[1] The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 6 February and 13 March 2021.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all shows of this edition took place in the Annexet in Stockholm, and without an audience.
An initial 28 entries were selected for the competition through three methods: an open call for song submissions, direct invitations to specific artists and songwriters, and a wildcard given to one of the artists that participated in the P4 Nästa competition organised by Sveriges Radio P4.
Due to pandemic precautions, SVT did not hold the usual Melodifestivalen tour around six different Swedish cities.
[5] Christer Björkman, contest producer of Melodifestivalen for the past 20 years and outgoing head of the Swedish delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest, served as the main presenter for all six shows.
Broadcaster SVT revealed on 27 November 2020 that they would be releasing the acts for Melodifestivalen 2021 on a countdown, starting on 1 December.
A total of 9,159,642 votes were cast, using 632,883 devices (which are both records for the Second Chance round).