In Melodifestivalen circles of late, it has well been documented that this year marks the ten year anniversary of the great contest in its current format. The 4 heats, second chance round, and grand final format was brought into play in 2002 by Christer Björkman and SVT, and has turned Melodifestivalen into not only the biggest music and television event in Sweden, but also something that has attracted a huge amount of international interest from pop fans. You all know this already of course, as you’re frequenting this website just now. But you’d be surprised at how many Swedes are shocked when they discover that so many people outside of their nation are interested in this circus. Since moving to Stockholm just over a year ago, we’ve been the cause of many a bemused reaction or raised eyebrow from a Swedish person (and some of the artists themselves), when they’ve learned how popular Melodifestivalen is in certain circles internationally.
But we’re not here to talk about that at this moment in time, so let’s not digress. What we are here to do just now and over the next couple of weeks, is to celebrate the music that makes up this ten year anniversary. More specifically, to countdown our top 50 favourite songs of the last decade of Melodifestivalen! So many highlights, for so many different reasons. And ultimately so many favourites. We do love a good list though, so thought it was about time to finally rank them in order of our absolute preference. So that the Melodifestivalen geek inside us can sleep better at night. And with the ten year anniversary upon us, now seems like the perfect opportunity/excuse to do it.
HOW EXCITING!
We’ll start at some point throughout the weekend, from numbers 50 down to 41. And then carry on throughout the next week or so, finishing off before the grand final of Melodifestivalen 2011 which takes place a week on Saturday. And yes, 2011’s songs will be included in our evaluation too.
