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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 two songs that progressed automatically to the final were "Thank You" by Amy Diamond, the wildcard, and "I Love Europe" by Christer Sjögren. The two songs that passed to the Andra Chansen round were "Line of Fire" by E-Type & The Poodles and "Visst finns mirakel" by Suzzie Tapper.

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 two songs that progressed automatically to the final were "Empty Room" by Sanna Nielsen and "Just a Minute" by Rongedal. The two songs that passed to the Andra Chansen round were "One Love" by Andreas Johnson & Carola Häggkvist, the wildcard, and "Love in Stereo" by Ola Svensson.

The third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2008 was held at the Cloetta Center in Linköping on 23 February 2008. The two songs that progressed directly to the final were "Lay Your Love on Me" by BWO and "Upp o hoppa" by Frida feat. Headline. The two songs that passed to the Andra Chansen round were "Smiling in Love" by Caracola and "When You Need Me" by Thérèse Andersson. The wildcard entry, "Hallelujah New World" by Eskobar, came last in the televoting and failed to qualify.

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 final two artists to automatically secure their place in the final were Charlotte Perrelli with "Hero" and Linda Bengtzing with the song "Hur svårt kan det va?". The two artists to proceed to the Andra Chansen round were Sibel Redzep with the song "That Is Where I'll Go" and Nordman with the song "I lågornas sken". The wildcard entry for this semi-final was Niklas Strömstedt with the song "För många ord om kärlek", which came last in the televoting.

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 two winners of Andra Chansen that went on to the final were Sibel Redzep with the song "That Is Where I'll Go" and Nordman with the song "I lågornas sken".