Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961

Sweden chose their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 through Melodifestivalen 1961. The song "April, april", performed once with Siw Malmkvist, once with Gunnar Wiklund, won. However, none of them was considered acceptable for singing in ESC, so Lill-Babs was chosen as representative instead. In the contest, once more held in Cannes, she finished in 14th place (out of 16).

Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Country Sweden
National selection
Selection processMelodifestivalen 1961
Selection date(s)6 February 1961
Selected entrantLill-Babs
Selected song"April, april"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Bobbie Ericsson
  • Bo Eneby
Finals performance
Final result14th, 2 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1960 • 1961 • 1962►

Before Eurovision

Melodifestivalen 1961
Siw Malmkvist singing "April, april" at Melodifestivalen 1961.

Melodifestivalen 1961 was the Swedish national final and it was the third time that this system of picking a song had been used. One singer performed the song with a large orchestra and one with a smaller orchestra. Approximately 550 songs were submitted to SVT for the competition. The final was held in the Cirkus in Stockholm on 6 February 1961, broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV, but was not broadcast on radio. Siw Malmkvist won with "April, april" but Lill-Babs went to Eurovision.

Place Artist1 Artist2 Song Songwriters Points
1stSiw MalmkvistGunnar Wiklund"April, april"Bobbie Ericson, Bo Eneby78
2ndLill-BabsLars Lönndahl"Vårvinter"Bobbie Ericson71
2ndLars LönndahlLily Berglund"Spela på regnbågen"Britt Lindeborg71
4thGunnar WiklundSiw Malmkvist"Vår i hjärtat"Lennart Gröhn58
5thLily BerglundLill-Babs"Stockholm"Bobbie Ericson, Eric Sandström57
  • ^1 : Performer with large orchestra
  • ^2 : Performer with smaller orchestra

At Eurovision

On the night of the final, Lill-Babs performed 7th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Germany.

At the close of the voting "April, april" had received only 2 points (from France), placing Sweden 14th of the 16 competing entries.[1]

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

References
  1. ESC History - Sweden 1961
  2. "Results of the Final of Cannes 1961". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
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