Bulgaria’s Historic Eurovision Victory
In a surprising turn of events, Bulgaria has claimed the crystal microphone trophy for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with Dara’s infectious dance hit “Bangaranga.” This marks Bulgaria’s first-ever win in the contest and is especially significant as it represents the country’s return to the competition after a three-year absence. The public broadcaster, BNT, had been dealing with financial constraints during this period.
Hosting Eurovision in 2027 is expected to bring a welcome tourism economic boost to the country. Bulgaria’s victory is the first time since 2017 that the jury and public sentiments have aligned. A tense moment during the voting saw Israel rise to first place thanks to the public vote, resulting in audible booing in the arena. However, Dara ultimately secured the top spot with 312 public votes to add to their 204 jury votes.
Record-Breaking Performance
Bulgaria’s total of 516 points put them 173 points ahead of runner-up Israel, marking the largest gap between first and second place in the contest’s history. Bookmakers’ odds favored Finland, with Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkonnen’s duet “Liekinheitin” as the favorite. However, the fan favorites ended up in sixth place.
Live instruments are not usually permitted on the Eurovision stage unless they are integral to the song’s artistry. In this case, the violin was argued to be Lampenius’ “voice.” Romania’s Choke Me by Alexandra Căpitănescu was another surprise favorite. Although she only gained 64 jury points, she came second in the popular vote (262 points) and third overall. This is the best outcome for a female-led rock act in the contest’s history.
The song attracted some controversy, with allegations that it was “glamourising sexual strangulation.” In response, Căpitănescu stated, “The lyrics are about taking back control over anxiety and emotions that are choking you.”
Australia’s Strong Showing
Australia’s entry, Delta Goodrem’s “Eclipse,” was hyped by many as a potential winner. Even notorious Australia sceptic Graham Norton named it the one to beat. Goodrem dazzled with Australia’s most ambitious staging since Kate Miller-Heidke’s 2019 performance. Dressed in a gown adorned with 7,000 Swarovski crystals, Australia’s golden girl was literally placed on a pedestal that ascended from a golden piano as she reached her vocal crescendo.
Australia placed second in the jury votes and ninth in the public votes to land fourth place. It is Australia’s second-best result, after Dami Im’s astounding second place in 2016. Goodrem’s participation was partly funded by an Australian federal grant for international cultural diplomacy. Other recipients in the recent round include BlakDance Australia’s tour of the United Kingdom and Creative Australia’s support for Khaled Sabsabi’s Venice Biennale exhibit.
Goodrem’s funding underscores Eurovision’s usefulness for Australia’s cultural diplomacy and projection of “soft power.” The inaugural edition of Eurovision Asia will be held in Thailand in November. Australia is not participating – the rules prohibit participating in both contests. It remains to be seen whether Australia will stay in the original Eurovision or transition to Eurovision Asia in pursuit of regional diplomatic interests.
Broadcasters Boycott
This year, Eurovision celebrated its 70th anniversary. But rather than uniting Europe (and Australia) through music, the absence of five regular participants indicated disunity. Public broadcasters for Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands withdrew from competition in protest of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the European Broadcasting Union’s failure to have an open discussion and vote on Israel’s continued participation. While the contest claims to be non-political, critics point to the exclusion of Russia in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine as a precedent.
Their absence is a blow to the European Broadcasting Union, financially and symbolically. Spain is usually one of the so-called “Big Five” – the five largest financial contributors to Eurovision. The Netherlands is also a large financial contributor but, more importantly, had been in the contest since the beginning in 1956. The Dutch public broadcaster stated, “participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation.” They cited humanity, press freedom and political interference as key reasons for their withdrawal.
Broadcasters have also expressed concerns that Israel had attempted to manipulate public voting in other countries over the past two years. Slovenia led the call for a detailed report on the 2024 and 2025 voting results, but member broadcasters received only a summary of its findings. Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor Martin Green stated the contest organizers were confident the 2025 contest yielded a “valid and robust result.” Despite this claim, before the 2026 contest broadcasters voted on a rule change seeking to mitigate third-party campaigning and interference in the voting process. As reported by the New York Times, the disparity between the statements of the executives and the resulting vote from the broadcasters raised much scepticism.
A Reckoning in 2027?
Just before the 2026 grand final, Belgium’s Flemish broadcaster VRT released a statement they would be unlikely to participate in 2027 without “a clear framework for participation, an open debate, and a direct vote among [union] members.” The European Broadcasting Union must take broadcasters’ concerns more seriously or risk losing more participants and reputational damage. Its members are seeing a gap between their values as public broadcasters and those expressed by the EBU through its actions and decisions.
Without change, this global phenomenon may also risk not seeing its next milestone anniversary.
