An 'Unforgettable' Eurovision for Sweden: Marcus & Martinus win 'Melodifestivalen'

After 6 weeks of competition - doubling up as some superb primetime Saturday evening entertainment - Sweden's Melodifestivalen has found its latest winner. And the country has therefore found its latest Eurovision song!

It'll be Unforgettable - performed by Marcus & Martinus - that gets to represent Sweden on home soil in May.

12 songs took part in the final of Melodifestivalen on Saturday 9 March. Voting was contributed by the public and a selection of 8 international juries. The public vote and the jury vote had a 50% weighting assigned to both.

The Norwegian twins won with a huge margin in both sets of votes, for a clear Melodifestivalen victory.

The international juries were the first to give their scores, and they awarded Unforgettable with 85 points. In second place was Cazzi Opeia with Give My Heart A Break, on 46 points. 

Then, the public vote was revealed. Once again, Marcus & Martinus were runaway winners, scoring 92 points from the vote. In second place was Medina with Que Sera, on 61 points.

Unforgettable's winning tally was a mighty impressive 177 points. And it gets them to Malmö in May!

Unforgettable was written by Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt and the twins themselves - Marcus Gunnarsen and Martinus Gunnarsen.

As host country, Sweden has an automatic place in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final on Saturday 11 May.

Twin brothers Marcus and Martinus Gunnarsen, from Elverum in Norway, broke through with a bang as 10-year-olds when they won the Norwegian show Melodi Grand Prix Junior, back in 2012. After that, life was never the same! They've toured Europe, won a Norwegian Grammy and in 2022 the pair even won the Swedish version of The Masked Singer. 

The boys have released three albums to date, with every one of them going to number 1 in their native Norway. 

In 2017, the brothers announced the points for Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv. In 2023, they finished in second place in Melodifestivalen with the song Air, just behind the Eurovision winner Loreen with Tattoo. Their song became a huge hit that has up to now been streamed over 14 million times.

Their most streamed song on Spotify is Elektrisk, with well over 100 million plays.

Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden made its Eurovision Song Contest debut in 1958, and is widely regarded to have produced one of the most successful winners of all time: ABBA with their entry Waterloo in 1974.

Sverige has won the Contest 7 times and is tied with Ireland for the most number of victories. 

The most recent Swedish success was in Liverpool 2023, when Loreen took the trophy thanks to a mesmerising performance of her song Tattoo. She became the first woman to win the competition twice, having previously triumphed in Baku 2012 with Euphoria.

Loreen’s win also means that broadcaster SVT will host their 7th Eurovision Song Contest in May, following memorable shows in Stockholm (1975, 2000 and 2016), Gothenburg (1985) and Malmö (1992 and 2013 - and soon to be 2024).

Sweden’s Eurovision Song Contest history is peppered with winners and iconic performances, and since the introductions of the Semi-Finals in 2004 the country has failed to qualify only once.