Well it’s time for another instalment of national final songs that just didn’t quite make it past the winning post.

This time we look at three of the countries with some of the most well established and widely followed national finals – it’s the Scandinavian triumvirate of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

I should add that in these series of national finals posts, I’ve kept it to a maximum of two per country. Certain friends and acquaintances would probably just rehash most of Melodifestivalen ;).

Denmark

Denmark’s national final (Dansk Melodi Grand Prix) sometime springs up surprises, and this year was one of those times with neither of the two expected favourites winning through, even though they did reach the last 3 in the “superfinal”. I’ve only included one of those two favourites here though.

Anja Nissen “Never Alone” (Runner up)

This was my preferred option from the two defeated superfinalists – and would have made a decent Eurovision entry I think. We’ll see how the actual winners fare – the Danes stuck with the boy band pop they have entered several times over the last few years.

Muri & Mario “Te stjerner” (Finalist)

Rather than just picking the other superfinalist, I’ve chosen this very pleasant song which I keep hearing on escradio.com (an online radio station that plays 24 hours of Eurovision). It’s also nice to hear a song sang fully in Danish (Denmark hasn’t entered a Danish-language song since the end of the language restriction at Eurovision in 1999).

Norway

Norway’s eventual winner from their Melodi Grand Prix wasn’t such a surprise, but there are a couple of finalists worth highlighting. However, I haven’t included the boy band (Suite 16)who came third but I do wonder whether the songwriters knew what they were doing calling  a song “Anna Lee” (think about it).

Laila Samuels “Afterglow” (Fourth in “Gold final”)

There were four gold finalists (i.e. superfinalists) but this was definitely the second best of the four despite it finishing last. Not quite as good as the overall winner in my view so I think Norway ultimately chose wisely.

The Hungry Hearts feat. Lisa Dillan “Laika” (Finalist)

Guilty pleasure time! I love this actually, it has a real early 80s feel in parts and nice to see little Laika, first dog in space, still being remembered in a certain manner.

Sweden

The big daddy of the national finals, and revered by Eurofanatics worldwide, is Sweden’s Melodifestivalen. It’s been running since 1959 and since 2000 has consistently been Sweden’s most popular TV programme. It’s delivered more Eurovision winners than any other national final so its iconic status is well justified. It delivered a bit of a surprise this year with its winner but there was still plenty to enjoy in this year’s final.

Ace Wilder “Don’t Worry” (3rd place in final)

This was Ace Wilder’s second attempt at becoming Sweden’s representative at Eurovision, having coming within a whisker of winning in 2014 against Sanna Nielsen (who went on to take 3rd place at Eurovision 2014). She came close again this year, though came third this time but with a song and (especially) staging that would probably see Sweden taking top 10 again (in my view). Sanna Nielsen won Melodifestivalen on her seventh attempt, so plenty of time for Ace yet!

Samir & Viktor “Bada Nakna” (Last place in final)

Yes, another guilty pleasure! And I have no shame in posting this one a second time as I featured this in a post a few weeks back. Am pleased they did manage to get to the final – nice to have a big slice of Swedish schlager there. The subject of the song (if you can’t work it out already!) is celebrating the joy of nude bathing. Who wouldn’t mind a spot of nude bathing with these two (especially Samir!). They’ve had huge success in the Swedish charts with this, so I don’t think they’ll be too disappointed despite their loss!

Who were your favourites from these countries’ finals? Let me know in the comments below!