Melodifestivalen 2006

Melodifestivalen 2006

Final:	18 March 2006
Presenter:	Lena Philipsson
Venue:	Globen
Director:	Sven Stojanovic
Commentator:	Pekka Heino
Viewing figures (approx):	4,240,000 (about 38 % of Sweden's population)
Voting:	50/50 Jury, SMS and telephone voting
Total number of televotes cast:	1,913,152
Interval Act:	Helena Paparizou, Lena Philipsson
Winner:	Evighet performed by Carola Häggkvist
Winner's result at Eurovision:	5th

Melodifestivalen 2006 was the selection for the 46th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 45th time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five semifinals had taken place to select the ten songs for the final, in Leksand, Karlstad, Karlskrona, Gothenburg and a Second Chance round in Stockholm. The final was broadcast on SVT1 and Sveriges Radio's P4 network. Carola Häggkvist was the clear favourite to win the final [1], with bookmakers making her favourite and an Aftonbladet web poll showing her to have a clear margin over the other participants. The rehearsals sold out for the fourth year running [2], however Carola was unable to perform in the final rehearsal due to throat problems [3]. This led to speculation that the final would be closer than expected. Aftonbladet claimed in April 2006 that the televote may have been tampered with [4], as various sources reported unexplained voting (predominantly for Carola) on their telephone bills. It is clear that this would not have affected the result. Various finalists and semifinalists entered the Swedish Hitlistan chart after the competition [5]. The second placed song, Temple of Love finished fourth in the Eurovision Madrid National Finals Song Contest.

Semifinals

Main article: Melodifestivalen 2006 semifinals

Results

#	Artist	Song	Songwriters	Votes			Place
				Jury	Public	Total
1	Andreas Johnson	Sing for Me	Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint	112	88	200	3rd
2	Björn Kjellman	Älskar du livet	Calle Kindbom, Dan Fernström	6	0	6	9th
3	Linda Bengtzing	Jag ljuger så bra	Lars "Dille" Diedricson, Martin Hedström, Ingela "Pling" Forsman	34	22	56	7th
4	The Poodles	Night of Passion	Robert Olausson, Maiti Alfonzetti, Sonja Aldén, Johan Lyander	32	66	98	4th
5	Magnus Carlsson	Lev livet!	Anders Glenmark, Niklas Strömstedt	19	0	19	8th
6	Rednex	Mama Take Me Home	Matthews Green, Michael Clauss	17	44	61	6th
7	Carola	Evighet	Bobby Ljunggren, Thomas G:son, Henrik Wikström	102	132	234	1st
8	Magnus Bäcklund	The Name of Love	Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson	57	11	68	5th
9	Kikki Danielsson	I dag & i morgon	Thomas G:son, Calle Kindbom	2	0	2	10th
10	BWO	Temple of Love	Alexander Bard, Anders Hansson	92	110	202	2nd

Juries

Song	Örebro	Luleå	Falun	Karlstad	Umeå	Norrköping	Göteborg	Sundsvall	Växjö	Malmö	Stockholm	Total
Sing for Me	8	12	10	12	12	12	8	10	12	10	6	112
Älskar du livet	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	6
Jag ljuger så bra	1	6	6	1	2	6	1	4	2	4	1	34
Night of Passion	6	2	2	6	1	2	2	1	4	2	4	32
Lev livet	-	-	1	4	4	1	-	-	1	-	8	19
Mama Take Me Home	4	4	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	1	-	17
Evighet	2	8	12	10	10	10	12	12	8	8	10	102
The Name of Love	10	1	8	8	8	4	4	2	6	6	-	57
Idag och imorgon	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
Temple of Love	12	10	4	2	6	8	10	6	10	12	12	92

Televotes

Song	Jury	No. of televotes (%)	Points	Total
Sing for Me	112	&&&+350.938 (18%)	88	200
Älskar du livet	6	&&&&+83.917 (4%)	-	6
Jag ljuger så bra	34	&&&+138.249 (7%)	22	56
Night of Passion	32	&&&+180.784 (9%)	66	98
Lev livet	19	&&&&+44.825 (2%)	-	19
Mama Take Me Home	17	&&&+154.115 (8%)	44	61
Evighet	102	&&&+437.876 (23%)	132	234
The Name of Love	57	&&&+101.799 (5%)	11	68
Idag och imorgon	2	&&&&+51.742 (3%)	-	2
Temple of Love	92	&&&+368.907 (19%)	110	202

Returning artists

Artist	Previous year(s)
Sahlene	2003
Magnus Bäcklund	2003 and 2004 as Fame
Jessica Andersson
Linda Bengtzing	2005
BWO
Jessica Folcker
Anne-Lie Rydé
Magnus Carlsson	2000, 2001, and 2002 with Barbados, 2003 and 2005 with Alcazar
Östen med resten	2002, 2003
Kikki Danielsson	1978 with Wizex, 1980, 1981, 1982 with Chips, 1983, 1985, 1992, 2002 as Kikki, Bettan & Lotta
Roger Pontare	1994, with Marie Bergman, 2000
Sandra Dahlberg	2004
Annika Ljungberg	2002
Carola	1983, 1990, 1991

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 2006
• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

External links

• Melodifestivalen 2006 official site (in Swedish)
• Gylleneskor.se: Melodifestivalen 2006 (in Swedish, extensive coverage)
• ESCSweden.com (in Swedish)
• Information site about Melodifestivalen
• Eurovision Song Contest National Finals
• View the final online (Windows Media Player)
• Melodifestivalen 2006 at the IMDB database