Sweden selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 by holding an extending national selection, namely Melodifestivalen 2008. A record of 3,489 entries were submitted to the broadcaster SVT, and 28 were chosen to compete. They were completed with 4 wildcards in the end of December. Melodifestivalen was also this year held on Saturdays, starting with the first of the four heats on 9 February and ending with a final on 15 March. It was the last of the year's national selections, as the official ESC draw was held on 17 March. Four songs progressed from each heat, two to the final and two to the second chance round, where the songs were competing in a knock-out round to gain the last two places in the final.
The final was won by Charlotte Perrelli with the song "Hero", which was written and composed by Fredrik Kempe and Bobby Ljunggren. Sanna Nielsen, who was the favourite of televoters, came second, as she did not receive enough points from the 11 juries.
Charlotte Perrelli competed in the second semi-final on 22 May. She did not finish among the ten best in the televoting, but thanks to the new rule that the last finalist will be chosen by the back-up juries, she took the final ticket at the expense of Macedonia. The placement in the televoting was 12th, 7 points after Macedonia and 2 points after Bulgaria. She was drawn into the 15th spot in the final. Although being one of the heavy favorites before the final, Sweden did not finish higher than 18th, receiving only 47 points.
See main article: Melodifestivalen 2008. Melodifestivalen 2008 was the 47th Melodifestivalen, and the selection process for the 48th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. 32 competing songs were split up into four heats with eight participants in each. The heats were held between 9 February and 1 March 2008 and at each, the two top placing songs went to the final, while the third and fourth place songs went to the Andra Chansen (Second Chance round). At the Andra Chansen, held on 8 March 2008, the eight songs paired off in two rounds with the two winners at the end of the night qualifying for the final. The final was held on 15 March 2008 and included the eight songs from the semi-finals along with the two from the Andra Chansen to make ten songs in all. The winner and selected entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest was then chosen by the 11 regional juries of Sweden, along with public televoting.
It was hosted by Kristian Luuk, who also hosted the 2007 event.[1] Luuk was assisted by Björn Gustafsson and Nour El-Refai.
The final of Melodifestivalen 2008 was held on 15 March 2008 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. The eight direct qualifiers and the two Andra Chansen winner competed in the final, where the 11 regional juries of Sweden, along with televoting, selected the winner that would represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
The winner of Melodifestivalen 2008 was Charlotte Perrelli with the song "Hero", receiving a total of 114 points from the juries and 110 points from the televote. The winner of the televote, however, was Sanna Nielsen with "Empty Room".
| Draw[2] | Artist | Song | Jury | Public | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Hero" | 114 | 110 | 224 | 1 | ||
| 2 | "That Is Where I'll Go" | 39 | 0 | 39 | 7 | ||
| 3 | Rongedal | "Just a Minute" | 76 | 66 | 142 | 4 | |
| 4 | "Hur svårt kan det va?" | 64 | 0 | 64 | 5 | ||
| 5 | "I Love Europe" | 1 | 22 | 23 | 9 | ||
| 6 | "Thank You" | 25 | 11 | 36 | 8 | ||
| 7 | "Empty Room" | 74 | 132 | 206 | 2 | ||
| 8 | "I lågornas sken" | 4 | 44 | 48 | 6 | ||
| 9 | Frida feat. Headline | "Upp o hoppa" | 6 | 0 | 6 | 10 | |
| 10 | "Lay Your Love on Me" | 70 | 88 | 158 | 3 |
Sweden qualified from the second semi-final as the jury wildcard.[3] They performed as song number 15 in the final, after Latvia and before Denmark, where they achieved 18th place and 47 points.[4]
The commentators for the event for SVT were Kristian Luuk and Josef Sterzenbach, with a brief appearance by Carl Bildt in the final. The spokesperson announcing the votes for Sweden was Björn Gustafsson.[5] [6]