Melodifestivalen 2005 was the 45th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 12 February and 12 March 2005. The winner of the competition was Martin Stenmarck with the song "Las Vegas", who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, where he came nineteenth with 30 points.[1]
Nanne Grönvall's defeat was met with consternation by many people, who felt that a gap of over 150,000 votes should be enough for victory. There were even calls for SVT to scrap the jury system altogether and simply let the televotes decide the winner. For a comparison, it was noted that Grönvall had received more votes than Lena Philipsson, the popular 2004 winner. However, SVT said that there was nothing they could do about the result. Four finalists topped the Swedish charts. Alcazar and Alcastar got to number one the week before the final, Jimmy Jansson got to the number one some weeks after that with Vi kan gunga, Martin Stenmarck's winner Las Vegas hit the top spot the week after that, while Nanne Grönvall and Håll om mig topped the charts the week after that.
Format
The heats for Melodifestivalen 2005 began on 12 February 2005. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on March 12, 2005. This was the fourth year that a heat format had been used for the competition.
Unlike past years, where all Melodifestivalen participants were chosen by a selection jury, starting in 2004, four out of the 32 participants were selected directly by the contest's producers, in order to increase musical and artistic breadth. Each artist, called "wildcard", participated in a different heat. The wildcards in 2005 were the following:[2]
In the first two heats, a jury was used to select two of the five songs that would proceed to the second round of voting, with the intent of giving some entries that could be slow in accumulating votes a chance. However, after heat 2, SVT dissolved the jury as it had chosen entries that were already voted by the viewers together with criticism that this reduced the people's influence in the result. The jury consisted of:[3]
The first heat took place on 12 February 2005 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,172,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 497,356 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 1,563,052 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Shan Atci and Alexandra Pascalidou.[4]
The second heat took place on 19 February 2005 at the Cloetta Center in Linköping. 3,150,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 369,946 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 1,326,244 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Erik Haag and Henrik Schyffert.[5]
The third heat took place on 26 February 2005 at the Skellefteå Kraft Arena in Skellefteå. 2,942,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 456,883 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 1,506,077 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Marko Lehtosalo and Johanna Westman.[6]
The fourth heat took place on 5 March 2005 at the Tipshallen in Växjö. 3,102,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 411,920 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 1,255,983 collected for Radiohjälpen. The heat was hosted by Micke Leijnegard and Kayo Shekoni.[7]
The second chance round took place on 6 March 2005 at the Berns in Stockholm. 1,497,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 440,156 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 1,067,715 collected for Radiohjälpen. The show was hosted by Annika Jankell.[8]
The final took place on 12 March 2005 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 4,054,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,519,997 votes were cast, with a total of SEK 4,105,936 collected for Radiohjälpen. The show was hosted by Jill Johnson and Mark Levengood.[9]
