European Music Festival 2018

The European Music Festival 2018 was the third edition of the annual European Music Festival, organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It was held on 14 October 2018, at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the first time Sweden had hosted the contest.

Twenty-four countries participated in the contest, with Armenia, Czech Republic, France, Romania and Serbia making they debut appearance in the contest.

Italy's Annalisa with the song “Il mondo prima di te” was the winner of the contest. This was Italy's first victory in the contest. France and Norway finished in second and third place. Spain and Sweden completed the top five, with the former finishing fourth and fifth. Iceland finished last.

Bidding phase and host city selection
After Sweden's victory in 2017 contest in Kraków, the Swedish Head of Delegation Mari Ryberger stated that Sveriges Television (SVT) is keen to host the 2018 contest. On 28 December 2017, it was confirmed by the EBU that Sweden would host the 2018 contest. The contest is set to take place in Sweden in 2018.

On 5 March 2017 Stockholm was announced as the host city of the contest and that the broadcaster will host the contest at the 16,000 capacity Avicii Arena venue. On 10 March 2021 EBU and host broadcaster SVT announced that the contest will be held on 14 October 2018

Hosts
On 21 June 2018, it was announced that Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw would host the contest.

Voting
The results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. The online voting is taking place during the live show and starts after the last performance and is open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for one country three Times from one phone number. The other half of the points was determined by a national jury from every participating country. These points are then announced live during the programme by a spokesperson representing the participating country. The spokespersons give out the points from each of the participating country.

Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 8 October in Kraków after the Opening Ceremony, with United Kingdom drawn to open the contest and Moldova drawn to close.

Participating countries
On 1 March 2021, the EBU released the official list of participants with 24 competing countries.