SVT has just confirmed that a record breaking 3,440 songs have been submitted for Melodifestivalen 2009. That number is six more than last year, the previous record and means Sweden will almost certainly have the highest number of songs to choose from in Europe as they select their next Eurovision Song Contest entry.

SVT will now begin the process of selecting the 28 that will go forward to the competition's four semi finals next year. Once they have been selected, 4 more songs will take their place along side them as wild card entries.

The huge growth in interest from the Swedish music industry for Melodifestivalen shows no sign of slowing, despite Sweden's poor results by their own standards in the last two years. Since 1995, the number of entries submitted to the competition has increased by almost 600%, with a new record number of entries being reaced in all but two years this decade. You can see the number of entries submitted each year at the end of this article.

The Melodifestivalen calendar for 2009 is as follows:

1st Semi Final – 07 February 2009 – Scandinavium, Göteborg

2nd Semi Final – 14 February 2009 – Skellefteå Kraft Arena, Skellefteå

3rd Semi Final – 21 February 2009 – Ejendals Arena, Leksand

4th Semi Final – 28 February 2009 – Malmö Arena, Malmö

Second chance round – 07 March 2009 – Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping

The final – 14 March2009 – Globen, Stockholm

Entries submitted to Melodifestivalen since 1995:

1995 600 entries
1996 1475 entries
1997 1223 entries
1998 1126 entries
1999 1315 entries
2000 1394 entries
2001 1567 entries
2002 1830 entries
2003 2630 entries
2004 3228 entries
2005 3131 entries
2006 3326 entries
2007 3234 entries
2008 3434 entries
2009 3440 entries