Melodifestivalen 2016, organised by Sveriges Television (SVT), was the fifteenth consecutive edition of the contest in which the competition took place in different cities across Sweden.

Christer Björkman was announced as the executive producer of the competition, while Annette Helenius was assigned as the project manager, replacing Maria Ilstedt and Christel Tholse Willers, respectively, from the previous year.

[7] Entries submitted for the competition were required to be new compositions which had never been published between 2–3 minutes in length and with at least one songwriter that had Swedish citizenship.

The choice of language was free, however, SVT reserved 30% of the contest's places for entries sung mainly in Swedish.

SVT also aimed to have at least 50% of the contest's places for entries written by female composers and lyricists either in a solo or collaborative capacity.

Half of the jury members represented people working in or involved with the music industry (professional dancers, artist managers, music editors and programme/music directors) and the other half consisted of members of the public who are viewers of Melodifestivalen (with professions such as engineers, bloggers, teachers, consultants and students).

Ace Wilder, After Dark, Anna Book, David Lindgren, Dolly Style, Isa, Linda Bengtzing, Mattias Andréasson, Molly Pettersson Hammar, Molly Sandén, Oscar Zia, Panetoz, Patrik Isaksson, Pernilla Andersson, Samir and Viktor, Swingfly and Uno Svenningsson have all participated in Melodifestivalen during previous editions.

In addition to having participated in Melodifestivalen previously, Molly Sandén also represented Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006.

On 4 February 2016, SVT held a press conference where they announced that "Himmel för två", written by Sven-Inge Sjöberg, Lennart Wastesson, Larry Forsberg and Camilla Läckberg and to have been performed by Anna Book, was disqualified from the competition.

[22] Recurring interval acts such as Jonas Gardell's schlager school and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors were also part of the programme; Stina Ekblad performed a dramatic reading of Samir and Viktor's Melodifestivalen 2015 entry "Groupie".

Charlotte Perrelli was originally supposed to co-host the show; however, after a breach of contract arose due to her endorsement deal with mobile phone brand Comviq, she appeared only as a guest performer instead.

[27] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Dirawi and Perrelli opened the show with a performance titled "Flickorna från Sverige" (The girls from Sweden), while the interval act titled "Rädda schlagerdivan" (Save the schlager diva) included a video presentation that featured Claes Elfsberg and Arja Saijonmaa followed by Perrelli performing a Swedish language cover of the song "Atemlos durch die Nacht" by Helene Fischer entitled "Här står jag" (Here I stand).

[28] Recurring interval acts such as Jonas Gardell's schlager school and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors were also part of the program; Krister Henriksson and Peter Haber performed a dramatic reading of Kikki, Bettan and Lotta's Melodifestivalen 2002 entry "Vem é dé du vill ha".

Recurring interval acts such as Jonas Gardell's schlager school and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors were also part of the program; Marie Göranzon performed a dramatic reading of Anna Book's Melodifestivalen 2007 entry "Samba Sambero".

[32] The fourth heat took place on 27 February 2016 at the Gavlerinken Arena in Gävle, hosted by Gina Dirawi and Sarah Dawn Finer.

[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Dirawi and Finer opened the show with a cover of Guy Sebastian's 2015 Australian Eurovision entry "Tonight Again" titled "Du och jag igen" (You and I again), while the interval act featured a performance by Dirawi, Finer and Jon Henrik Fjällgren titled "Hela Sveriges sång" (All of Sweden's song).

Helena Bergström, who hosted Melodifestivalen 2012 together with Dirawi and Finer, reprised her portrayals of Lasse and Marianne—characters that were part of the interval acts for the 2012 competition.

Recurring interval acts such as Jonas Gardell's schlager school and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors were also part of the program; Lena Endre performed a dramatic reading of Linda Bengtzing's Melodifestivalen 2006 entry "Jag ljuger så bra".

[36] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Dirawi, Salo and Jöback opened the show with a cover of Adele's "Skyfall", while the interval acts included a duet by Salo and Jöback titled "Sing Me Out" and Hasse Andersson performing his Melodifestivalen 2015 entry "Guld och gröna skogar".

Recurring interval acts that were also part of the show included Jonas Gardell's schlager school and Helena Bergström's portrayals of the characters Lasse and Marianne.

[37] The final took place on 12 March 2016 at the Friends Arena in Solna, hosted by Gina Dirawi and William Spetz.

[41] Recurring interval acts that were also part of the show included Jonas Gardell's schlager school, Helena Bergström's portrayals of the characters Lasse and Marianne and dramatic readings of past Melodifestivalen song lyrics by Swedish actors; Pernilla August and Michael Nyqvist performed a dramatic reading of Timoteij's Melodifestivalen 2010 entry "Kom".

[42][43][44] Sarah Dawn Finer also reprised her portrayal of the comedic character Lynda Woodruff, who first appeared in Melodifestivalen 2012.