With the final roster now decided for the Melodifestivalen 2016 final, the bookies still have Frans down as the favourite to win. Since Andra Chansen his odds have narrowed to 2/5 at both Bet365 and Ladbrokes, and are now as low as 1/3 at Betfair.
If anyone is going to keep Frans from winning, then it may just be Melfest debutant Robin Bengtsson.
When we last checked in on February 29, the “Constellation Prize” singer was down as fourth favourite, behind Frans, Molly Sandén and Oscar Zia. But in recent days his odds to win have narrowed across most European betting agencies, catapulting him into second position. Those of you looking to maximise on his potential win should head to Betfair, where he can still be secured at 9/1.
Place your bet with Betfair now
Former favourite Molly (“Youniverse”) now finds herself in third position, followed by “Human” singer Oscar Zia and “Save Me” star Wiktoria. Of the recent Andra Chansen qualifiers, Samir And Viktor lead the way as eighth favourites, followed closely by SaRaha in ninth. Panetoz and Boris René round out the back of the pack as 11th and 12th favourites to win.
Melodifestivalen 2016 odds: Frans still the favourite (6 March @ 23:30 GMT)
Melodifestivalen 2016: Running Order
But what do the charts say?
Over the weekend Sverigetopplistan, the Swedish singles chart, gave us hints as to which songs are popular, using both sales and streaming data.
There’s a clear favourite here – Frans very comfortably debuted in the No.1 spot, beating stiff competition from such pop luminaries as Zayn, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber, among others. But a No.1 single is not necessarily a guarantee of a Melfest win.
In previous years, winning songs have debuted at much lower chart positions and made their way to No.1. In 2014, Ace Wilder missed out on winning Melfest, but enjoyed four weeks at No.1 – something that Sanna Nielsen never managed. Here are the Melfest finalists songs:
1. Frans – “If I Were Sorry”
4. Samir & Viktor – “Bada nakna”
8. SaRaha – “Kizunguzungu”
11. Molly Sandén – “Youniverse”
13. Robin Bengtsson – “Constellation Prize”
17. Oscar Zia – “Human”
20. Panetoz – “Håll om mig hårt”
22. Lisa Ajax – “My Heart Wants Me Dead”
26. Wiktoria – “Save Me”
32. Boris René – “Put Your Love On Me”
34. Ace Wilder – “Don’t Worry”
49. David Lindgren – “We Are Your Tomorrow”
So Samir & Victor are being boycotted by Swedish radio? Umm that’s sound … very adequate! Who on earth will give radio spotlight to a reality TV contestant (I won’t even dare to use the words “personality” or “star”) and a YouTuber? They are no actual singers … they are cheesy bubblegum entertainers eluded by success but emptied of actual talent. Who wants that? Radio does not and thank God for that. As far as popularity of both Robin B and Frans: Why am I surprised that people are surprised? You could clearly feel the huge popularity of both acts… Read more »
Molly is my favorite, second is Samir&Viktor and Frans is my bottom.Everybody is better than him, seriously.
I think that Sweden has possibilities this year to win.iam refering to Robin and Molly.
This will be a hell of a voting. I still think the juries’ top votes will go to Robin, maybe Oscar. Frans and Molly might just make the top 5 with the juries.
Maybe Robin could actually sneak through, because I think he will be (at least!) top 3 with the juries and probably #2 behind Frans with the public.
By the way, this is my top.
1. Oscar / Robin
3. Ace
4. Lisa
5. Boris
6. Frans
7. Wiktoria
8. Molly
9. Panetoz
10. Samir & Viktor
11. David
12. SaRaha
Many people think that Eurovision is complicated, and that’s why they think that they must to approach it in a complicated way. But this is not true. It’s about tightness + directness = power (attraction of votes at the Eurovision Song Contest).
For me this is not easy, simple, clear and obvious. For me these are complicated delusions, or delusional complications.
No chance for 1st place, but great chance for 2nd, 3rd and last place. Yes, this is very normal.
Is it rational, that Samir & Viktor are favorites for 2nd, 3rd and last place in these odds? For me this is ultimate evidence, that these odds are made by idiots with delusions.
@Pavel: I’m a bit more sceptical after what happened to Ireland’s Ryan Dolan in 2013. His entry was very gay-friendly and had shirtless backing dancers, but it came last in the grand final.
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Yes, but Ryan kind of buried the song with his patchy vocals.
@Pavel: I’m a bit more sceptical after what happened to Ireland’s Ryan Dolan in 2013. His entry was very gay-friendly and had shirtless backing dancers, but it came last in the grand final. It was also a dance anthem for the summer. Juries tend to go for more serious acts, and the public historically have found two women to be a more acceptable same-sex song than two men – so, Samir & Viktor winning may not give Sweden a good chance. It would be good to have the diversity, I’m just not sure it will get points. I hope that… Read more »
#TeamRobin
Or
#TeamWiktoria
P.S Frans would be my third choice, anything would be better than Ace or Victor and Samir.
@Pavel Yes, Samir and Viktor have huge support on Spotify but basically all radio stations in Sweden are boycotting them.
Frans will probably win, with Robin B as a dark horse. They’re far superior everyone else when it comes to Spotify and radio in Sweden.
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Except for Samir & Viktor
Frans will probably win, with Robin B as a dark horse. They’re far superior everyone else when it comes to Spotify and radio in Sweden. Frans would be a good choice. There’s no other song like that this year in Eurovision and that means it will stand out and make an impact. The juries in Eurovision have a criteria to vote for the song with potential to be a smash hit (that’s why they voted for Heroes 2015) and If I Were Sorry is modern and mainstream. It’s basically Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber mixed together. It’s not like songs… Read more »
@EugeneESCUK, Europe hasn’t seen two shirtless men perform yet (in Swedish), Bjorkman may keep this in mind. Too gay-friendly, may even win the whole ESC (gay-friendly judges may also help). Dana International, Conchita Wurst…and now is probably the time for Samir & Viktor to properly bring the earworm of a gay summer anthem to masses.
I believe that both Frans and Robin would be perfet choices to be this year’s host. I like molly, oscar and wiktoria too. I just hope that sweden doesnt pull off a Poland and selects Samir & Victor Lol
This is a weak year for Melodifestivalen
I’m really hoping that Oscar overcomes his nerves and sings the hell out of his song, because he has the best one here.
Please no Frans.
Ace Wilder!!!
On Melodifestivalen’s website they have started the usual voting of which act is the favourite. Right now top 5 looks like this with 2106 votes: Frans 25% Wiktoria 13% Robin Bengtsson 13% Oscar Zia, Ace Wilder 10% (Molly 9%) Frans is not that superior in my mind. And remember.. people can only vote one time on their absolute favourite. So what happends on Saturday when we can vote on many? I for example have Oscar, Wiktoria and Robin as favourites for winning and will give them five hearts each. But I couldn’t do it on this voting. Will the app… Read more »
@Olly the Swede: It certainly looks that way. Robin Stjernberg came from the Andra Chansen round to beat Yohio in 2013. If another should do the deed this time, who among the Andra Chansen contenders has the best chance at upsetting the Direkt till Final favorite? Some want to see Samir and Viktor, but they are singing last. When was the last time someone who sang last won? SaRaha upset Isa in the A.C. round, but few betting on her, and her win would get as many thumbs-down as did Sandhja’s upset of Saara Aalto and Mikael Saari in Finland,… Read more »
I’m pretty sure that if Frans was from Bulgaria, everybody would say his song is meh…
Please be Frans! It has become my favorite song at the moment which rarely happens to an Eurovision song (with rarely I mean only Love Injected has done it). For those who say that Frans will get a bad place, you’re all wrong! You’re not the only ones watching Eurovision. There are also a lot people who enjoys minimalistic beat and simple vocals. That’s just most of you, Eurovision fans, who dislike it. Come on! Even my mum liked it when I played it out loud. It will become an international hit, I promise.
Oscar or Robin <3
Oscar Zia for the win! Please, not Frans! 😀
I’ve looked at past jury votes from the countries we have this year (Except Australia and Belarus because they’re new), and If the jury in melfest vote like they’ve done the last couple of years the top 5 will most likely be
1. Wiktoria
2. Molly
3. Robin (Oscar maybe)
4. Oscar (Robin maybe)
5. Frans
When the jury are done. I believe that Frans will end up second even though he wins the televoting, it will be 2013 all over again.
Go Robin!
Top 12:
1. Oscar
2. Robin
3. Wictoria
4. Samir & Victor
5. Ace
6. Molly
7. David
8. Lisa
9. Frans
10. Panetoz
11. Saraha
12. Boris
@fikri haha I was thinking the same! And If only Denmark would’ve picked either Anja or Simone they would’ve had a chance of winning again, so this would be like 2013 all over again.
Anyway, I’m still hoping that Frans won’t win, and between this two I prefer Robin a lot more.
WIKTORIA WIKTORIA!
wouldn’t it be funny if sweden sends frans to eurovision and lands themselves outside top 10?
2011 – 3rd place
2012 – 1st place
2013 – 14th place
2014 – 3rd place
2015 – 1st place
2016 – 14th place
😀
Frans is the Anna Bergendahl of 2016.
Our participation in 2010 (or lack thereof) led to the current two-part voting system consisting of the national televote and the international juries.
Melfest made sure we’d never make that big of a mistake again. But here we are (again!) wanting to send Frans despite his lack of chances in the ESC. Let’s just hope that the Melfest saftey net is strong enough to save us this time.
What make Frans the favorite (and my personal favorite, too) is that he is authentic and simple. He has a good voice, song and doesn’t need that bunch of dancers, lightning and effects with the same pop song we listen every year. He will definitely be in my top 5 in Eurovision if he wins. But sometimes we like that kind of performance with a well produced pop song and great dancers, lights, and all that kind of stuff. I do like acts like Robin Bengtsson, Lisa Ajax, Wiktoria, Ace, Molly Sanden and Samir & Viktor. For now, my top… Read more »
Even though everyone outside of Sweden (mostly) thinks that Frans has it in the bag already, remember what happened to Yohio in 2013 with “Heartbreak Hotel”? He was the one to beat in the final, had thousands of fans and they also made a special Swedish show about him before the final + closing the show. All the foods were favouring him too. Result: distant 2nd and got beaten by an act from Andra Chansen. Ouch. Essentially, for Frans to win he will need to have the International Jury’s support, unless he received more than 20% of the televote. I… Read more »
Frans don’t has a GREAT or special song, is a normal song nothing special for to be the winner… he has a BIG number of followers in Sweden and this is the reason of this situation… BUT Robin, Ace, Wiktoria, Oscar Zia and Molly they HAVE a REAL GOOD SONGS… thinking in the ESC Sweden need to choose only one of this 5 songs… Not Frans and not Saraha
Gahhh. I’m still hoping Molly will win, but if the universe won’t be on my side, then I’d rather be saved by Wiktoria from Frans. OR even anyone but Frans, and I’m not sorry.
@EugeneESCUK Agreed on most of it.
Either way. Frans has this pretty much in the bag. Tonight a swedish TV channel even aired a special show only about him and the phenomenon he has become.
You guys should all see this video HAHA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2eEtO4vSdc
Frans did a christmas song together with the muppets back in 2006. This little boy was meant for the stars even back then. I think we will witness a very special TV moment on saturday.
No matter what Danny Saucedo does, he cannot win MF lol
Frans all the way! 🙂
C’mon, they should cancel the final and pick Oscar instead. “Human” is pure perfection and instant winner. IMO almost everything is way better compared to this silly Frans’ song. :v Poland have made one big mistake this year – please don’t go this way, Sweden!
Ah-ha, so did someone at the betting agencies calculate that Robin would do better than Molly once all the different points and running order was taken into account? Or has there been a recent increase of bets on Robin that has caused this lowering?
I wonder.
The way National Finals are going this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a big upset from Sweden. Exciting, isn’t it? 🙂
Honestly think it’s between Robin and Wiktoria. Molly Sanden has an average song boosted by a large reputation. I don’t think it has enough to win, much like Ace Wilder.
Franz and S&V will split the televote, one preventing the other from securing the huge amount of points required to circumnavigate the lack of jury points that they will receive.
That leaves Robin and Wiktoria, both of whom have the potential to secure a decent number of points in both votes.
It will be very close this year, no runaway winner which makes things very interesting.
I want Ace Wilder so bad but I know it’s not gonna happen :((
Team Wiktoria!