"Popular" is an English language song written by

Fredrik Kempe Fredrik Kempe (born 29 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter and opera and pop singer, who was born in Vårgårda. He has participated in Swedish versions of the musicals ''Les Misérables'' and ''Chess''. In 2002, Kempe had a hit with ''Vincerò' ...

and performed by Swedish singer

Eric Saade Eric Khaled Saade (; ar, إريك سعادة, ʾĪrik Saʿāda, ; born 29 October 1990), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. After winn ...

. It is the second single from Saade's second album '' Saade Vol. 1'' and was the Swedish entry in

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

. It was first released on 28 February 2011 in Sweden and topped the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

. It has been covered by

Elena Paparizou Helena Paparizou (; , ; born 31 January 1962) is a Swedish-born Greek singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she enrolled in various arts schools before launching a career in Sweden in 1999 a ...

Background

The song was written by

and produced by Peter Boström.

Eurovision Song Contest

On 19 February 2011,

competed in the third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2011 with ''Popular''. He won the final on 12 March 2011 with 193 points overall and was the Swedish entry for

. During his performance, Saade had a glass box wall on stage that is supposed to break. In the first rehearsal, this did not work. Therefore, Sweden had an extra rehearsal in 2011. About the rehearsals in

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, Saade said: "It feels great after the first rehearsal. I just focused on all the important stuff, like cameras and angles. I'm gonna focus a little bit more on the singing and dancing part on the next rehearsal". Sweden at ESC 2011

Saade performed on 12 May 2011 in the second semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest in eighth position in the lineup. Popular was the last song to have been announced to qualify for the Grand Final. It was later revealed that he finished first in the second semi-final. On 14 May 2011, he performed the song in the final in seventh position in the lineup. Saade came in third place with 185 points, which was the best result for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

since 1999 when

Charlotte Perrelli Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli (; ; born 7 October 1974) is a Swedes, Swedish singer and television host. She was the winner of the Melodifestivalen 1999, 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently Eurovision Song Contest 1999, that year's Eurovision ...

won with the song ''

Take Me to Your Heaven Tusen och en natt is a 1999 album from Swedish dansband Wizex Wizex is a Swedish dansband formed in Osby in 1973. It purchased the rights to the name from a band that started as ''Ulrik Wittmans Kvintett'' in 1957''.'' When Ulrik Wittman left t ...

''. It was also Sweden's fifth third place in Eurovision history. He came in second place in the televoting only two points behind the winner Azerbaijan.

Other versions

*An album remix and a slow version of the song were released on 14 March 2011 in

. *On 25 May 2011, a remix by the SoundFactory was released in Sweden. *In March 2012, Greek-Swedish singer Helena Paparizou sang her version of "Popular" during a pause in the final of the 2012

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

. Her performance was recorded and released as a single, her first in five years in Sweden. *As a part of an interval act for

Melodifestivalen 2013 Melodifestivalen 2013 was the Swedish music competition that selected the 53rd Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Robin Stjernberg's song " You" won the final, and became the first Second Chance song to win the Melodifestivalen f ...

the song was parodied by Ann-Louise Hanson,

Towa Carson Birgit Rose-Marie Anlert (née Carlsson, born 31 March 1936), known professionally as Towa Carson, is a Swedish schlager singer. She debuted in 1954 and had the most success in the 1950s and 1960s, with hits such as ''"De tre klockorna"'' (S ...

and

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...

as "Pensionär". It was also released on an EP the same year. *In the fall of 2017,

Tomas Andersson Wij Tomas Andersson Wij (born 6 February 1972, birthname: ''Tomas Per Andersson''), often abbreviated as TAW, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and journalist. Early life He was born on 6 February 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in the south su ...

released a Swedish language cover version of the song titled "Den dag jag vinner allt" as a part of the eight season of

Så mycket bättre Så mycket bättre (, "So Much Better") is a Swedish reality television show that airs on TV4. The basic premise is that each artist attempts to do their own version of another artist's well-known songs, with each person getting an episode feat ...

Critical reception

In general, ''Popular'' received positive reviews from critics.

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', '' Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cr ...

wrote that it is better than their entry for

and that "this is just one of the songs that will make the United Kingdom look stupid at this year's Eurovision.“

Awards, nominations and certifications

The song won the ESC Radio Award 2011 in the category ''Best Song'' and the Scandipop Award 2012 in the category ''Best Male Single''. It was also nominated for a Rockbjörnen Award 2011 in the category ''Best Swedish Song'' and is nominated for a Grammi 2012 in the category ''Song of the Year''. The SoundFactory Remix of the song was nominated for a Scandipop Award 2012 in the category ''Best Remix''. ''Popjustice.com'' has named the song ''Song of the Day''. On 15 May 2011, the same website has named the slow version ''Song of the Day''. In December 2011, the same website has listed the original song on number three of their list ''45 Best Singles 2011''. As of July 2011, ''Popular'' has been sold over 40.000 times and received

Double Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in Sweden.

Music video

A censored version of the music video of the song was released on 14 April 2011. The music video includes a dance battle.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Eric Saade Official WebsiteEric Saade Official Facebookpage
{{Authority control 2011 singles Eurovision songs of 2011 Eurovision songs of Sweden Melodifestivalen songs of 2011 Eric Saade songs Helena Paparizou songs Eurodance songs Songs written by Fredrik Kempe Number-one singles in Sweden 2011 songs Sony Music singles Roxy Recordings singles Tomas Andersson Wij songs Towa Carson songs Siw Malmkvist songs Ann-Louise Hanson songs