Suite of Swedish Songs - Retrospective!

Sweden have been a part of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1958, the third contest ever. Throughout the years, Sweden has only missed 3 contests, 1964, 1970, and 1976. Up to now, Sweden has competed 63 times, winning a record-evening seven times: 1974 with ABBA’s “Waterloo”, 1984 with “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley” by Herreys, 1991 Saw pocket-rocket Carola win with “Fangad av en Stormvind”, 1999’s “Take Me to Your Heaven” by Charlotte Perelli (nee Nilsson), Loreen’s first winner, “Euphoria”, the man who pops up everywhere, Mans Zelmerlow, and his cartoon boy with “Heroes”… and last year’s contest (2023) with Loreen claiming her second victory for Sweden with “Tattoo”.

Out of their 63 entries, Sweden have placed top 10 a whopping 43 times, 27 of those top 5! They have failed to qualify once, 2010’s “This is My Life” by the brilliant Anna Bergendahl… although came close to a second non-qualifier, with Charlotte Perellli’s “Hero” scoring only 12th in the Semi Final in 2008, but saved by the “Jury Pick” power bestowed that year.

Voting closed January 27th, and the results have been tallied, verified and presented in video format for your perusal!

Click here for the results of our member’s votes!

Given the contest returns to Sweden in 2024, we are looking back on their entries over the years, to vote for who we think, as a club, are our favourites. But we will be doing this differently to the usual Retrospective system to provide more equity across the songs. That is, so that all songs are given an equal opportunity to be rated higher, rather than only the more recent songs (which is the trend across most polls). It also allows us to break down our favourites by decade. :)

Please note: We have chosen to include the fabulous “Move” by The Mamas, the Eurovision 2020 entry that succumbed to the cancellation of the contest due to the global pandemic. This makes the list a whopping 63 songs long!

What does that mean for our members and friends?

Well… in this activity, we will be asking that you provide a rating out of 10 for each of the 63 songs. That is, you rate the song out of 10, with 10 points being the highest score, and 1 point being the lowest. There will be no 0 points option, and no decimal/fraction option. E.g. you may love their 1974 winner, "Waterloo", and give that 10 points, as well as their 2022 Song, “Hold Me Closer”, while their 1962 entry may also receive 10 points. If you really weren’t a fan of their 2015 entry, "Heroes", you may choose to give this only 1 point. You can give as many songs the same points as you feel is accuate for you.

How do you participate?

We have set up a YouTube (only) playlist of the entries (as it should be based on their live performance, not the studio version). You can choose to watch all the performances yourself, or join a watch party to engage with other members across our amazing club to discuss together as we view the songs. That is up to you. Details are below. Then, click on the “Score the Songs Now” button below to complete the voting form, giving each entry a score out of 10.

Click here for the YouTube playlist of the 63 entries.

WATCH PARTIES VIA WATCH2GETHER:

To access these at the specified date and time below, click here!!!

Sunday 14 January - 6:30pm AEDT - Australian Eastern Daylight Time

Sunday 14 January - 3pm EST - Eastern Standard Time (USA)

We cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet everyone’s wishes, but we will do everything we can. You can check the time in your timezone by clicking here.

YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDDAY CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME (CET) JANUARY 26 TO CAST YOUR VOTES.

 Please Note: This is a significant undertaking… scoring EVERY Swedish Eurovision entry out of ten requires a lot more investment. As such, 20 points will be awarded for this activity.