Bulgaria emerged as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The singer Dara achieved the most jury points for “Bangaranga” securing a narrow victory over Israel, which performed strongly in the viewer voting, mirroring last year’s results.
In comparison, the German entry, “Fire” by Sarah Engels, finished in 23rd place out of 25 contestants. This result contrasts with Germany’s previous two years of placements, which were 15th and 12th, following two consecutive last-place finishes.
Regarding the viewer vote for Saturday’s show, Israel received the highest number of points, consistent with the previous year. Following them were the winning nation, Bulgaria, along with Greece, Croatia, Italy, and Austria.
Overall, 35 countries competed in the contest. However, the finale saw only 25 participants, a significant drop from the usual 26 since 2012. This reduced participation was due to several countries-including Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain-boycotting the event because of Israel’s participation, meaning no musicians were sent from those nations.
