The Swedish national broadcaster SVT has published the rules for the Melodifestivalen 2026, Sweden’s Eurovision selection contest, and announced the song submission period. How will Sweden’s entry for Eurovision 2026 be selected?
The process for selecting Sweden’s entry for Eurovision 2026 is underway: The Swedish national broadcaster SVT has released the participation rules for Melodifestivalen 2026, the nation’s famous pre-Eurovision contest. The song submission window runs from August 18th to September 12th, 2025, with thirty songs competing for the honor of representing Sweden – one of Eurovision’s most successful countries, boasting seven impressive victories.
How Will Sweden’s Eurovision Entry Be Chosen?
The contest, held from February to March, features five heats, each with six songs vying for a spot in the grand final. Twelve songs will compete in the final, where only one will earn the right to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2026 in Austria. The winner is determined by a combination of international jury panels and Swedish public voting. Unlike in previous years, when the juries included professional judges alongside viewers with no musical background, this year the judges will be people with a musical background only. The names of the participants, their songs, and the songwriters will be revealed in November or December 2025.
Each year, Melodifestivalen attracts many artists who have previously represented Sweden or sought their chance at Eurovision. Last year, Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw competed, along with well-known singers like John Lundvik, Klara Hammarström, Dolly Style, and others. Audiences are eagerly waiting to discover which contestants will return this year and make it another exciting and thrilling competition.
The Melodifestivalen Vision for 2026
This year, the competition’s production team will be joined by producers Karin Gunnarsson, Lotte Furebäck, Daniel Edvardson, and producer and voting manager Victor Berglund.
Andres Wistbaka, Melodifestivalen’s project manager, stated:
“We at Melodifestivalen always want to get better. We retain the editorial power that has made Melodifestivalen so strong, but supplement it with insights into what engages and works in today’s digital music landscape”.
Sweden’s pre-selection has flourished since the early 2000s, consistently earning high scores and acclaim. Every year, over 2,500 songs are submitted, a remarkable figure. In 2025, there were 2,794 submissions; in 2024, 2,624 songs; in 2023, 2,824 songs; and in 2022, 2,530 songs. Once again, Sweden has its sights set on an eighth victory to strengthen its Eurovision record. Will this be the year? The answer will be revealed at Eurovision 2026 in Austria.
Sweden at Eurovision 2025:
“Bara bada bastu” (in English: “Just take a sauna”) is the title of the song which was performed by band KAJ, who represented Sweden in Eurovision 2025, in Basel, Switzerland – Placing 4th with 321 points. The song was written by the band members – Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman, and Jakob Norrgård – along with Anderz Wrethov, Kristoffer Strandberg, and Robert Skowronski.
The song led the betting predictions throughout the competition, reaching a peak of 49% winning probability, but ultimately finished in fourth place with 321 points – 126 points from the juries, ranked sixth, and 195 more points from the public, ranked third.
Eurovision 2025: This was Sweden’s 64th appearance in the competition. Sweden joined Eurovision in 1958 and has won the contest seven times over the years. The country’s most recent victory came in 2023, when Loreen won with the song “Tattoo”.
