden will be looking to gain another win next year. If Sweden gained a first place finish, it would mean that they would join Ireland as the joint most-successful Eurovision country based on their number of wins.
Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest
Making their debut in 1958, Sweden have always maintained an excellent record of results at Eurovision. Sweden made it to the top three for the first time in 1966. The Swedish entry “Nygammal vals” finished in 2nd place at the contest in Luxembourg City. They then scored their first win in 1974 with “Waterloo”, launching ABBA into global success. “Waterloo” was also chosen as the winner of Eurovision’s 50th anniversary celebration show Congratulations in 2005.
Over the years, Sweden have won a further five times – Herreys (1984), Carola (1991), Charlotte Nilsson (1999), Loreen (2012) and Måns Zelmerlöw (2015). They have also finished in 3rd place six times – but after their second place finish in 1966, they have never finished as runner-up again.
This year, Tusse was selected to represent Sweden in Rotterdam with his song “Voices”. At Melodifestivalen, he managed to beat off strong competition from 2011 podium finisher Eric Saade and 2020 entrants The Mamas. He advanced from the first semi-final, finishing in 7th place. In the grand final, Sweden finished in 14th place with 109 points.
Are you happy that Sweden will be taking part in next year’s contest? Does it really come as much as a surprise?
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