Sweden's Eurovision national selection show, Melodifestivalen, has taken place for well over 60 years and is used to find the next artist to represent Sweden at Eurovision.
As the Melodifestivalen final takes place this weekend we take a look at all the Melodifestivalen winning songs that have charted in Sweden.
Out of the 63 entries, 46 songs have charted on the Swedish national singles chart. The first single to chart was Sweden’s first Eurovision winning entry ‘Waterloo’ by ABBA in 1974, the Swedish version of the song reached No. 2 and the English version reached No. 3 and was prevented from reaching the coveted spot due to ABBA’s album ‘Waterloo’, more on that later.
In this list we have ranked all the charting singles in order of their peak positions, then number of weeks at their peak, then number of weeks in the chart.
This list has been complied from the swedishcharts.com archive which you can find here.
swedishcharts.com is complied by the following charts:
Combined album and singles sales chart (complied by Kvällstoppen) before 1975
Topplistan from 1975 to 1997
Hitlistan from 1998 to 2007
National record chart - Sverigetopplistan 2008 to present day
Let’s take a look at the Melfest winning entries that charted in Sweden:
46. Lotta Engberg - ‘Fyra Bugg och en Coca Cola' - 1987
(No. 19 - 1 week on chart)
45. Monica Törnell & Lasse Holm - ‘E’ de' det här du kallar kärlek?’ - 1986
(No. 17 - 2 weeks at peak - 2 weeks on chart)
44. Edin-Ådahl - ‘Som en vind’ - 1990
(No. 15 - 2 weeks on chart)
43. Kikki Danielsson - 'Bra vibrationer' - 1985
(No. 12 - 8 weeks on chart)
42. Björn Skifs - ‘Fångad i en dröm’ - 1981
(No. 11 - 3 weeks on chart)
41. Ted Gärdestad - ‘Satellit’ - 1979
(No. 10 - 4 weeks on chart)
40. Arvingarna - ‘Eloise’ - 7th place in 1993
(No. 10 - 9 weeks on chart)
39. Björn Skifs - ‘Det blir alltid värre framåt natten’ - 1978
(No. 8 - 4 weeks on chart)
38. Tommy Körberg - ‘Stad i ljus’ - 1988
(No. 8 - 17 weeks on chart)
37. One More Time - ‘Den vilda’ - 1996
(No. 7 - 2 weeks at peak - 19 weeks on chart)
36. Christer Björkman - ‘I morgon är en annan dag’ - 1992
(No. 5 - 6 weeks on chart)
35. Jill Johnson - ‘Kärleken är’ - 1998
(No. 5 - 20 weeks on chart)
34. Carola - ‘Främling’ - 1983
(No. 5 - 2 weeks at peak - 4 weeks on chart)
33. Chips - ‘Dag efter dag’ - 1982
(No. 4 - 6 weeks on chart)
32. Friends - ‘Lyssna till ditt hjärta’ - 2001
(No. 4 - 25 weeks on chart)
31. Blond - ‘Bara hon älskar mig’ - 1997
(No. 4 - 2 weeks at peak - 16 weeks on chart)
30. Tommy Nilsson - ‘En dag’ - 1989
(No. 3 - 5 weeks on chart)
29. Carola - ‘Fångad av en stormvind’ - 1991
(No. 3 - 6 weeks on chart)
28. Forbes - ‘Beatles’ - 1977
(No. 3 - 7 weeks on chart)
27. Robin Bengtsson - ‘I Can't Go On’ - 2017
(No. 3 - 17 weeks on chart)
26. Herreys - ‘Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley’ - 1984
(No. 2 - 6 weeks on chart)
25. Sanna Nielsen - ‘Undo’ - 2014
(No. 2 - 16 weeks on chart)
24. Benjamin Ingrosso - ‘Dance You Off’ - 2018
(No. 2 - 17 weeks on chart)
=22. Malena Ernman - ‘La voix’ - 2009
(No. 2 - 19 weeks on chart)
=22. Charlotte Nilsson - ‘Tusen och en natt’ - 1999
(No. 2 - 19 weeks on chart)
21. Roger Pontare - ‘När vindarna viskar mitt namn’ - 2000
(No. 2 - 2 weeks at peak - 22 weeks on chart)
20. ABBA - ‘Waterloo’ - 1974
(No. 2 on the chart)
‘Waterloo’ was immensely popular in Sweden, but did not reach No. 1 as it was held back from the top spot by ABBA’s album ‘Waterloo’. Music sales were combined back then by Kvällstoppen, and the weekly chart was combined with both album and singles together. At the peak of the song's popularity, its Swedish and English versions reached No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. In Australia ‘Waterloo’ reached No. 4 in the singles chart and it makes it the highest charting Swedish Eurovision entry on the Australian charts.
19. Tomas Ledin - ‘Just nu!’ - 1980
(No. 1 - 8 weeks on chart)
18. The Mamas - ‘Move’ - 2020
(No. 1 - 13 weeks on chart)
=16. Martin Stenmarck - ‘Las Vegas’ - 2005
(No.1 - 17 weeks on chart)
=16. Afro-dite - ‘Never Let It Go’ - 2002
(No. 1 - 17 weeks on chart)
15. Måns Zelmerlöw - ‘Heroes’ - 2015
(No. 1 - 2 weeks at peak - 24 weeks on chart)
Måns Zelmerlöw managed to take the Melodifestivalen crown on his third attempt with ‘Heroes’ in 2015 and represented Sweden at Eurovision. In a very tough year Måns Zelmerlöw managed to give Sweden’s their sixth and last Eurovision win.
He managed to reach the top spot of Sweden’s singles chart for two weeks and got his second Swedish No.1 since 2007 when he reached the top spot with his Melodifestivalen 2007 entry ‘Cara Mia’. In Australia ‘Heroes’ reached No. 19 in the singles chart and is the second highest charting Swedish Eurovision entry in Australia.
14. Tusse - ‘Voices’ - 2021
(No. 1 - 2 weeks at peak - 26 weeks on chart)
13. Fame - ‘Give Me Your Love’ - 2003
(No. 1 - 3 weeks at peak - 18 weeks on chart)
12. Carola - ‘Evighet’ - 2006
(No. 1 - 3 weeks at peak - 24 weeks on chart)
Carola's third winning Melfest entry ‘Evighet’ reached No. 1 for 3 weeks, it remains her most successful single on the Swedish charts and her only No. 1 song. The English version of the song which Carola performed at Eurovision, 'Invincible' reached No. 29.
11. Cornelia Jakobs - ‘Hold Me Closer’ - 2022
(No. 1 - 3 weeks at peak - 30 weeks on chart)
10. Anna Bergendahl - ‘This Is My Life’ - 2010
(No. 1 - 4 weeks at peak - 17 weeks on chart)
Anna Bergendahl won Melfest during her debut in the Contest in 2010 with ‘This Is My Life’. At Eurovision it is the only Swedish entry to fail to qualify to the Grand Final but that didn’t stop the song from being a hit in Sweden.
‘This Is My Life’ reached No. 1 for four consecutive weeks. It remains Anna's only No. 1 hit single. She would go on to return to Melodifestivalen four more times. In 2020 she got her best result since her return finishing in third place with the song 'Kingdom Come'. The song charted at No. 9 in Sweden.
9. The Ark - ‘The Worrying Kind’ - 2007
(No. 1 - 4 weeks at peak - 20 weeks on chart)
8. John Lundvik - 'Too Late for Love' - 2019
(No. 1 - 4 weeks at peak - 26 weeks on chart)
7. Charlotte Perrelli - ‘Hero’ - 2008
(No. 1 - 5 weeks at peak - 19 weeks on chart)
6. Robin Stjernberg - ‘You’ - 2013
(No. 1 - 5 weeks at peak - 22 weeks on chart)
5. Frans - ‘If I Were Sorry’ - 2016
(No. 1 - 5 weeks at peak - 25 weeks on chart)
4. Eric Saade - ‘Popular’ - 2011
(No. 1 - 5 weeks at peak - 27 weeks on chart)
3. Loreen - ‘Euphoria’ - 2012
(No. 1 - 6 weeks at peak - 43 weeks on chart)
After being knocked out in the Second Chance round in 2011 with the song 'My Heart Is refusing Me', Loreen would return the following year with a huge anthemic song 'Euphoria'.
It won Melfest and then won Eurovision securing Sweden their fifth Eurovision win.
‘Euphoria’ went on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide. It charted across Europe, and reached No. 1 in seventeen countries, making it the most successfully charting Eurovision song ever. It also charted in Australia reaching No. 36 on the ARIA singles chart and No. 4 on the ARIA dance chart. In Sweden 'Euphoria' reached No. 1 for six weeks.
2. Lena Philipsson - ‘Det gör ont’ - 2004
(No. 1 - 7 weeks at peak - 37 weeks on chart)
After entering Melodifestivalen three previous times as an artist and two previous times as a songwriter Lena Philipsson finally found her crowning glory with the song ‘Det gör ont’ in 2004. The Swedish version of the song charted exceptionally well in Sweden staying at the top spot at No. 1 for seven weeks. The English version 'It Hurts, which Lena competed with at Eurovision 2004, reached No. 4 in Sweden.
1. Jan Johansen - ‘Se på mig’ - 1995
(No. 1 - 9 weeks at peak - 31 weeks on chart)
‘Se på mig’, which translates to ‘Look At Me’, spent 9 weeks at No. 1 in the Sverigetopplistan singles charts in 1995. It was a popular song throughout Sweden, it impressively remained at the No. 1 spot in the Svensktoppen (a weekly record chart which airs on Sveriges Radio) for 15 weeks.
Since 1995 Johansen has entered Melodifestivalen another four times in 2001, 2002, 2003 and again in 2020 where he participated in the second semifinal replacing Thorsten Flinck who was disqualified.
Check out our Melodifestivalen 2023 Final preview and Aussievision song rankings 1st to 12th article.
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