2006 was the 46th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 18 February and 18 March 2006. The winner of the competition was Carola with the song "Evighet". She represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, with the English version of the song, "Invincible", where she came fifth with 170 points.

Format The heats for Melodifestivalen 2006 began on 18 February 2006. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on 18 March 2006. This was the fifth year that a heat format had been used for the competition.

On 15 August 2005, SVT confirmed that Leksand, Karlstad, Karlskrona and Gothenburg would host the heats of Melodifestivalen 2006, with the final taking place at the Stockholm Globe Arena for the fifth year running (sixth overall).

Lena Philipsson was a surprise choice as host, as rumors had been spreading that SVT wanted Helena Paparizou to present the Gothenburg heat or the final. The proposed changes to the voting format (caused by the controversy over Nanne Grönvall's defeat in Melodifestivalen 2005) never materialised.

+Competition Schedule Show Date City Venue Heat 1 18 February 2006 Leksand Ejendals Arena Heat 2 25 February 2006 Karlstad Löfbergs Lila Arena Heat 3 4 March 2006 Karlskrona Arena Rosenholm Heat 4 11 March 2006 Gothenburg Scandinavium Second chance 12 March 2006 Stockholm SVT Broadcasting House Final 18 March 2006 Stockholm Globe Arena

Wildcards Unlike past years, where all Melodifestivalen participants were chosen by a selection jury, starting in 2004, four out of the 32 participants were selected directly by the contest's producers, in order to increase musical and artistic breadth. Each artist, called "wildcard", participated in a different heat. BWO were unveiled as the first wildcard in a pre-Christmas special. There was much speculation that Eurovision Song Contest 1999 winner Charlotte Perrelli would be among the others, but ultimately was not included when the final list was revealed in late January 2006. The wildcards in 2006 were the following: Artist Song Heat Andreas Johnson "Sing for Me" Heat 1 Magnus Carlsson "" Heat 2 BWO "Temple of Love" Heat 3 Rednex "Mama, Take Me Home" Heat 4

Competing entries Artist Song Songwriter(s)Andreas Johnson"Sing for Me"Anna Sahlene"This Woman"Björn Kjellman""BWO"Temple of Love" Carola "Evighet" Electric Banana Band"""Golden Star""Under Your Spell"""Günter and the Sunshine Girls"Like Fire Tonight"Hannah Graaf"Naughty Boy"Jessica Andersson""Jessica Folcker"When Love's Comin' Back Again"Kayo""Kikki Danielsson"Idag & imorgon"Laila Adèle"Don't Try To Stop Me"Linda Bengtzing""Magnus Bäcklund"The Name of Love"Magnus Carlsson""""Östen med Resten""Thomas G:son""""Patrik Isaksson""Patrik IsakssonRednex"Mama, Take Me Home"Roger Pontare"Silverland"Sandra Dahlberg"""Aiayeh (The Music of the Samba)"Sonya"Etymon""Oh Yeah"The Poodles"Night of Passion"Velvet""

Contest overview Heat 1 The first heat took place on 18 February 2006 at the Ejendals Arena in Leksand. 3,045,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 466,660 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Simone Moreno "Aiayeh (The Music of the Samba)" 6,688 6,688 8 Out 2 Electric Banana Band "" 32,192 29,037 61,229 4 Second Chance 3 Anna Sahlene "This Woman" 22,078 25,954 48,032 5 Out 4 Magnus Bäcklund "The Name of Love" 39,442 45,561 85,003 3 Second Chance 5 Linda Bengtzing "" 49,506 56,658 106,164 2 Final 6 Pandang "" 16,611 16,611 6 Out 7 Hannah Graaf "Naughty Boy" 14,230 14,230 7 Out 8 Andreas Johnson "Sing for Me" 56,354 61,323 117,677 1 Final

Heat 2 The second heat took place on 25 February 2006 at the Löfbergs Lila Arena in Karlstad. 2,320,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 306,074 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Magnus Carlsson "" 31,115 49,610 80,765 1 Final 2 The Elephantz "Oh Yeah" 7,856 7,856 8 Out 3 Sonya "Etymon" 16,541 17,299 33,840 5 Out 4 Östen med Resten "" 13,617 13,617 6 Out 5 Pablo Cepeda "" 12,630 12,630 7 Out 6 Kikki Danielsson "Idag & imorgon" 35,792 35,753 71,545 2 Final 7 Niclas Wahlgren "" 17,600 23,339 40,939 4 Second Chance 8 Velvet "" 21,496 22,627 44,123 3 Second Chance

Heat 3 The third heat took place on 4 March 2006 at the Arena Rosenholm in Karlskrona. 3,109,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 411,478 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 BWO "Temple of Love" 38,733 53,820 92,553 2 Final 2 Jessica Folcker "When Love's Comin' Back Again" 14,725 14,725 7 Out 3 Gregor "" 6,801 6,801 8 Out 4 Jessica Andersson "" 17,873 26,247 44,120 5 Out 5 The Poodles "Night of Passion" 45,927 56,242 102,169 1 Final 6 Elysion "Golden Star" 27,241 31,864 59,105 3 Second Chance 7 Patrik Isaksson "" 22,985 33,080 56,065 4 Second Chance 8 Kayo "" 17,770 17,770 6 Out

Heat 4 The fourth heat took place on 11 March 2006 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,645,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 653,991 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Roger Pontare "Silverland" 29,939 37,645 67,584 4 Second Chance 2 Laila Adèle "Don't Try To Stop Me" 17,851 17,851 7 Out 3 Günter and the Sunshine Girls "Like Fire Tonight" 20,767 20,767 6 Out 4 Sandra Dahlberg "" 26,462 34,769 61,231 5 Out 5 Evan "Under Your Spell" 13,600 13,600 8 Out 6 Rednex "Mama, Take Me Home" 37,104 50,418 87,522 3 Second Chance 7 Björn Kjellman "" 40,574 53,000 93,574 2 Final 8 Carola "Evighet" 139,952 151,021 290,973 1 Final

Second chance The second chance round took place on 12 March 2006 at the SVT Broadcasting House in Stockholm. 2,140,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 480,449 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Electric Banana Band "" 14,961 14,961 6 Out 2 Magnus Bäcklund "The Name of Love" 35,823 53,582 89,405 2 Final 3 Niclas Wahlgren "" 10,584 10,584 8 Out 4 Velvet "" 12,076 12,076 7 Out 5 Elysion "Golden Star" 25,947 33,583 59,530 5 Out 6 Patrik Isaksson "" 36,613 51,270 87,883 3 Out 7 Roger Pontare "Silverland" 36,180 45,188 81,298 4 Out 8 Rednex "Mama, Take Me Home" 53,635 68,670 122,305 1 Final

Final The final took place on 18 March 2006 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 4,242,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,913,152 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Juries Televote Total Place 1 Andreas Johnson "Sing for Me" 112 350,938 88 200 3 2 Björn Kjellman "" 6 83,917 0 6 9 3 Linda Bengtzing "" 34 138,249 22 56 7 4 The Poodles "Night of Passion" 32 180,784 66 98 4 5 Magnus Carlsson "" 19 44,825 0 19 8 6 Rednex "Mama, Take Me Home" 17 154,115 44 61 6 7 Carola "Evighet" 102 437,876 132 234 1 8 Magnus Bäcklund "The Name of Love" 57 101,799 11 68 5 9 Kikki Danielsson "Idag & imorgon" 2 51,742 0 2 10 10 BWO "Temple of Love" 92 368,907 110 202 2 + Detailed jury votes Song Total 1 "Sing for Me" 8 12 10 12 12 12 8 10 12 10 6 112 2 "" 6 6 3 "" 1 6 6 1 2 6 1 4 2 4 1 34 4 "Night of Passion" 6 2 2 6 1 2 2 1 4 2 4 32 5 "" 1 4 4 1 1 8 19 6 "Mama, Take Me Home" 4 4 8 1 17 7 "Evighet" 2 8 12 10 10 10 12 12 8 8 10 102 8 "The Name of Love" 10 1 8 8 8 4 4 2 6 6 57 9 "Idag & imorgon" 2 2 10 "Temple of Love" 12 10 4 2 6 8 10 6 10 12 12 92 Jury spokesperson Fredrik Lindström

Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Air date Viewers(millions) Heat 1 3.045 Heat 2 2.320 Heat 3 3.109 Heat 4 3.645 Second chance 2.140 Final 4.242

See also Eurovision Song Contest 2006 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

References

External links Melodifestivalen 2006 Official website archived from the original (in Swedish)