Swedish music competition
 2004 was the 44th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 21 February and 20 March 2004. The winner of the competition was Lena Philipsson with the song "Det gör ont". She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the English version of the song, "It hurts", where she came fifth with 170 points.
Format.
The heats of Melodifestivalen 2004 began on 21 February 2004. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on March 20, 2004. This was the third year that a heat format had been used for the competition.
The Viewers' Choice round was renamed to Second Chance, with the format remaining the same.
Wildcards.
Unlike past years, where all Melodifestivalen participants were chosen by a selection jury, 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 were the following:
Contest overview.
Heat 1.
The first heat took place on 21 February 2004 at the Löfbergs Lila Arena in Karlstad. 3,293,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 590,453 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|832,539|SEK2}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.
Heat 2.
The second heat took place on 28 February 2004 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,307,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 549,315 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|774,534|SEK2|linked=no}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.
Heat 3.
The third heat took place on 6 March 2004 at the Umeå Arena in Umeå. 3,138,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 487,367 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|687,187|SEK2|linked=no}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.
Heat 4.
The fourth heat took place on 13 March 2004 at the Malmömässan in Malmö. 3,277,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 512,593 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|722,756|SEK2|linked=no}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.
Second chance.
The second chance round took place on 14 March 2004 at the Hotel Rival in Stockholm. 2,293,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 358,250 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|505,132|SEK2|linked=no}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.
Final.
The final took place on 20 March 2004 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 4,105,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,401,430 votes were cast, with a total of {{currency|1,975,992|SEK2|linked=no}} collected for {{lang|sv|Radiohjälpen|i=unset}}.