The winner of Melodifestivalen 2007 is now chosen. They received the highest votes from both the national juries and the televoters and will now represent Sweden in Helsinki in May.

The Ark were the clear winners of Melodifestivalen earlier todnight witha total of 248 points, which is even more points than Carola did last year when she won with Evighet.

– The Swedes really have good taste, the singer in the band, Ola Salo, told esctoday.com directly after the show.Now we’re going to prove that our sound is the sound for all of Europe, Ola said.

Andreas Johnson finished in second place with his song A Little Bit of Love. He said that he probably won’t participate in the contest for a couple of years now.

– If it's going to be a next time, it´s goingto be third time lucky for me, Andreas told esctoday.com in the rather chaotic press conference in the greenroom.

Måns Zelmerlöw was considered one of the hot favourites before the contest with Cara Mia. After the local juries had cast their votes he was only in fourth place. However, the Swedish people wanted a different result and gave Måns and Cara Mia the second highest score of the evening, which brought him up to third place.

– I am nothing else than thrilled about the third place, but I can’t remember anything from my performance. I went totally blank when I entered the stage, Måns told esctoday.com.

Sarah Dawn Finer wasn’t able to perform her song during the rehearsals earlier today because of a bad throat. This evening she put on a fantastic performance and there were hardly any signs at all from her cold.

– Nothing can beat the feeling I have right now! I love my song and just feel that I want to carry on with my music career, she said with a big smile on her face.

Marie Lindberg only received four points from the jury, but received the fourth highest score from the televoters. Marie, who was totally unknown before her participation in Melodifestivalen was overwhelmed with the score and wanted to thank everybody that voted for her.

– I feel that I have won many peoples’ hearts. The atmosphere in the Globe arena was magical, Marie said.

Sonja Aldén and Sanna Nielsen, the artists from the Second Chance round, finished in sixth and seventh place. Sonja told esctoday.com that she felt fantastic about the result and that she had no expectations at all before the show.

– I have never felt this happy! I can’t believe how calm I felt on stage! Sonja said.

– This is as big as it gets as an artist in Sweden! I love all of this. Right now I just feel like celebrating, a satisfied Sanna told esctoday.com.

The entries that didn’t receive any of the points from the televoters were Sebastian, Anna Book and Tommy Nilsson. Sebastian was in sixth position after the votes from the local juries, but didn’t receive enough votes from the televoters to keep his position.

– My performance was nothing else than great and I can’t see that I could have delivered more on stage, he said.

Anna Book looked like she had won the contest when she met the journalists in the green room after the show.

– I’m blessed! I am so proud of what I have achieved here in Stockholm tonight. Of course I’d like to have gone to Helsinki for Sweden, but I am satisfied with my performance and the result.

Former Melodifestivalen winner Tommy Nilsson didn’t receive any points at all and finished in the last place.

– I will celebrate anyway! It’s my 47th birthday on Sunday so I have something to celebrate anyway! he said.

The winners, The Ark, will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest final in Helsinki on May 12th with the song The Worrying Kind.

Esctoday.com have exclusive video interviews with the winners The Ark, Måns Zelmerlöw, Sanna Nielsen, Sonja Aldén and Anna Book. Click on the icons below!

The full result of the Melodifestivalen final 2007:

1. The Ark The Worrying Kind, 248 (116 + 132) points
2. Andreas Johnson A Little Bit of Love, 189 (101 + 88) points
3. Måns Zelmerlöw Cara mia, 171 (61 + 110) points
4. Sarah Dawn Finer I Remember Love, 128 (78 + 44) points
5. Marie Lindberg Trying to Recall, 70 (4 + 66) points
6. Sonja Aldén För att du finns, 62 (40 + 22) points
7. Sanna Nielsen Vågar du, vågar jag, 44 (33 + 11) points
8. Sebastian When the Night Comes Falling, 39 (39 + 0) points
9. Anna Book Samba Sambero, 1 (1 + 0) point
10. Tommy Nilsson Jag tror på människan, 0 (0 + 0) points