contest no. 70
Eurovision 2026: Vienna
The 70th Eurovision Song Contest was held on Saturday, 16 May 2026 at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. 35 countries took part. Bulgaria won with “Bangaranga” by Dara, on 516 points.
How would you have voted? Rank all 35 songs from 2026
- Final
- Saturday, 16 May 2026
- Semi-finals
- Tuesday, 12 May 2026 and Thursday, 14 May 2026
- Venue
- Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
- Host broadcaster
- Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
- Presenters
- Victoria Swarovski, Michael Ostrowski, Emily Busvine (green room)
- Directors
- Michael Kögler, Robin Hofwander
- For the EBU
- Martin Green
- Slogan
- United by Music
- Entries
- 35 countries
- Returning
- Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania
- Absent
- Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain
- Voting
- Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs. Online votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated and awarded as one set of points.
The story
Five countries boycott the seventieth contest, and Bulgaria wins its first
The seventieth contest was held in Vienna, in the hall that had staged the sixtieth. It was the smallest for more than twenty years. Five countries that had sung in Basel refused to come.
The boycott
The argument that followed the 2025 result did not die down. Beforehand the broadcasters of Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain each said that they would not take part if Israel did. Three of them also cited the Israeli government’s advertising campaigns for public votes in the previous two contests.
The EBU extended its deadline for confirming entries so that it could consult its members. A special meeting was called for November to vote on Israel’s participation. It was cancelled after a ceasefire and peace plan were agreed in Gaza.
The question went instead to the general assembly on 4 December. There the members voted to adopt a package of changes to the voting system. That vote took the place of a separate one on Israel, and Israel stayed in.
The four broadcasters went ahead with their boycott. Iceland joined them on 10 December. Ireland, Slovenia and Spain said they would not show the contest either.
Five countries had not stayed away together since 1970.
What that did to the contest
Thirty-five countries took part. Not since 2003, before there were semi-finals, had there been so few. Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova all returned, which kept the number from falling further.
Spain is one of the five countries with a guaranteed place in the final. Without it, the Big Five was a Big Four, and the final had 25 songs.
New rules
The changes agreed in December were a direct response to 2025.
Juries came back into the semi-finals, which had been decided by the public alone since 2023. They were enlarged, too, from five members to seven, and two of the seven had to be aged between 18 and 25.
Viewers could cast fewer votes: a maximum of ten for each payment method, down from twenty.
And the voting instructions now discouraged “disproportionate promotion campaigns”, especially any run or backed by governments.
The shows
Vienna beat Innsbruck to host. Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski presented.
The first semi-final opened with a voice from the contest’s past: Vicky Leandros, singing “L’amour est bleu”, the song she had brought to this city for Luxembourg in 1967, with a seventy-strong choir behind her.
The anniversary was marked in the final with a medley by former contestants, among them Lordi, Ruslana, Alexander Rybak and Verka Serduchka.
One thing went wrong on air. Partway through Czechia’s song the picture broke into stripes and froze for a few seconds. The Czech delegation asked to perform again. The EBU called it a minor technical problem and said no.
The result
Bulgaria had never won. Dara’s “Bangaranga” won everything: the juries, the public, and its semi-final before that. It finished on 516 points, 173 ahead of Israel. No song had come first with both juries and viewers since Portugal’s in 2017.
Romania, in third, equalled its best result. Australia was fourth and Italy fifth.
Luxembourg failed to reach the final for the first time, which leaves Ukraine as the only country that has never been eliminated in a semi-final.
The hosts had a bad night. Austria, the reigning champion, finished twenty-fourth with six points. Only the United Kingdom did worse: last, with one.
The audience
The EBU reported a television audience of 131 million, 35 million fewer than the year before.
The contest goes next to Burgas, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, in May 2027.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Eurovision Song Contest 2026”, and the EBU statements and press reports it cites.
The shows, night by night
What opened each show, and what filled the interval while the votes came in.
-
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
First semi-final
15 songs, 10 went through to the final
- opened by
-
- Vicky Leandros “L’amour est bleu”, Luxembourg’s 1967 entry, with a choir of seventy
- in the interval
-
- Zurcaroh “Welcome to the Funfair”, an acrobatic show on the history of the Bohemian Prater, Austria’s oldest amusement park
- Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski the presenters’ number “Opposites”, on telling Austria from Australia, with Go-Jo
Every song and who went through ↓ Every vote, country by country →
-
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Second semi-final
15 songs, 10 went through to the final
- opened by
-
- Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski the presenters, on film, with last year’s winner “Wasted Love”
- in the interval
-
- Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski “I’m So Excited”
- JJ “Unknown”
Every song and who went through ↓ Every vote, country by country →
-
Saturday, 16 May 2026
Final
25 songs
- opened by
-
- JJ and the flag parade last year’s winner sang the Queen of the Night aria, “Unknown” and “Wasted Love” with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra as the 25 finalists came in
- in the interval
-
- Erika Vikman, Lordi, Max Mutzke, Alexander Rybak, Kristian Kostov, Verka Serduchka, Miriana Conte and Ruslana a medley of past entries for the contest’s seventieth anniversary
- Parov Stelar “Black Lilies”
- Cesár Sampson “Vienna”
The final
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Semi-final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulgaria | Dara winner! | “Bangaranga” English · Anne Judith Wik, Cristian Tarcea, Darina Yotova, Dimitris Kontopoulos | 516 | 12 | SF2 · 1st 278 pts |
| 2 | Israel | Noam Bettan | “Michelle” French, Hebrew, English · Nadav Aharoni, Noam Bettan, Tzlil Klifi, Yuval Raphael | 343 | 3 | SF1 · 1st 269 pts |
| 3 | Romania | Alexandra Căpitănescu | “Choke Me” English · Alexandra Căpitănescu, Călin-Alexandru Grăjdan, Elvis Silitră, Ștefan Condrea | 296 | 24 | SF2 · 2nd 234 pts |
| 4 | Australia | Delta Goodrem | “Eclipse” English · Delta Goodrem, Ferras Alqaisi, Jonas Myrin, Michael Fatkin | 287 | 8 | SF2 · 3rd 222 pts |
| 5 | Italy | Sal Da Vinci | “Per sempre sì” Italian · Alessandro La Cava, Eugenio Maimone, Francesco Sorrentino, Federica Abbate, Federico Mercuri, Giordano Cremona, Salvatore Michael Sorrentino | 281 | 22 | Straight to the final |
| 6 | Finland | Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen | “Liekinheitin” Finnish · Antti Riihimäki, Lauri Halavaara, Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen, Vilma Alina Lähteenmäki | 279 | 17 | SF1 · 3rd 227 pts |
| 7 | Denmark | Søren Torpegaard Lund | “Før vi går hjem” Danish · Clara Sofie Fabricius, Søren Torpegaard Lund, Thomas Meilstrup, Valdemar Littauer Bendixen | 243 | 1 | SF2 · 5th 199 pts |
| 8 | Moldova | Satoshi | “Viva, Moldova!” Romanian · Andrei Vulpe, Cătălin Temciuc, Vasile Advahov, Vlad Sabajuc | 226 | 16 | SF1 · 4th 208 pts |
| 9 | Ukraine | Leléka | “Ridnym (Рідним)” English, Ukrainian · Adama Cefalu, Jakob Hegner, Viktoriia Leleka, Yaroslav Dzhus | 221 | 7 | SF2 · 6th 174 pts |
| 10 | Greece | Akylas | “Ferto (Φέρτο)” Greek · Akylas Mytilineos, Orfeas Nonis, Theofilos Pouzbouris, Thomas Papathanasis | 220 | 6 | SF1 · 7th 159 pts |
| 11 | France | Monroe | “Regarde!” French · Christopher Cohen, Fred Savio, Fredie Marche, Maxime Morise | 158 | 15 | Straight to the final |
| 12 | Poland | Alicja | “Pray” English · Alicja Szemplińska, Sinclair Alan Malcolm, Weronika Gabryelczyk | 150 | 18 | SF1 · 2nd 247 pts |
| 13 | Albania | Alis | “Nân” Albanian · Alis Kallaçi, Desara Gjini | 145 | 5 | SF2 · 7th 158 pts |
| 14 | Norway | Jonas Lovv | “Ya Ya Ya” English · Jonas Lovv Hellesøy, Sondre Skaftun | 134 | 23 | SF2 · 4th 206 pts |
| 15 | Croatia | Lelek | “Andromeda” Croatian · Filip Lacković, Lazar Pajić, Tomislav Roso, Zorica Pajić | 124 | 13 | SF1 · 6th 175 pts |
| 16 | Czechia | Daniel Zizka | “Crossroads” English · Daniel Žižka, Viliam Béreš | 113 | 11 | SF2 · 9th 142 pts |
| 17 | Serbia | Lavina | “Kraj mene (Крај мене)” Serbian · Andrija Cvetanović, Bojan Ilić, Ivan Jegdić, Luka Aranđelović, Nikola Petrović, Pavle Aranđelović, Pavle Samardžić | 90 | 9 | SF1 · 5th 187 pts |
| 18 | Malta | Aidan | “Bella” English, Maltese · Aidan Cassar, Joep van den Boom, Sarah Bonnici | 89 | 10 | SF2 · 8th 143 pts |
| 19 | Cyprus | Antigoni | “Jalla” English, Greek · Antigoni Buxton, Charalambous Kallona, Connor Mullally-Knight, Demetris Nikolaou, Klejdi Lupa, Paris Kalpos, Trey Qua | 75 | 21 | SF2 · 10th 122 pts |
| 20 | Sweden | Felicia | “My System” English · Audun Agnar, Emily Harbakk, Felicia Eriksson, Julie Bergan, Theresa Rex | 51 | 20 | SF1 · 9th 96 pts |
| 21 | Belgium | Essyla | “Dancing on the Ice” English · Alice Van Eesbeeck, Barbara Petitjean, Emil Stengele, Nicolas d'Avell | 36 | 4 | SF1 · 10th 91 pts |
| 22 | Lithuania | Lion Ceccah | “Sólo quiero más” Lithuanian, English · Aurimas Galvelis, Tomas Alenčikas | 22 | 19 | SF1 · 8th 101 pts |
| 23 | Germany | Sarah Engels | “Fire” English · Dario Schürmann, Luisa Heinemann, Raphael Lott, Sarah Engels, Valentin Boes | 12 | 2 | Straight to the final |
| 24 | Austria | Cosmó | “Tanzschein” German · Benjamin Gedeon, Elias Stejskal, Ella Stern | 6 | 25 | Straight to the final |
| 25 | United Kingdom | Look Mum No Computer | “Eins, Zwei, Drei” English, German · Julie Aagaard, Lasse Midtsian Nymann, Sam Bartle, Thomas Stengaard | 1 | 14 | Straight to the final |
The semi-finals
Every song in each semi-final, in finishing order. 10 songs didn’t reach the final.
First semi-final Tuesday, 12 May 2026 · 15 songs, 10 went through
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel | Noam Bettan | “Michelle” French, Hebrew, English · Nadav Aharoni, Noam Bettan, Tzlil Klifi, Yuval Raphael | 269 | 10 | Through: 2nd in the final |
| 2 | Poland | Alicja | “Pray” English · Alicja Szemplińska, Sinclair Alan Malcolm, Weronika Gabryelczyk | 247 | 14 | Through: 12th in the final |
| 3 | Finland | Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen | “Liekinheitin” Finnish · Antti Riihimäki, Lauri Halavaara, Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen, Vilma Alina Lähteenmäki | 227 | 7 | Through: 6th in the final |
| 4 | Moldova | Satoshi | “Viva, Moldova!” Romanian · Andrei Vulpe, Cătălin Temciuc, Vasile Advahov, Vlad Sabajuc | 208 | 1 | Through: 8th in the final |
| 5 | Serbia | Lavina | “Kraj mene (Крај мене)” Serbian · Andrija Cvetanović, Bojan Ilić, Ivan Jegdić, Luka Aranđelović, Nikola Petrović, Pavle Aranđelović, Pavle Samardžić | 187 | 15 | Through: 17th in the final |
| 6 | Croatia | Lelek | “Andromeda” Croatian · Filip Lacković, Lazar Pajić, Tomislav Roso, Zorica Pajić | 175 | 3 | Through: 15th in the final |
| 7 | Greece | Akylas | “Ferto (Φέρτο)” Greek · Akylas Mytilineos, Orfeas Nonis, Theofilos Pouzbouris, Thomas Papathanasis | 159 | 4 | Through: 10th in the final |
| 8 | Lithuania | Lion Ceccah | “Sólo quiero más” Lithuanian, English · Aurimas Galvelis, Tomas Alenčikas | 101 | 12 | Through: 22nd in the final |
| 9 | Sweden | Felicia | “My System” English · Audun Agnar, Emily Harbakk, Felicia Eriksson, Julie Bergan, Theresa Rex | 96 | 2 | Through: 20th in the final |
| 10 | Belgium | Essyla | “Dancing on the Ice” English · Alice Van Eesbeeck, Barbara Petitjean, Emil Stengele, Nicolas d'Avell | 91 | 11 | Through: 21st in the final |
| 11 | Estonia | Vanilla Ninja | “Too Epic to Be True” English · Sven Lõhmus | 79 | 9 | Out |
| 12 | Portugal | Bandidos do Cante | “Rosa” Portuguese · Duarte Farias, Francisco Pereira, Francisco Pestana, Francisco Raposo, Gonçalo Narciso, Gui Alface, José Carlos Coelho Almeida Tavares, Luis Aleixo, Miguel Costa | 74 | 5 | Out |
| 13 | Montenegro | Tamara Živković | “Nova zora (Нова зора)” Montenegrin · Boris Subotić | 71 | 8 | Out |
| 14 | San Marino | Senhit | “Superstar” English · Anderz Wrethov, George Alan O'Dowd, Julie Aagaard, John-Emil Johansson, Thomas Stengaard, Senhit Zadik Zadik | 41 | 13 | Out |
| 15 | Georgia | Bzikebi | “On Replay” English · Giga Kukhianidze, Liza Japaridze | 5 | 6 | Out |
Second semi-final Thursday, 14 May 2026 · 15 songs, 10 went through
| Place | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Sang | Then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulgaria | Dara | “Bangaranga” English · Anne Judith Wik, Cristian Tarcea, Darina Yotova, Dimitris Kontopoulos | 278 | 1 | Through: 1st in the final |
| 2 | Romania | Alexandra Căpitănescu | “Choke Me” English · Alexandra Căpitănescu, Călin-Alexandru Grăjdan, Elvis Silitră, Ștefan Condrea | 234 | 3 | Through: 3rd in the final |
| 3 | Australia | Delta Goodrem | “Eclipse” English · Delta Goodrem, Ferras Alqaisi, Jonas Myrin, Michael Fatkin | 222 | 11 | Through: 4th in the final |
| 4 | Norway | Jonas Lovv | “Ya Ya Ya” English · Jonas Lovv Hellesøy, Sondre Skaftun | 206 | 15 | Through: 14th in the final |
| 5 | Denmark | Søren Torpegaard Lund | “Før vi går hjem” Danish · Clara Sofie Fabricius, Søren Torpegaard Lund, Thomas Meilstrup, Valdemar Littauer Bendixen | 199 | 10 | Through: 7th in the final |
| 6 | Ukraine | Leléka | “Ridnym (Рідним)” English, Ukrainian · Adama Cefalu, Jakob Hegner, Viktoriia Leleka, Yaroslav Dzhus | 174 | 12 | Through: 9th in the final |
| 7 | Albania | Alis | “Nân” Albanian · Alis Kallaçi, Desara Gjini | 158 | 13 | Through: 13th in the final |
| 8 | Malta | Aidan | “Bella” English, Maltese · Aidan Cassar, Joep van den Boom, Sarah Bonnici | 143 | 14 | Through: 18th in the final |
| 9 | Czechia | Daniel Zizka | “Crossroads” English · Daniel Žižka, Viliam Béreš | 142 | 5 | Through: 16th in the final |
| 10 | Cyprus | Antigoni | “Jalla” English, Greek · Antigoni Buxton, Charalambous Kallona, Connor Mullally-Knight, Demetris Nikolaou, Klejdi Lupa, Paris Kalpos, Trey Qua | 122 | 8 | Through: 19th in the final |
| 11 | Switzerland | Veronica Fusaro | “Alice” English · Charlie McClean, Veronica Fusaro | 108 | 7 | Out |
| 12 | Luxembourg | Eva Marija | “Mother Nature” English · Eva Marija Kavaš Puc, Julie Aagaard, Maria Broberg, Thomas Stengaard | 60 | 4 | Out |
| 13 | Latvia | Atvara | “Ēnā” Latvian · Jānis Jačmenkins, Liene Stūrmane | 49 | 9 | Out |
| 14 | Armenia | Simón | “Paloma Rumba” English · David Tserunyan, Eva Voskanyan, Lilit Navasardyan, Roza Kostandyan | 49 | 6 | Out |
| 15 | Azerbaijan | Jiva | “Just Go” English, Azerbaijani · Fuad Javadov, Nurlana Jafarova | 2 | 2 | Out |
Who showed it, and who talked over it
The channels that carried the contest in 40 countries, with the commentator where our source names one.
-
Albania
- RTSH 1, RTSH Muzikë, Radio Tirana Andri Xhahu
-
Armenia
- Armenia 1 Hrachuhi Utmazyan and Hamlet Arakelyan
-
Australia
- SBS Courtney Act and Danny Estrin
-
Austria
- ORF 1 Andi Knoll
- FM4 (final) Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz
-
Azerbaijan
- İTV Azer Suleymanli and Aysel Zahidgizi
-
Belgium
- VRT 1 Dutch: Peter Van de Veire
- La Une (semi-final 1 and final) French: Jean-Louis Lahaye and Fanny Jandrain
- Tipik (semi-final 2) French: Jean-Louis Lahaye and Fanny Jandrain
-
Bulgaria
- BNT 1 Elena Rosberg and Petko Kralev
-
Croatia
- HRT 1 Duško Ćurlić
- HR 2 Zlatko Turkalj
-
Cyprus
- RIK 1 Melina Karageorgiou
-
Czechia
- ČT2 (semi-finals) Ondřej Cikán
- ČT1 (final) Ondřej Cikán
-
Denmark
- DR1 Ole Tøpholm
-
Estonia
- ETV Estonian: Marko Reikop
- ETV+ Russian: Julia Kalenda and Aleksandr Hobotov
-
Finland
- Yle TV1 Finnish: Mikko Silvennoinen, Swedish: Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos
- Yle Areena (semi-final 1 and final) Inari Sámi: Mikkal Morottaja, Northern Sámi: Xia Torikka, Russian: Levan Tvaltvadze, Ukrainian: Galina Sergeyeva
-
France
- France 4 (semi-finals) Stéphane Bern
- France 2 (final) Stéphane Bern and Camille Cerf
-
Georgia
- First Channel
- Georgian Radio (semi-final 1)
-
Germany
- One (semi-finals) Thorsten Schorn
- Das Erste (final) Thorsten Schorn
- Radio Eins (final) Amelie Ernst and Max Spallek
-
Greece
- ERT1 Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Kapoutzidis
- Deftero Programma, Voice of Greece Dimitris Meidanis
-
Israel
- Kan 11 Asaf Liberman and Akiva Novick
-
Italy
- Rai 2 (semi-finals) Gabriele Corsi and Elettra Lamborghini
- Rai 1 (final) Gabriele Corsi and Elettra Lamborghini
- Rai Radio 2 Diletta Parlangeli and Matteo Osso
-
Latvia
- LTV1 (semi-finals) Toms Grēviņš
- LTV1 (final) Toms Grēviņš and Katija Šēnberga
- Latvijas Radio 5 Mārtiņš Pabērzis
-
Lithuania
- LRT TV, LRT Radijas Ramūnas Zilnys
-
Luxembourg
- RTL Lëtzebuerg Luxembourgish: Roger Saurfeld and Raoul Roos
- RTL Today (semi-final 2 and final) English: Meredith Moss and Melissa Dalton
- RTL Infos (semi-final 2 and final) French: Jérôme Didelot and Charlotte Gomez
-
Malta
- TVM
-
Moldova
- Moldova 1, Radio Moldova, Radio Moldova Muzical Elena Stegari and Radu Canțîr
-
Montenegro
- TVCG 1 (semi-final 1 and final) Dražen Bauković and Tijana Mišković
- TVCG 2 (semi-final 2) Dražen Bauković and Tijana Mišković
- Radio 98 (final)
-
Norway
- NRK1 Marte Stokstad
- NRK P1 (final) Jonas Bergløv and Jon Marius Hyttebakk
-
Poland
- TVP1, TVP Polonia Artur Orzech
-
Portugal
- RTP1, RTP Mundo Nuno Galopim and José Carlos Malato
-
Romania
- TVR 1 (semi-finals) Bogdan Stănescu and Ilinca Băcilă
- TVR 1 (final) Bogdan Stănescu and Kyrie Mendél
-
San Marino
- San Marino RTV Anna Gaspari and Gigi Restivo
-
Serbia
- RTS 1, RTS Svet Duška Vučinić
- Radio Belgrade 1 (semi-final 1, final)
-
Sweden
- SVT1 Edward af Sillén
- Sveriges Radio P4 Carolina Norén
-
Switzerland
- RSI La 1 Italian: Ellis Cavallini and Gian-Andrea Costa
- RTS 2 (semi-finals) French: Victoria Turrian and Nicolas Tanner
- RTS 1 (final) French: Victoria Turrian and Nicolas Tanner
- SRF zwei (semi-finals) German: Sven Epiney
- SRF 1 (final) German: Sven Epiney
-
Ukraine
- Suspilne Kultura (semi-final 1) Timur Miroshnychenko and Vasyl Baidak
- Suspilne Kultura (semi-final 2) Timur Miroshnychenko and Svitlana Tarabarova
- Suspilne Kultura (final) Timur Miroshnychenko and Alyona Alyona
-
United Kingdom
- BBC One (semi-finals) Rylan Clark and Angela Scanlon
- BBC One (final) Graham Norton
- BBC Radio 2 (semi-finals) Sara Cox
- BBC Radio 2 (final) Sara Cox and Rylan Clark
Also shown in
-
Iceland
- RÚV 2 Guðrún Dís Emilsdóttir
- RÚV (semi-finals) Guðrún Dís Emilsdóttir
-
Kosovo
- RTK
-
Netherlands
- NPO 1, BVN Henry Schut and Jeroen Kijk in de Vegte
-
North Macedonia
- MRT 1, MRT 2 Eli Tanaskovska
-
United States
- Peacock
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.