Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Participating broadcaster	Sveriges Television (SVT)
Country	Sweden
National selection
Selection process	Melodifestivalen 1998
Selection date(s)	14 March 1998
Selected artist(s)	Jill Johnson
Selected song	"Kärleken är"
Selected songwriter(s)	Håkan Almqvist; Bobby Ljunggren; Ingela "Pling" Forsman;
Finals performance
Final result	10th, 53 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Kärleken är", composed by Håkan Almqvist and Bobby Ljunggren, with lyrics by Ingela "Pling" Forsman, and performed by Jill Johnson. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1998.

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 1998

Melodifestivalen 1998 was the selection for the 38th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 37th time that this system of picking a song had been used. 1,141 songs were submitted to Sveriges Television (SVT) for the competition, with ten songs selected to compete. Five of the songs were eliminated and the remaining five were voted on by 11 regional juries. The final was held in the Malmö Musikteater in Malmö on 14 March 1998, presented by Pernilla Månsson and Magnus Karlsson, and was broadcast on SVT2 and Sveriges Radio's P4 network. The show was watched by 2,881,000 people and the winner was "Kärleken är", sung by Jill Johnson and composed by Bobby Ljunggren, Håkan Almqvist and Ingela Forsman.

First Round – 14 March 1998
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Result
1	Annika Fehling	"När en stjärna faller"	Annika Fehling	Eliminated
2	B.I.G.	"Ingen annan väg"	Peo Thyrén, Richard Evenlind, Erika Evenlind, Stefan Almqvist	Advanced
3	Elisabeth Melander	"Ta dej tid"	Margareta Nilsson, Gertrud Hemmel	Eliminated
4	Nanne Grönvall	"Avundsjuk"	Peter Grönvall, Nanne Grönvall	Advanced
5	Linda Eriksson	"Bara månen får se"	Torgny Söderberg	Eliminated
6	Helena Eriksson	"Kärleken finns överallt"	Frank Ådahl	Eliminated
7	Fredrik Karlsson	"Långsamma timmar"	Fredrik Karlsson, Peter Svensson	Eliminated
8	Myrra Malmberg	"Julia"	Claes Andreasson, Torbjörn Wassenius	Advanced
9	Black Ingvars	"Cherie"	Stephan Berg	Advanced
10	Jill Johnson	"Kärleken är"	Bobby Ljunggren, Håkan Almqvist, Ingela 'Pling' Forsman	Advanced

Second Round – 14 March 1998
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	B.I.G.	"Ingen annan väg"	52	2
2	Nanne Grönvall	"Avundsjuk"	35	4
3	Myrra Malmberg	"Julia"	38	3
4	Black Ingvars	"Cherie"	34	5
5	Jill Johnson	"Kärleken är"	62	1

Detailed Regional Jury Voting
Song	Luleå	Örebro	Umeå	Norrköping	Falun	Karlstad	Sundsvall	Växjö	Stockholm	Gothenburg	Malmö	Total
"Ingen annan väg"	8	6	6	4	6	2	4	4	2	2	8	52
"Avundsjuk"	1	1	1	6	2	4	6	2	4	4	4	35
"Julia"	4	4	2	1	1	8	2	8	1	6	1	38
"Cherie"	2	2	8	2	4	1	1	1	6	1	6	34
"Kärleken är"	6	8	4	8	8	6	8	6	8	8	2	72

At Eurovision

Ahead of the contest, Sweden were considered one of the favourites among bookmakers to win the contest, featuring alongside the entries from United Kingdom, Belgium, Malta, and the Netherlands.^[1] Johnson sang in the 19th position on the night of the contest, and at the close of voting she finished 10th out of 25 countries, receiving 53 points.^[2] The Swedish televoting awarded its 12 points to Norway.

Voting

Points awarded to Sweden^[3]
Score	Country
12 points	Estonia
10 points	Norway
8 points	Hungary
7 points
6 points	Finland
5 points	Netherlands
4 points	Malta
3 points	Poland
2 points	Ireland Turkey
1 point	United Kingdom

Points awarded by Sweden^[3]
Score	Country
12 points	Norway
10 points	Finland
8 points	Netherlands
7 points	United Kingdom
6 points	Malta
5 points	Israel
4 points	Estonia
3 points	Croatia
2 points	Belgium
1 point	Ireland

Sweden's backup jury results^[4]
Score	Country
12 points	Netherlands
10 points	United Kingdom
8 points	Ireland
7 points	Israel
6 points	France
5 points	Poland
4 points	Croatia
3 points	Estonia
2 points	Slovenia
1 point	Hungary

References

^ "The bookies' favourites". BBC News. 8 May 1998. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
^ "Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ "Backup jury score 1998".

External links

[1] "The bookies' favourites". BBC News. 8 May 1998. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 21 March 2021.

[2] "Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[1998detailed-3] "Results of the Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[4] "Backup jury score 1998".

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