The 2011 edition of Melodifestivalen was similar to the previous year's arrangement, with four heats, a second-chance round and a grand final.

[1][2] The web wildcard competition began on 11 October, and ended with a live show on 8 November on SVT24, held at the Golden Hits nightclub in Stockholm.

From 9 July to 21 September musicians with no previous music contract could submit songs to the SVT Melodifestivalen website.

[3][4] The eliminated songs in the top 10 were: The two winners of the web wildcard contest were decided on 8 November at the Golden Hits nightclub in Stockholm, hosted by Henric von Zweibergk, floor manager of Melodifestivalen.

Televoting and SMS voting decided the final winner, which was announced by executive producer Christer Björkman.

SVT's fifteen wild cards and the jury's choice has and will be revealed before the end of November 2010.

SVT announced the first four songs on 7 October, which featured the return of three-time competitor Linda Bengtzing.

[15][16] The 13th song in Melodifestivalen 2011 was revealed on 1 November: Lars-Åke Wilhelmsson, aka Babsan, will compete with "Ge mig en spanjor",[17][18] and on 3 November SVT revealed that Nicke Borg will also compete in the contest with the song "Leaving Home".

[19] On 7 November it was revealed by Expressen that former Eurovision Song Contest winner Elisabeth Andreassen would make a return to Melodifestivalen in 2011.

[20] On 8 November SVT confirmed that Andreassen would make a comeback to Melodifestivalen, and will take part with the song "Vaken i en dröm".

Julia Alvgard and Jonas Matsson won after the public televote with the songs "Better or Worse" and "On My Own".

[22] The remaining entries were announced on a press conferences on 29 November, which featured the return of Shirley Clamp and Eric Saade.

[10][23] However, on 27 November, Christer Björkman revealed the Swedish dance band The Playtones would participate in Melodifestivalen 2011 with the song "The King".

[26] On 5 January 2011, SVT revealed Love Generation's song "Dance Alone" and the running order for each heat.

A duel format was used, with each song battling against another in order to remain in the contest and qualify for the final on 12 March.

SVT discounted all the votes to the Radiohjälpen number in these duels to declare the winning artist.

On 17 December 2010, Swedish newspaper Expressen announced that SVT planned to change the voting system in the Melodifestivalen Final.