Sweden Melodifestivalen 2023: Marcus & Martinus and Paul Rey to the final

Tonight the third heat of Melodifestivalen 2023 was broadcast live from Lidköping.

Marcus & Martinus won the third heat with "Air," and qualified directly for the Final on 11 March together with Paul Rey ("Royals"). Nordman and Melanie Wehbe were voted to go on to the Semi-final on 4 March.

Melodifestivalen 2023

• 4 February: Deltävling 1 (Göteborg)
• 11 February: Deltävling 2 (Linköping)
• 18 February: Deltävling 3 (Lidköping)
• 25 February: Deltävling 4 (Malmö)
• 4 March: Semi-final (Örnsköldsvik)
• 11 March: Final (Stockholm)

All shows are presented by Farah Abadi and Jesper Rönndahl.

In each of the four heats, two songs qualify directly for the Final, and two songs progress to the Semi-final. In the Semi-final, eight songs will compete, and the top four songs will qualify for the Final.

The heats and Semi-final are 100% public vote, while the Final will be decided by 50% public vote and 50% jury vote.

Voting system

In all four heats of Melodifestivalen 2023 there are two rounds of voting:

First round of voting:

Viewers could vote on all seven participants via app/telephone. The song that received most votes (Marcus & Martinus) qualified directly for the Final of Melodifestivalen.

Second round of voting:

Viewers could vote on the remaining six participants via app/telephone. The votes from the first round were added. All the app votes were divided into seven voting groups determined by age, and in addition an eighth voting group consisting of votes from telephone. Each of the voting groups' votes were converted into points (12-10-8-5-3-1) for the remaining six artists.

The artist with most points (Paul Rey) qualified for the Final, while the artists with the 2nd and 3rd most points qualified for the Semi-final (previously known as "Second Chance") of Melodifestivalen.

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Since 1958, Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 61 times, and with great success. They have won the contest 6 times:

• 1974: ABBA – Waterloo
• 1984: Herreys – Diggi-loo Diggy-ley
• 1991: Carola – Fångad Av En Stormvind
• 1999: Charlotte Nilsson – Take Me To Your Heaven
• 2012: Loreen – Euphoria
• 2015: Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes

They came in last two times (1963 and 1977), and since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004 Sweden has managed to qualify for the Grand Final 17 out of 18 times (only failing to qualify in 2010)!