Bulgaria wins Eurovision for the first time: DARA with the song Bangaranga marked the grand final in Vienna
Bulgaria has won Eurovision for the first time in history. In the grand final of the 70th edition of the contest, held on 16 May 2026 at Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle arena, DARA won with the song Bangaranga. According to Eurovision's official announcement, the Bulgarian representative won a total of 516 points, after being the best both according to the votes of the professional juries and according to the votes of the audience. This meant that the contest ended with a result that stands out not only because of Bulgaria's first triumph, but also because of the convincing points gap compared with the competition.
Official data from the organisers show that Bulgaria received 204 points from the juries and 312 points from the audience. Eurovision stated that this was the first case in almost ten years in which both the professional juries and the audience selected the same winner, since the contest in Kyiv in 2017. Additional weight is given to the result by the fact that Bangaranga won with a lead of 173 points, which, according to Eurovision's official announcement, is the largest winning margin in the history of the contest.
Second place went to Israel, represented by Noam Bettan with the song Michelle, while Romania was third with Alexandra Căpitănescu and the song Choke Me. Australia and Italy also placed in the top five. The grand final thus ended with the triumph of a country that returned to the contest after a break of several years, and Bulgaria's victory already stands out as one of the most significant moments in the more recent history of Eurovision.
Vienna as the stage of the 70th edition of the contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 was held in Vienna, after the Austrian public broadcaster ORF and the European Broadcasting Union selected the capital of Austria as the host of the jubilee, 70th edition. According to Eurovision's official information, the semi-finals were held on 12 and 14 May, and the grand final on 16 May at the Wiener Stadthalle, the largest indoor arena in Austria. Vienna was thus the host of Eurovision for the third time, after the editions held in 1967 and 2015.
The hosting followed Austria's victory in Basel in 2025, when JJ won with the song Wasted Love. Ahead of the contest, the organisers highlighted Vienna's rich musical history, developed infrastructure and the city's experience in organising major international events. Eurovision's official announcement also stated that the selection of the host included an assessment of the arena's capacity, local infrastructure, accommodation possibilities and the city's ability to receive delegations, production teams, journalists and a large number of fans.
The contest was hosted by Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, while Emily Busvine was in charge of the green room. In the final, 25 countries performed: host country Austria, the countries from the so-called big four group, namely France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, and the ten best from each semi-final. In total, according to the official list of participants, 35 countries performed in the Vienna edition.
Bulgaria's return ended with the greatest possible success
Bulgaria's victory is particularly significant because before 2026 the country had missed three consecutive editions of Eurovision, from 2023 to 2025. According to Eurovision's official announcement, the Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT first participated in the contest in 2005 in Kyiv, and achieved its first entry into the final in 2007 in Helsinki. At that time, Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov achieved a strong result with the song Water and finished in the top five.
The best Bulgarian result before the 2026 victory was Kristian Kostov's performance with the song Beautiful Mess, which finished second in Kyiv in 2017. That placement remained for years the key reference point for Bulgarian Eurovision history. DARA has now completely changed that framework and become the first Bulgarian winner of Eurovision, and precisely at the jubilee edition of the contest.
The song Bangaranga is credited to Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Darina Yotova, Dimitris Kontopoulos and Monoir, according to the official Eurovision. It is an energetic pop song with a pronounced stage identity and a strong rhythm, which during the voting managed to connect two often different criteria: the evaluation of professional juries and mass audience support. It was precisely this combination that proved decisive in the final, in which Bulgaria separated itself from the rest of the ranking already after the jury points were added up, and then additionally increased its lead in the televote.
Who is DARA?
DARA, whose real name is Darina Yotova, is one of the better-known Bulgarian pop performers. According to Eurovision's official profile, she has shaped the contemporary Bulgarian pop scene with a recognisable voice, stage energy and genre combinations. In her career, she has achieved several songs at the top of the official Bulgarian radio chart, and among her better-known singles are Thunder, Call Me and Mr. Rover.
Eurovision's official data also state that her songs and music videos have collected more than 80 million streams and views. In addition to her performing career, DARA was a mentor to young musicians on the show The Voice of Bulgaria in 2021 and 2022. In 2025, she released the album ADHDARA, which is described in her official profile as an important step towards a broader international identity.
The victory in Vienna therefore has double importance for DARA. On the one hand, it brought Bulgaria a historic result, and on the other, it opened up space for her for even stronger international visibility. Eurovision has once again shown this year that victory does not depend only on the radio appeal of a song, but also on a convincing stage concept, television performance and the ability of a performance to create a recognisable impression in three minutes.
Voting under new rules
The final in Vienna was held after changes to the voting rules announced by the European Broadcasting Union for 2026. According to the official announcement by the EBU and Eurovision, the maximum number of votes per payment method was reduced from 20 to 10, regardless of whether voting is done online, by SMS or by telephone call. The goal, according to the organisers' explanation, was to encourage viewers to distribute their support across more songs and to strengthen trust in the voting process.
Professional juries returned to the semi-finals for the first time since 2022. The EBU announced that this re-established an approximate balance between audience votes and professional juries, similar to the model used in the final. The number of jury members was increased from five to seven, and the range of professional profiles from which members are selected was also expanded. Among them may be music journalists and critics, music educators, choreographers, stage directors and other experienced professionals from the music industry.
The organiser also introduced clearer rules on the promotion of songs and stressed that it wanted to prevent a disproportionate influence of third parties, including governments and state institutions, on the outcome of the voting. According to the EBU, participants and public broadcasters must not actively participate in third-party campaigns that could unfairly influence the result. Additional technical measures were also introduced to detect coordinated or fraudulent voting patterns.
Croatia in Vienna: LELEK with the song Andromeda
Croatia was represented at Eurovision 2026 by LELEK with the song Andromeda. According to Eurovision's official website, the Croatian representative was selected at Dora 2026, whose final was held on 15 February at 20:15. In the Dora final, 16 performers appeared, after two semi-finals in which the finalists were selected. Croatian Radiotelevision hosted the selection, and the official Eurovision states that the hosts of Dora were Barbara Kolar, Duško Čurlić, Ivan Vukušić and Iva Šulentić.
The scoring system at Dora 2026 combined the votes of the audience, an international jury and a national jury. According to Eurovision's official guide to Dora, the audience accounted for 50 percent of the total result, the international jury 25 percent, and the national jury the remaining 25 percent. Such a model was intended to combine the domestic interest of the audience and a broader assessment of the stage and musical competitiveness of the song for the Eurovision stage.
The Croatian performance in Vienna fitted into a year in which the contest had a strong emphasis on stage production, genre diversity and television impression. Eurovision's official list of participants confirms that Croatia performed in Vienna among 35 participating countries, alongside a number of returnees and performers with already established regional or international careers. Although the main story of the evening was the Bulgarian victory, the Croatian performance remains part of the broader picture of a contest that in its 70th edition further emphasised how much national selections shape the Eurovision identity of individual countries.
A contest marked by music, but also by political tensions
The Vienna edition was held in circumstances of political tensions related to Israel's participation. According to an Associated Press report, the contest was marked by protests and boycotts by individual countries because of the Israeli performance in the context of the war in Gaza. AP states that Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland boycotted this year's contest, while Israeli representative Noam Bettan finished second in the final.
The Guardian also reported that Israeli participation was one of the most controversial elements of this year's contest and that debates on the relationship between politics and Eurovision continued even after the final. The EBU, according to earlier official announcements, emphasised ahead of the contest measures to protect the credibility of voting and rules limiting the inappropriate influence of promotional campaigns. Despite the tensions, the final stage was held according to plan, with major television production and a strong focus on the performances.
For decades, Eurovision has presented itself as a musical competition of public broadcasters, but the history of the event shows that wider political and social contexts often spill over onto the stage. The Vienna edition confirmed this once again. At the same time, the result of the final showed that musical and stage impression can still produce a very clear winning consensus, which in Bulgaria's case was visible in the alignment of the jury and audience votes.
A great victory and a new Eurovision turning point
DARA's victory with the song Bangaranga changes Bulgaria's Eurovision status. A country that spent years seeking a path to the top of the contest has now achieved a result that will also determine the next edition of Eurovision. According to the tradition of the contest, the winning country receives the right to organise the next Eurovision, although final decisions on hosting are made in cooperation with the EBU and the national public broadcaster.
For Eurovision, the Vienna final was also a symbolic moment: the 70th edition of the contest ended with a record winning margin, Bulgaria's historic triumph and confirmation that the format, despite constant debates about rules, politics and voting, continues to adapt to the audience and the television era in which it exists. DARA left Vienna as the winner of the evening, and Bulgaria as the country that, after returning to the contest, achieved the greatest possible success.
Sources:
- Eurovision Song Contest – official announcement about DARA's and Bulgaria's victory at Eurovision 2026. (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest – official announcement about Vienna as the host city of Eurovision 2026. (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest – official list of participants of the Vienna 2026 edition. (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest – official EBU announcement about changes to the voting rules for 2026. (link)
- Eurovision Song Contest – official guide to Dora 2026 and the Croatian selection for Vienna. (link)
- Associated Press – report on the grand final, Bulgaria's victory and the political context of the contest. (link)
- The Guardian – report on Bulgaria's victory and controversies surrounding the contest. (link)