Sweden Eyes an Eighth Crown: SVT Confirms Eurovision 2026 Bid via the Ever-Shiny Melodifestivalen
Sweden has poured another pot of coffee, adjusted its wind machines and announced—entirely unsurprisingly—that it will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, set for Austria next May. The nation’s broadcaster, SVT, has confirmed that its tried-and-trusted talent factory, Melodifestivalen, will once again pick the song destined to make the rest of Europe ask: “But how do they do it every year?”
A format as dependable as IKEA flat-pack (minus the missing screws)
SVT hasn’t yet revealed the fine print—dates, host cities or which former champion will reprise presenting duties—but the basic recipe remains intact:
- Touring semi-finals dotted across the country (expect confetti in Karlstad and key changes in Kiruna).
- A Second Chance round where stubborn fan favourites refuse to die.
- A grand final in Stockholm, televised at decibel levels that alarm migrating geese.
It’s Eurovision’s equivalent of Sunday roast: comforting, predictable and, in Sweden’s case, garnished with chart-topping gravy.
Seven wins and counting: the stats that make the rest of us weep
- 1958 – Swedish debut.
- 1974 – ABBA detonates “Waterloo” and pop music is never the same.
- 1984, 1991, 1999 – more trophies, more sequins.
- 2012 – Loreen unleashes “Euphoria”, redefining the on-stage wind machine.
- 2015 – Måns Zelmerlöw wins with a stick-figure sidekick and a grin.
- 2023 – Loreen returns, proving lightning can strike twice—if you plug it into Swedish mains electricity.
Add eleven Top-10 finishes in the last thirteen contests and you begin to suspect Sweden keeps a spare trophy cabinet in the loft.
Recent form: saunas, satire and a solid fourth
At Eurovision 2025 in Basel, comedy-folk trio KAJ charmed Europe with “Bara Bada Bastu”—a hymn to the humble sauna—and scored fourth place. Respectable, but clearly not enough for a nation whose national anthem might as well be “Second Place? Over Our Dead Schlager.”
What happens next?
- Autumn 2025 – SVT will confirm host cities, ticketing details and how many times you must clap during the chorus.
- January–March 2026 – Melodifestivalen careens across Sweden, serving confetti, glitter and the odd surprise ballad.
- April 2026 – Rehearsals begin in Austria (Vienna or Innsbruck—venue still TBC), IKEA bags in tow.
- May 2026 – Sweden attempts to collect its eighth Eurovision trophy, presumably while humming “Thank You for the Music”.
From our drizzly isle, Sweden’s Eurovision prowess is equal parts inspiring and infuriating—rather like discovering your neighbour won Bake Off and MasterChef in the same year. Still, credit where it’s due: no one marries catchy hooks with immaculate staging quite like the Swedes. So, raise a mug of Earl Grey to Melodifestivalen 2026—where the key changes are frequent and the ambitions are, as always, higher than a Scandinavian winter sunrise.
And if they win again? Well, we’ll simply blame the wind machines. They always do.
Source: EscToday
