The Swedes welcome the Norwegian duo’s Melodifestivalen song with open arms. However, they are even more – and far more – open to the contribution of one of Sweden’s biggest Eurovision icons.
Less than 10 minutes ago
On Saturday, Loreen and her song “Tattoo” went from the semi-final and straight to the final in the Swedish Melodi Grand Prix, Melodifestivalen, often called “Mello”.
Just like Marcus & Martinus from Trofors in Norway did one week earlier, with the song “Air”.
Eight finalists are now ready for the final on 11 March. A further four will be selected in a semi-final next weekend.
On Saturday evening, the Swedish Mello songs were put out for streaming for the first time.
The figures so far show that Marcus & Martinus have won many Swedish hearts – but also that there is a long way to go before Loreen’s popularity.
Record numbers
Loreen first won the Melodifestivalen and then the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, with “Euphoria”.
The song is one of the most popular ESC winners ever.
Based only on two and a half hours of streaming on Saturday night, Loreen’s new “Tattoo” entered 40th place on the Swedish, daily updated Spotify list. Marcus & Martinus’ “Air” entered at 194th place.
Sunday’s stream metal from Spotify probably gives a more accurate picture of reality: Loreen comes out on top there, with 375,599 plays in Sweden.
According to Aftonbladet, it is the highest Spotify number ever for a Mello song that has so far only been in the semi-finals.
The Marcus & Martinus song moves into third place, with 159,978 plays.
In between comes another Mello contribution: the rock band Smash Into Pieces. Their “Six Feet Under” was played 197,701 times on Spotify on Sunday.
Both Loreen and Marcus & Martinus have many fans internationally, but until the Mello decision, it is the Swedes’ favor that they must win.
Based on Saturday’s figures, Loreen’s “Tattoo” had 54 percent of Swedish listeners, while Marcus & Martinus’ “Air” had 62 percent.
Barely a fifth
On YouTube, the balance of power is even stronger in Loreen’s favour.
At the time of writing, her “Tattoo” has 922,000 views on Melodifestivalen’s official YouTube channel.
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Marcus & Martinus’ “Air” has 170,000 – i.e. just under a fifth of Loreen’s figure.
The YouTube figures are the combined international figures for the songs, and do not tell how many Swedish plays the songs have.
The betting companies also have faith in Loreen.
The website Eurovisionworld has, based on odds from five different companies, calculated that at the time of writing Loreen has a 72 percent chance of winning Melodifestivalen.
Marcus & Martinus is there in second place – and is given an 11 percent chance of victory in Sweden.
Eurovisionworld also declares, in a measurement with 13 betting companies in the calculation, Sweden the most likely winner of the entire Eurovision, with a 30 percent chance at the time of writing.
This means before the Swedish winner is named.
Ukraine follows behind with 16 per cent, Finland with 11, Norway with six and Great Britain with five.
If Loreen wins the Melodifestivalen and will again represent Sweden in Eurovision, she does not have the statistics on her side as far as going to the top is concerned.
The only artist who has managed to win the competition twice is Irishman Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 and 1987.
Norway’s most recent Eurovision winner, Alexander Rybak, tried to repeat the 2009 triumph “Fairytale” nine years later – but it ended with a 15th place for “That’s How You Write A Song” in 2018.
The year before, Loreen tried again in Melodifestivalen, but was eliminated.
VG has been in contact with Marcus & Martinus’ press officer. It is stated that the duo is traveling and has no opportunity to comment on the matter now.
- Marcus & Martinus and Martinus Gunnarsen are affiliated Max Social, which is a wholly owned profile agency in VGTV AS. VG’s editorial assessments are made independently of this. The editors are free. An overview of bindings for profiles who do assignments for VG is located here.
Published: 27.02.23 at 21:48
