Melodifestivalen 2006
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, with bookmakers making her the 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; however, Carola was unable to perform in the final rehearsal due to throat problems. 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, as various sources reported unexplained voting 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. The second placed song, "Temple of Love", finished fourth in the Eurovision Madrid National Finals Song Contest.
Semifinals
The semifinals for Melodifestivalen 2006 began on 18 February 2006. Ten songs from these semifinals qualified for the final on 18 March 2006. This was the fifth year that a semifinal format had been used for the competition, and interest was higher than ever.Preselection
On 15 August 2005 SVT confirmed that Leksand, Karlstad, Karlskrona and Gothenburg would host the semifinals of Melodifestivalen 2006, with the final taking place at the Stockholm Globe Arena for the fifth year running. SVT received 3,310 songs for the competition, a new record . The song titles were unveiled on 12 October, and the artists fifteen days later. Steven Simmonds took his song off the line-up in November 2005, stating that SVT were forcing him to sing it himself, which he did not want to do. Lena Philipsson was a surprise choice as host, as rumours had been spreading that SVT wanted Helena Paparizou to present the Gothenburg semifinal or the final. Bodies Without Organs 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 Magnus Carlsson, Rednex and Andreas Johnson were confirmed as wildcards in late January 2006. The proposed changes to the voting format never materialised.Contributions that didn't make it
- Anna Book – Un, dos, trés
- William Johansson – Ride on the Moonlight
- Sanna Nielsen – Vägen hem
- Shirley Clamp - Värsta schlagern
- Maja Gullstrand – Alla dessa ord
- Andrés Esteche – Midnight Train
- Carola Szücs – It Was You
Other artists that submitted songs
Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
| Date: | 25 February 2006 |
| Presenter: | Lena Philipsson |
| Venue: | Löfbergs Lila Arena, Karlstad |
| Voting: | Telephone voting |
| Interval Act: | Stage-TV, Tommy Körberg |
| Viewing figures : | 2,320,000 |
| Total number of televotes cast: | 306,074 |
| Qualifiers: | Lev livet performed by Magnus Carlsson, Idag och imorgon performed by Kikki Danielsson |
| Second Chance: | En droppe regn performed by Niclas Wahlgren, Mi amore performed by Velvet |
Semifinal 3
| Date: | 4 March 2006 |
| Presenter: | Lena Philipsson |
| Venue: | Arena Rosenholm, Karlskrona |
| Voting: | Telephone voting |
| Interval Act: | Anders Lundin, Andreas Nilsson, Jan Åström, David & FoFo |
| Viewing figures : | 3,110,000 |
| Total number of televotes cast: | 411,478 |
| Qualifiers: | Temple of Love performed by BWO, Night of Passion performed by The Poodles |
| Second Chance: | Faller du så faller jag performed by Patrik Isaksson, Golden Star performed by Elysion |
Semifinal 4
| Date: | 11 March 2006 |
| Presenter: | Lena Philipsson |
| Venue: | Scandinavium, Gothenburg |
| Voting: | Telephone voting |
| Interval Act: | Morgan Alling |
| Viewing figures : | 3,645,000 |
| Total number of televotes cast: | 653,991 |
| Qualifiers: | Älskar du livet performed by Björn Kjellman, Evighet performed by Carola Häggkvist |
| Second Chance: | Mama Take Me Home performed by Rednex, Silverland performed by Roger Pontare |
Second Chance Round
Results
Juries
Televotes
Returning artists
| Artist | Previous year |
| Sahlene | 2003 |
| Magnus Bäcklund | 2003 and 2004 as Fame |
| Jessica Andersson | 2003 and 2004 as Fame |
| Linda Bengtzing | 2005 |
| BWO | 2005 |
| Jessica Folcker | 2005 |
| Anne-Lie Rydé | 2005 |
| 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 |