Melodifestivalen 2017, organised by (SVT), was the sixteenth consecutive edition of the contest in which the competition took place in different cities across Sweden. The four heats were held at the
Scandinavium in
Gothenburg (4 February), the
Malmö Arena in
Malmö (11 February), the
Vida Arena in
Växjö (18 February) and the
Skellefteå Kraft Arena in
Skellefteå (25 February). The Second Chance round took place at the
Saab Arena in
Linköping on 4 March while the final was held at the
Friends Arena in
Solna on 11 March. An initial 28 entries competed in the heats, with seven entries taking part in each show. The top two entries from each heat advanced directly to the final, while the third and fourth placed entries advanced to the Second Chance round. The bottom three entries in each heat were eliminated. An additional four entries qualified for the final from the Second Chance round, bringing the total number of competing entries in the final to 12.
Christer Björkman was announced as the executive producer of the competition, while Annette Helenius was assigned as the project manager for a second consecutive year.
Entry selection Entries for the 2017 competition were selected through three methods: SVT created a shortlist of entries from the received submissions and formed a selection panel that was tasked to select fourteen entries for the competition. Only five entries from the
Public contest were under consideration with no guarantee that one would be selected to compete in Melodifestivalen. Henry previously appeared in comedic skits and hosted pre and post shows during
Melodifestivalen 2014. Lindgren and Andersson previously competed as artists in the competition; Lindgren took part in
2012,
2013 and
2016, while Andersson took part in
2015. == Competing entries ==