The first semi-final of Melodifestivalen was held at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg on 9 February 2008. Eight songs in total competed, seven songs which had been submitted to SVT, along with one of the four wildcards.
The second semi-final was held on 16 February 2008, at the ABB Arena Nord in Västerås. Again eight songs competed in total, seven songs which had been submitted to SVT and one of the four wildcards.
The third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2008 was held at the Cloetta Center in Linköping on 23 February 2008.
The final semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2008 before the Andra chansen round was held on 1 March 2008, at the Telenor Arena in Karlskrona.
The third and fourth placed songs in each semifinal perform in Andra Chansen (Second Chance) round. Eight songs performed, paired off against each other. The winners of the first two pairings compete against each other in the first final, while the winners of the other two compete in the second. The winners of the two final pairings go through to the final.
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.