Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has just revealed who the first ten artists for next year’s Melodifestivalen could be. Although this is not an official announcement but purely speculation, Aftonbladet have traditionally been quite accurate on who we should expect to see in the 30-artist lineup. Nine of the ten names reported have all participated in Melodifestivalen before.
The biggest name on this lineup is Måns Zelmerlöw. This would be his fourth time competing to represent Sweden, with the first time in 2007 with ‘Cara Mia’. After that, Måns came third in 2009 with ‘Hope and Glory’ and went all the way to winning both Mello and Eurovision in 2015 with ‘Heroes’.
Klara Hammarström is another hot name on this list and most fans would be pleased to see her back. Her first attempt came in 2020 with ‘Nobody.’ She also competed in 2021 and 2022 with ‘Beat of broken hearts’ and ‘Run to the hills,’ both of which placed sixth in the final.
Another former winner and perhaps an unexpected name on this list is Frans. He won Melodifestivalen in 2016 with ‘If I were sorry’ and placed fifth at Eurovision. Frans has had little chart success with his music after Eurovision and he released a studio album entitled ‘Present.’ This would only be Frans’ second attempt at Melodifestivalen.
Next up is John Lundvik, Melodifestivalen winner in 2019. This would be his fourth attempt with his first coming in 2018 with ‘My Turn,’ where he placed 5th, and his latest attempt in 2022 with ‘Anglavakt’ where he placed 8th. Since then he continued to release music in Swedish with his latest single ‘Inget är som sommaren’ released in 2023. To date it has less than 178 thousand streams on Spotify.
A heavy fan favourite is also reportedly back for round two. Heavy metal duo SCARLET competed for the first time last year with ‘Circus X’ and made it to the new final round where two songs that did not make it out of the heats would make it to the final. Ultimately, they finished 4th, just 14 points away from qualification.
Arvingarna are also expected to make a comeback. They won Melodifestivalen in 1993 with ‘Eloise’ and went on to finish 7th at Eurovision. The last time they competed in Melodifestivalen was in 2021 with ‘Tänker inte alls gå hem’ where they placed 9th.
Another returnee is Malou Prytz who first competed in 2019 with ‘I Do Me’ where she placed last in the final. In 2020 she competed again with ‘Ballerina’ but lost to Paul Rey in Andra Chansen. She then returned in 2022 with ‘Bananas’ but placed last in the first heat where the app voting crashed and the phone vote was the only one that determined the results.
A surprising return is reported from Dolly Style. The Eurodance/K-Pop girl group last participated in 2019 with ‘Habibi’ where they placed 5th in their heat. Before that, they participated twice in 2015 with ‘Hello Hi’ and ‘Rollercoaster’ in 2016. Both songs made it to the Andra Chansen round. In 2024, Dolly Style have a fourth member called Yolly as well as Annie who replaced Linnéa.
Andreas Lundstedt, a former member of Euro Schlager group Alcazar, is reportedly making his solo return to the Melodifestivalen stage. The last time he competed alone was in 2012 with the song ‘Aldrig Aldrig’ where he placed last in his heat.
The final name on this list is Kaliffa Karlsson. Despite being a newcomer in Mello, he was a huge name in the Swedish hip hop scene in the mid 2010s. His biggest single ‘Helt seriöst’ has more than 62 million streams on Spotify.
Which of these names are you excited to see in Melodifestivalen 2025?