[c#] How to set a dropdownlist item as selected in ASP.NET?

This is a very nice and clean example:(check this great tutorial for a full explanation link)

public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectListItems(
              this IEnumerable<Album> albums, int selectedId)
{
    return 
        albums.OrderBy(album => album.Name)
              .Select(album => 
                  new SelectListItem
                  {
                    Selected = (album.ID == selectedId),
                    Text = album.Name,
                    Value = album.ID.ToString()
                   });
}

In this MSDN link you can read de DropDownList method documentation.

Hope it helps.