Previous Melodifestivalen winner Loreen has won this year's Swedish national final with 'Tattoo' and will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time!
Loreen is not the first singer to win the coveted Melodifestivalen (Melfest) trophy more than once. Nine other artists have also had the honour.
Melodifestivalen has had a long history since 1959 with almost sixty artists taking out the win. We run through the multiple winners of the prestigious Melodifestivalen (with their winning entries and year they won):
Siw Malmkvist
'Augustin' 1959 / 'April, april' 1961
Siw Malmkvist was the very first winner of Melodifestivalen back in 1959 with the song 'Augustin' however she wasn't selected to be the first to represent Sweden at Eurovision, as the Swedish Eurovision singers were chosen internally by SVT. Brita Borg sung the first Melfest winning song, 'Augustin', at Eurovision finishing in 9th place.
Here is Siw performing a portion of 'Augustin' at the Schlagerpride in 2011.
Siw went on to represent Sweden at Eurovision in 1960 with the song 'Alla andra får varann'. The song won Melfest in 1960 performed by Östen Warnerbring and Inger Berggren. Siw's rendition at Eurovision earned her a 10th place.
The following year Siw would return to Melfest with the song 'April, april' and along with Gunnar Wiklund, won the competition. Lil-Babs was selected to perform the song at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest. She finished in 14th place.
In 1969, Siw would go on to represent West Germany at Eurovision with the song 'Primaballerina'. She finished in 9th place.
Östen Warnerbring
'Alla andra får varann' 1960 / 'Som en dröm' 1967
Östen Warnerbring, aka "Östen with the Voice", was the second ever winner of Melfest in 1960 along with Inger Berggren who both performed 'Alla andra får varann' in the competition. The first winner of Melfest, Siw Malmkvist, was chosen to sing the winning song at Eurovision.
In 1967, Östen won Melfest with the song 'Som en dröm', which he got to compete with at Eurovision. 'Som en dröm' was co-written by Swedish musical director and entrepreneur Marcus Österdahl. His son, Martin Österdahl is now the current Eurovision Song Contest executive supervisor.
Östen would go on to compete at Melfest eleven times. His final appearance in the competition was in 1974 with the self-penned song 'En mysig vals'. It finished in last place.
Inger Berggren
'Alla andra får varann' 1960 / 'Sol och vår' 1962
Inger Berggren first won Melfest in 1960 together with Östen Warnerbring with the song 'Alla andra får varann'. However, due to SVT internally selecting the artist to compete at Eurovision neither of them headed to the 1960 Contest. Instead, previous Melfest winner Siw headed to the Contest in London.
In 1962, Inger won Melfest for the second time with Lily Berglund with the song 'Sol och vår'. Inger was selected to represent Sweden at Eurovision where she finished in 7th place.
Tommy Körberg
'Judy, min vän' 1969 / 'Stad i ljus' 1988
Tommy Körberg first won Melfest in 1969 with 'Judy, min vän'. At Eurovision he finished in 9th place. Recently, Tommy performed a duet of the Melfest winning song with Melfest 2018 winner Benjamin Ingrosso with the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It is a very heart-felt performance.
19 years after his first Melfest win, Tommy took out the competition yet again with 'Stad i ljus' and went on to compete at Eurovision 1988. Tommy finished in 12th place in Dublin.
Family Four
'Vita vidder' 1971 / 'Härliga sommardag' 1972
Swedish pop group, Family Four, were the first and only back-to-back winners of Melfest and the first group to win the competition. They won with the song 'Vita vidder' which finished in 6th place at Eurovision. The following year, their Melfest winning entry 'Härliga sommardag' got them 13th place finish at Eurovision.
At the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Family Four performed for Sweden during the opening ceremony.
Björn Skifs
'Det blir alltid värre framåt natten' 1978 / 'Fångad i en dröm' 1981
Björn Skifs won Melfest for the first time in 1978 with 'Det blir alltid värre framåt natten'. The catchy number finished in 14th place at Eurovision. Three years later Björn would take the Melfest crown yet again, this time with a co-written song 'Fångad i en dröm'. He represented Sweden at the 1981 Eurovision in Dublin finishing in 10th place.
Before any of Björn's Melfest wins, he fronted the band Blue Swede which scored a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US with a cover of Mark James's 'Hooked on a Feeling'.
Carola Häggkvist
'Främling' 1983 / 'Fångad av en stormvind' 1991 / 'Evighet' 2006
At just 16-years-old, Carola Häggkvist went on to win Melfest with 'Främling'. At Eurovision in 1983 she finished in third place, which was Sweden's third ever best result at the time. Carola went on to release her debut album, also called 'Främling'. It sold over one million copies, making it the biggest-selling album in Swedish history.
Carola returned to Melfest in 1990 with the song 'Mitt i ett äventyr' which finished in second place. Carola was determined to get another win, she competed again the following year.
Carola won the 1991 Melfest competition with the upbeat song 'Fångad av en stormvind'. She represented Sweden for the second time at Eurovision and won the whole Contest. Carola scored the same set of overall points as the French entry 'C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison' by Amina. Due to the tie, there was a 'count-back' to determine the winner. Both Sweden and France scored four sets of 12 points, but Sweden had received five sets of 10 points compared to France's two sets of 10's, therefore, Carola was ultimately declared the winner.
The Eurovision 1991 winner would win Melfest in 2006 for the third time, a record, with the song 'Evighet'. At Eurovision Carola performed an English version of the song 'Invincible', where she finished in 5th place.
In 2008, Carola made another Melfest return, but this time as a duo act with Andreas Johnson competing as Johnson & Häggkvist. They competed with the song 'One Love' making it to the Andra Chansen second chance round. Nordman who competed in this year's Melfast knocked them out.
Carola remains the artist with the most Melfest wins ever. She has so far competed in the competition five times.
Roger Pontare
'Stjärnorna' 1994 / 'När vindarna viskar mitt namn' 2000
Roger Pontare's first Melfest win came during his debut in the competition in 1994 when he performed with Marie Bergman with the song 'Stjärnorna'. The duo performed at Eurovision where they finished in 13th place.
Roger made a return to Melfest as a soloist in 1999 with the song 'Som av is' where he finished in 5th place. He went on to compete the following year with 'När vindarna viskar mitt namn' clad in a traditional outfit. Roger won the 2000 competition and competed at Eurovision for the second time. He finished in 7th place with the English version of the song called 'When Spirits Are Calling My Name'.
The musician would return for a fourth and fifth time in 2006 and 2017 respectively. Unfortunately, on his last two attempts he missed out on the Melfest Final.
Charlotte Perrelli
'Tusen och en natt' 1999 / 'Hero' 2008
Charlotte Perrelli, known back then as Charlotte Nilsson, first won Melfest back in 1999 with the uptempo pop number 'Tusen och en natt'. Charlotte competed at Eurovision with the English version of the song 'Take Me to Your Heaven' and won!! Sweden got their fourth ever Eurovision win!
It wouldn't be until 2008 when Charlotte would compete at Melfest again. She entered with the song 'Hero' and won Melfest for the second time. She competed at Eurovision in Belgrade finishing in 18th place.
Charlotte would make three further returns to Melfest in 2012, 2017 and 2021. In 2021 she made the Melfest Final with 'Still Young' finishing in 8th place.
Loreen
'Euphoria' 2012 / 'Tattoo' 2023
Loreen the first Melfest winner to win for the second time in 15 years. Loreen first competed in Melfest in 2011 with the song 'My Heart Is Refusing Me' which made it to 'Round 1' of the Andra Chansen (Second Chance) round.
Loreen made a big return the following year with the huge anthemic song 'Euphoria'. Loreen was the favourite in 2012 and won Melfest convincingly in the Final with 268 points, compared to second placed 'Amazing' by Danny Saucedo with 198 points. 'Euphoria' went on to win Eurovision 2012 becoming Sweden's sixth Eurovision win at the time.
Loreen returned to Melfest in 2017 with 'Statements' making it to the Second Chance round. She would make her next return in 2023 with 'Tattoo' to huge fanfare. She convincingly took out the 2023 competition and is now off to Eurovision for the second time. She is currently the bookies favourite in Liverpool to take out Eurovision crown. We will have to wait until May to see if Loreen can deliver Sweden's seventh ever Eurovision win!
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