The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Television (SVT), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 2001.

Around 1,800 songs were submitted to Sveriges Television (SVT) for the competition, of which 10 were chosen to compete in the show.

The winners were the previous year's runner-up, the group Friends with the schlager song "Lyssna till ditt hjärta".

[3] After the song "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" won Melodifestivalen 2001, it was accused of plagiarism from the 1996 Belgian entry "Liefde is een kaartspel".

At first this was denied by the Swedish composers, Thomas G:son and Henrik Sethsson, but after the Belgian songwriters and the author's organisation SABAM pressed for legal action, a cash settlement was agreed.