Tonight it’s the big one. After five weeks of competing against each other, 28 songs have become 12, and make up the final of Melodifestivalen 2017.
Roughly half the population of Sweden will be tuning in, and most likely contributing to more record breaking voting numbers this year. These public votes will be joined by the scores from eleven international juries. And the combined top polling song will win Melodifestivalen and go on to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.
Regardless of any voting controversies and heartbreaking contest exits, the Swedes have managed to put together a hugely strong line-up for tonight’s final. Currently ten of the twelve songs are in today’s Spotify Top 50 in Sweden, with five of the songs not having left the Top 10 for over a week now. So yet again, before the final has even taken place, Melodifestivalen has proven that it can and does produce actual hit singles.
Based on those Spotify streams, we could deduce that there are roughly five songs that are in contention for the win, if it were solely down to the public vote. However, because the playing field seems to be so level this year, with a lot of the songs having become hugely popular, and with so few streams between them and therefore an assumption that there will be so few votes on the night between many of them too – it’s likely that the international jury vote could see to it that pretty much ten of the twelve songs could realistically win. There’s no clear favourite like there was last year. And so it’s already quite clear that a lot of votes are going to be spread out very evenly.
In other words – it’s going to be very exciting for us to watch the votes come in on Saturday night!
Personally, since you asked, we’re torn between wanting one of two songs to win. We’re both #TeamAce and #TeamWiktoria!
Below you’ve got the twelve songs in the running order that they’ll be performed on the night. Plus their original performances, and the total number of Spotify streams they’ve amassed in two weeks (aside from those joining us from Andra Chansen – Boris Rene (5 weeks of streams), Lisa Ajax (4 weeks), and FO&O and Anton Hagman (3 weeks).
You can find all twelve songs on our Best New Pop playlist.
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01: Ace Wilder – Wild Child
There’s not much public momentum behind this one unfortunately, but she’s proven to be a big international jury favourite both times she’s competed before.
Total streams: 1,039,376
02: Boris René – Her Kiss
This song is here in the final practically by default – thanks to the way the duels of Andra Chansen were organised. The most likely contender for 12th place – as much as we love him (sorry Boris!).
Total streams: 1,658,553
03: Lisa Ajax – I Don’t Give A
She finished outside of the Top 5 last year with a much better song, so it’s unlikely that ‘I Don’t Give A’ is gonna be a winner on Saturday. Though it’s one of the most contemporary choices on offer here for the jury members….
Total streams: 2,895,020
04: Robin Bengtsson – I Can’t Go On
It’s been one of the biggest streaming hits of the year, and there’s every chance that Robin will be improving on his 5th place finish last year. This year as well as delivering a popular song, he’s also got the slickest staging of all twelve.
Total streams: 2,832,616
05: Jon Henrik Fjällgren feat. Aninia – En Värld Full Av Strider (Eatneme Gusnie Jeenh Dåaroeh)
This will be a big favourite on the night in the public vote, but we can see the international juries marking it down. A lot. Because without the ingrained appreciation for Swedish culture you just would, wouldn’t you?
Total streams: 1,789,689
06: Anton Hagman – Kiss You Goodbye
The Queen slayer. Don’t underestimate the amount of votes it will have taken to beat Loreen for him to be here, and therefore which may well be turned into votes on Saturday night as well.
Total streams: 2,679,858
07: Mariette – A Million Years
We’re struggling to engage with this one as much as we did with ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. However, it’s another contemporary number that could be saved from a low public vote by a lot of love from the juries.
Total streams: 1,647,950
08: FO&O – Gotta Thing About You
One of the catchiest songs on offer on the night, and the act with arguably the biggest fanbase. They’re not one of the favourites to win, but if anyone is gonna cause an upset to the Big Three (Wiktoria, Robin Bengtsson, and Nano) we reckon it’s these chaps.
Total streams: 2,504,425
09: Nano – Hold On
Coming from Heat 1 it’s easy to forget how BIG this went down when it was performed on the first Saturday of February. But another powerful performance could well see it top both votes on Saturday night.
Total streams: 2,548,322
10: Wiktoria – As I Lay Me Down
The most popular song on Spotify out of all of the Melodifestivalen finalists, and today it climbed even further up the national chart to number 2. It sounds like a Melodifestivalen winner and it also sounds like a Eurovision winner too. We’d love to see it do both.
Total streams: 3,730,858
11: Benjamin Ingrosso – Good Lovin
We just can’t see the attraction to this song, but we also seem to be widely in the minority there. He’s undoubtedly a hugely engaging performer, but the song itself is missing something (a winning melody, namely).
Total streams: 2,287,456
12: Owe Thörnqvist – Boogieman Blues
Not a contender for the win at all, but it’s nice to have him here for the LOLS and the AAWWWWW factor, and actually the song has oddles of charm too. But yeah – neither the public nor the juries would ever allow this to win. Would they?…
Total streams: 482,874
