In order to choose an entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, Sweden held a national selection, namely Melodifestivalen 1988. The runaway winner was the ballad "Stad i ljus" sung by Tommy Körberg, who also had represented Sweden at the 1969 contest. This time his song was written by Py Bäckman. It was the first time in the eighties that the Swedish entry was a ballad.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1988 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Sweden | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Melodifestivalen 1988 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 27 February 1988 | |||
| Selected entrant | Tommy Körberg | |||
| Selected song | "Stad i ljus" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Py Bäckman | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 12th, 52 points | |||
| Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
Melodifestivalen 1988
Melodifestivalen 1988 was the selection for the 28th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 27th time that this system of picking a song had been used. 1,100 songs were submitted to SVT for the competition. The final was held in the Malmö Stadsteater in Malmö on 27 February 1988, presented by Bengt Grafström and was broadcast on TV2 and was not broadcast on radio. The show was watched by 4,464,000 people.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karin Ljung and Michael Nannini | "Säg är det sant?" | Karin Ljung, Michael Nannini | - | - |
| 2 | Uffe Persson | "Nästa weekend" | Ingela 'Pling' Forsman, Lasse Holm | - | - |
| 3 | All of a Sudden | "Dansa med vindarna" | Paul Kvanta, Fredrik Möller | 26 | 5th |
| 4 | Billy Gezon | "Måndag i mitt liv" | Ulf Nordquist | - | - |
| 5 | Haakon Pedersen | "Bang, en explosion" | Monica Forsberg, Bertil Engh | 33 | 4th |
| 6 | Annica Burman | "I en ding ding värld" | Bruno Glenmark, Lars Andersson | 19 | 6th |
| 7 | Sten Nilsson and Nilsonettes | "Kärlek är..." | Monica Forsberg, Ebbe Nilsson, Sten Nilsson, Vidar Alsterberg | - | - |
| 8 | Lena Philipsson | "Om igen" | Ingela 'Pling' Forsman, Bobby Ljunggren, Håkan Almqvist | 55 | 2nd |
| 9 | Siw Malmkvist | "Det är kärlek" | Susanne Wigforss, Jonas Warnerbring | - | - |
| 10 | Paul Rein | "Bara du och jag" | Paul Rein | - | - |
| 11 | Tommy Körberg | "Stad i ljus" | Py Bäckman | 84 | 1st |
| 12 | Lotta Engberg and Triple & Touch | "100%" | Monica Forsberg, Torgny Söderberg | 47 | 3rd |
Voting
| Song | Luleå | Örebro | Karlstad | Umeå | Norrköping | Falun | Växjö | Gothenburg | Sundsvall | Stockholm | Malmö | Total score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Dansa med vindarna" | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 26 |
| "Bang, en explosion" | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| "I en ding ding värld" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| "Om igen" | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 55 |
| "Stad i ljus" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 84 |
| "100%" | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 47 |
At Eurovision
Sweden performed second at the contest and received a total of 52 points and finished 12th.[1]
Voting
| Score | Country |
|---|---|
| 12 points |  Switzerland |
| 10 points |  Luxembourg |
| 8 points |  Norway |
| 7 points |  Ireland |
| 6 points |  Yugoslavia |
| 5 points |  United Kingdom |
| 4 points |  Turkey |
| 3 points |  Denmark |
| 2 points |  France |
| 1 point |  Iceland |