2008 was the 48th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 9 February and 15 March 2008. The winner of the competition was Charlotte Perrelli with the song "Hero", who represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, where she came eighteenth with 47 points.

Format Melodifestivalen 2008 included 32 songs 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 second chance round, 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 heats along with the two from the Andra Chansen to make ten songs in all.

+Competition Schedule Show Date City Venue Heat 1 9 February 2008 Gothenburg Scandinavium Heat 2 16 February 2008 Västerås ABB Arena Heat 3 23 February 2008 Linköping Cloetta Center Heat 4 1 March 2008 Karlskrona Telenor Arena Second chance 8 March 2008 Kiruna Arena Arctica Final 15 March 2008 Stockholm Stockholm Globe Arena

It was hosted by Kristian Luuk, who also hosted the 2007 event. Luuk was assisted by Björn Gustafsson and Nour El-Refai.

Wildcards Starting in 2004, four out of the 32 participants were selected directly by the contest's producers, in order to increase musical and artistic breadth. Each artist, called "wildcard", participated in a different heat. The wildcards in 2008 were the following: Artist Song Heat Amy Diamond "Thank You" Heat 1 Johnson & Häggkvist "One Love" Heat 2 Eskobar "Hallelujah New World" Heat 3 Niklas Strömstedt "" Heat 4

Competing entries Artist Song Songwriter(s)Ainbusk""""Amy Diamond"Thank You"Andra generationen"Kebabpizza Slivovitza"Brandur"Lullaby"BWO"Lay Your Love on Me"Calaisa"If I Could"Caracola"Smiling in Love" Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" Christer Sjögren"I Love Europe"""E-Type & The Poodles"Line of Fire"Eskobar"Hallelujah New World"""Frida feat. Headline""Fronda""Johnson & Häggkvist"One Love"Lasse Lindh""Lasse LindhLinda Bengtzing"""That's Love"""Mickey HuskićNiklas Strömstedt""Niklas StrömstedtNordman""Ola"Love in Stereo"Patrik Isaksson & Bandet""Patrik Isaksson"Just a Minute"Sanna Nielsen"Empty Room"Sibel"That Is Where I'll Go"Christian Antblad"""""When You Need Me"Velvet""

Contest overview Heat 1 The first heat took place on 9 February 2008 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,241,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 600,804 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 E-Type & The Poodles "Line of Fire" 46,333 56,105 102,438 3 Second chance 2 Face-84 "" 13,626 13,626 8 Out 3 Velvet "" 25,451 31,047 56,498 5 Out 4 Brandur "Lullaby" 18,727 18,727 7 Out 5 Michael Michailoff "That's Love" 23,198 23,198 6 Out 6 Amy Diamond "Thank You" 79,075 96,508 175,583 1 Final 7 Suzzie Tapper "" 24,469 32,130 56,599 4 Second chance 8 Christer Sjögren "I Love Europe" 71,396 81,471 152,867 2 Final

Heat 2 The second heat took place on 16 February 2008 at the ABB Arena in Västerås. 3,341,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 752,537 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Ola "Love in Stereo" 39,972 52,615 92,587 4 Second chance 2 Lasse Lindh "" 15,396 15,396 6 Out 3 The Nicole "" 6,121 6,121 8 Out 4 Alexander Schöld "" 13,352 13,352 7 Out 5 Rongedal "Just a Minute" 68,121 94,101 162,222 2 Final 6 Sanna Nielsen "Empty Room" 102,390 126,356 228,746 1 Final 7 Andra generationen "Kebabpizza Slivovitza" 33,011 43,509 76,520 5 Out 8 Johnson & Häggkvist "One Love" 77,778 79,106 156,884 3 Second chance

Heat 3 The third heat took place on 23 February 2008 at the Cloetta Center in Linköping. 3,110,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 437,744 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 BWO "Lay Your Love on Me" 58,136 82,381 140,517 1 Final 2 Mickey Huskić "" 11,721 11,721 7 Out 3 Frida feat. Headline "" 27,675 40,852 68,527 2 Final 4 Thérèse Andersson "When You Need Me" 25,034 33,849 58,883 4 Second chance 5 Patrik Isaksson & Bandet "" 26,056 33,808 59,864 5 Out 6 Caracola "Smiling in Love" 31,652 35,491 67,143 3 Second chance 7 Ainbusk "" 18,249 18,249 6 Out 8 Eskobar "Hallelujah New World" 11,672 11,672 8 Out

Heat 4 The fourth heat took place on 1 March 2008 at the Telenor Arena in Karlskrona. 3,410,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 701,978 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Votes Place Result 1 Niklas Strömstedt "" 13,067 13,067 8 Out 2 Calaisa "If I Could" 30,124 47,846 77,970 5 Out 3 Daniel Mitsogiannis "" 20,432 20,432 7 Out 4 Linda Bengtzing "" 53,813 70,571 124,384 2 Final 5 Nordman "" 39,019 58,673 97,782 4 Second chance 6 Sibel "That Is Where I'll Go" 46,289 59,030 105,319 3 Second chance 7 Fronda "" 25,234 25,234 6 Out 8 Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" 98,666 137,738 236,404 1 Final

Second chance The second chance round took place on 8 March 2008 at the Arena Arctica in Kiruna. 3,090,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,464,019 votes were cast.

+ Round 1 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 E-Type & The Poodles "Line of Fire" 87,002 Out 2 Sibel "That Is Where I'll Go" 103,077 Round 2 II 1 Ola "Love in Stereo" 78,477 Round 2 2 Caracola "Smiling in Love" 51,038 Out III 1 Johnson & Häggkvist "One Love" 202,353 Out 2 Nordman "" 316,118 Round 2 IV 1 Thérèse Andersson "When You Need Me" 57,335 Out 2 Suzzie Tapper "" 73,120 Round 2

+ Round 2 Duel Artist Song Votes Result I 1 Sibel "That Is Where I'll Go" 137,065 Final 2 Ola "Love in Stereo" 103,624 Out II 1 Nordman "" 166,735 Final 2 Suzzie Tapper "" 88,075 Out

Final The final took place on 15 March 2008 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 4,046,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 2,410,220 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . Artist Song Juries Televote Total Place 1 Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" 114 397,907 110 224 1 2 Sibel "That Is Where I'll Go" 39 120,587 0 39 7 3 Rongedal "Just a Minute" 76 273,521 66 142 4 4 Linda Bengtzing "" 64 115,321 0 64 5 5 Christer Sjögren "I Love Europe" 1 228,674 22 23 9 6 Amy Diamond "Thank You" 25 188,872 11 36 8 7 Sanna Nielsen "Empty Room" 74 449,419 132 206 2 8 Nordman "" 4 233,467 44 48 6 9 Frida feat. Headline "" 6 81,691 0 6 10 10 BWO "Lay Your Love on Me" 70 320,741 88 158 3

+ Detailed jury votes Song Total 1"Hero" 12 12 12 12 12 4 6 12 10 10 12 114 2 "That Is Where I'll Go" 1 2 4 2 2 2 4 8 1 12 1 39 3 "Just a Minute" 8 4 6 8 6 10 12 10 2 10 76 4 "" 6 8 10 6 4 8 4 4 8 6 64 5 "I Love Europe" 1 1 6 "Thank You" 2 1 1 1 1 10 1 6 2 25 7 "Empty Room" 10 6 8 4 10 6 6 12 4 8 74 8 "" 1 2 1 4 9 "" 6 6 10 "Lay Your Love on Me" 4 10 2 10 8 12 8 2 8 2 4 70 Jury spokespersons ÖrebroYankho Kamwendo LuleåClaes Elfsberg FalunAnnika Lantz Karlstad Umeå NorrköpingAndré Pops GothenburgHans Rosenfeldt SundsvallPetra Mede VäxjöOla Lindholm MalmöKattis Ahlström StockholmPeter Settman

Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Air date Viewers(millions) Heat 1 3.241 Heat 2 3.341 Heat 3 3.110 Heat 4 3.410 Second chance 3.090 Final 4.046

See also Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest

References

External links Official Melodifestivalen website