The 29-year-old ended the home and away season on 26 votes, two behind the winner Gary Ablett (Gold Coast) and one behind runner up Joel Selwood (Geelong).
View the best photos of the players and their partners on the red carpet at the 2013 Brownlow Medal.
Swan's 26 votes was one more than what he polled when finishing equal fourth last year but still eight short of what he polled in his Brownlow Medal winning year of 2011.
He has now polled 164 votes, equalling the record held by current coach and 2003 Medal winner Nathan Buckley for the most career votes polled by a single Collingwood player.
After a strong, if not slightly unobtrusive start to the season, Swan put on the afterburners, polling the maximum nine votes between rounds 10-12 to have 13 under his belt heading into the Magpies' round 13 bye.
He polled three twice more, against Carlton in round 15 and against Greater Western Sydney in round 18, but failed to poll against Essendon a week later despite winning 30 possessions and laying six tackles.
From there, Selwood crept into the lead and held sway over both Swan and Ablett entering the final round.
Recap the round-by-round voting of each Collingwood match.
Selwood and Swan failed to poll in the last weekend of the home and away season, opening the door for Ablett to fly into the lead with the final vote of the night courtesy of his 33 possessions and four goals against the Giants.
Five votes behind Swan was vice-captain Scott Pendlebury who again featured prominently in the umpires' minds throughout the season but was often narrowly shaded by his tattooed teammate.
2013 Brownlow Medal
28 - Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
27 - Joel Selwood (Geelong)
26 - Dane Swan (Collingwood)
22 - Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide)
21 - Daniel Hannebery (Sydney), Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood), Tom Rockliff (Brisbane)
19 - Trent Cotchin (Richmond), Kieren Jack (Sydey)
17 - Jobe Watson (Essendon)
16 - Dustin Martin (Richmond), Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), David Mundy (Fremantle)
15 - Luke Hodge (Hawthorn), Rory Sloane (Adelaide)
Collingwood
26 - Dane Swan
21 - Scott Pendlebury
7 - Steele Sidebottom
6 - Travis Cloke
5 - Harry O'Brien
4 - Josh Thomas
3 - Luke Ball, Jamie Elliott, Ben Reid
2 - Darren Jolly
1 - Dayne Beams, Dale Thomas
