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 in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the English version of the song, "It hurts", where she came fifth with 170 points.
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.
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: