Bulgaria has won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest. DARA's Bangaranga, performed for broadcaster BNT, took the trophy in Vienna on Saturday 16 May 2026 with 516 points — 204 from the 35 national juries plus 312 from the public televote (in 35 competing countries plus the Rest-of-the-World online aggregate). It is Bulgaria's first Eurovision victory in 21 years of participation since the country debuted at Kyiv 2005.
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Two history-making records
Two records that had stood for years fell tonight.
Largest absolute winning margin: 173 points. Bulgaria's 516 to Israel's 343. That breaks the record set by Alexander Rybak's Fairytale for Norway at Moscow 2009 (169 points). It is not the highest winning total in the contest — that remains Salvador Sobral's 758-point haul from Kyiv 2017 — but the gap to second place is the deepest the contest has ever produced.
First dual jury+televote winner since Kyiv 2017. DARA topped both pools — the only entry since Sobral's Amar pelos dois nine years ago to win both votes. From 2018 through 2025, the contest's combined jury-and-televote winner was always a country that placed second or lower in at least one of the two pools. Bulgaria broke that streak.
The full Grand Final scoreboard
| # | Country | Artist · Song | Total | Televote | Jury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | DARA · Bangaranga | 516 | 312 | 204 |
| 2 | 🇮🇱 Israel | Noam Bettan · Michelle | 343 | 220 | 123 |
| 3 | 🇷🇴 Romania | Alexandra Căpitănescu · Choke Me | 296 | 232 | 64 |
| 4 | 🇦🇺 Australia | Delta Goodrem · Eclipse | 287 | 122 | 165 |
| 5 | 🇮🇹 Italy | Sal Da Vinci · Per Sempre Sì | 281 | 147 | 134 |
| 6 | 🇫🇮 Finland | Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen · Liekinheitin | 279 | 138 | 141 |
| 7 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | Søren Torpegaard Lund · Før Vi Går Hjem | 243 | 78 | 165 |
| 8 | 🇲🇩 Moldova | Satoshi · Viva, Moldova! | 226 | 183 | 43 |
| 9 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | LELÉKA · Ridnym | 221 | 167 | 54 |
| 10 | 🇬🇷 Greece | Akylas · Ferto | 220 | 147 | 73 |
| 11 | 🇫🇷 France | Monroe · Regarde ! | 158 | 14 | 144 |
| 12 | 🇵🇱 Poland | ALICJA · Pray | 150 | 17 | 133 |
| 13 | 🇦🇱 Albania | Alis · Nân | 145 | 85 | 60 |
| 14 | 🇳🇴 Norway | JONAS LOVV · Ya Ya Ya | 134 | 19 | 115 |
| 15 | 🇭🇷 Croatia | LELEK · Andromeda | 124 | 71 | 53 |
| 16 | 🇨🇿 Czechia | Daniel Žižka · Crossroads | 113 | 9 | 104 |
| 17 | 🇷🇸 Serbia | LAVINA · Kraj Mene | 90 | 52 | 38 |
| 18 | 🇲🇹 Malta | AIDAN · Bella | 89 | 8 | 81 |
| 19 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | Antigoni · JALLA | 75 | 34 | 41 |
| 20 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | FELICIA · My System | 51 | 16 | 35 |
| 21 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | ESSYLA · Dancing on the Ice | 36 | 0 | 36 |
| 22 | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | Lion Ceccah · Sólo Quiero Más | 22 | 12 | 10 |
| 23 | 🇩🇪 Germany | Sarah Engels · Fire | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 24 | 🇦🇹 Austria | COSMÓ · Tanzschein | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 25 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Look Mum No Computer · Eins, Zwei, Drei | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Three countries received nothing from the public — Belgium, Germany and the UK all scored zero televote points. Total points distributed: 2,030 jury (35 voting blocs × 58) + 2,088 televote (35 countries + Rest-of-the-World × 58) = 4,118.
How the market got it wrong
UK bookmakers had Finland's Liekinheitin at 2.00 (50% implied probability) on the morning of the Grand Final — the strongest favourite the outright market has carried into a Eurovision Saturday in years. Finland's Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen finished sixth.
| Country | Pre-final rank | Best UK odds | Final finish | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇫🇮 Finland | 1 | 2.00 | 6th | -5 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 2 | 4.10 | 4th | -2 |
| 🇬🇷 Greece | 3 | 14.00 | 10th | -7 |
| 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 4 | 15.00 | 1st | +3 |
| 🇮🇱 Israel | 5 | 18.00 | 2nd | +3 |
| 🇷🇴 Romania | 6 | 20.00 | 3rd | +3 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 8 | 41.00 | 5th | +3 |
The Bulgaria/Israel/Romania top three were all available at 15.00, 18.00 and 20.00 respectively on Grand Final morning. A modest forecast across those three returned roughly £6,000 from a £10 stake. Most UK bettors held Finland 2.00 win tickets through the broadcast. The signal that should have moved Bulgaria's price came on Thursday night when DARA pulled nine sets of 12 from a single televote pool in Semi-Final 2 — a result the market only partially repriced.
The Marcel Bezençon Awards
Christer Björkman handed out the three Marcel Bezençon Awards in Vienna ahead of the Grand Final:
- Media Award (accredited press): 🇦🇺 Delta Goodrem — Eclipse
- Artistic Award (national commentators): 🇧🇬 DARA — Bangaranga
- Composer Award (participating composers): 🇩🇰 Clara Sofie Fabricius, Søren Torpegaard Lund, Thomas Meilstrup, Valdemar Littauer Bendixen — Før Vi Går Hjem
Production moments
The night opened with a flag parade introducing the 25 finalists, accompanied by 2025 winner JJ performing the Queen of the Night aria, his new single Unknown, and his winning song Wasted Love, backed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. The contest's 70th anniversary was marked by an interval medley featuring Max Mutzke (Germany 2004), Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Lordi (Finland 2006), Verka Serduchka (Ukraine 2007), Alexander Rybak (Norway 2009 & 2018), Kristian Kostov (Bulgaria 2017), Erika Vikman (Finland 2025), and Miriana Conte (Malta 2025). Parov Stelar performed his new single Black Lilies; Cesár Sampson (Austria 2018) closed with Vienna.
One incident: a technical issue during Czechia's performance briefly froze the on-stage screens. The Czech delegation requested a repeat performance but the EBU declined, citing the minor nature of the disruption.
What it means for Bulgaria — and for 2027
Bulgaria has never hosted Eurovision. The country's only previous Eurovision-family event was Junior Eurovision 2015 in Sofia. BNT Director General Milena Milotinova confirmed at the winners' press conference that Bulgaria intends to host the 2027 contest. By the morning after the final, three cities — Sofia, Burgas and Plovdiv — had all formally bid to host. EBU's 10,000-seat minimum capacity requirement is met by just two venues in the country: Arena Sofia (17,906) and Arena Burgas (15,000). See our full Eurovision 2027 preview.
DARA — Darina Yotova — came to Vienna with roughly 80 million career streams (per BNT's tour-cycle numbers ahead of the contest). She joins Måneskin (Italy 2021), Duncan Laurence (Netherlands 2019), Loreen (Sweden 2012 + 2023) and Salvador Sobral (Portugal 2017) in the cohort of recent Eurovision winners whose post-victory streaming arc Spotify will be watching closely.
Related
- Eurovision 2026 — full results deep-dive
- Semi-Final 1 recap
- Semi-Final 2 recap
- Eurovision 2027 preview — Bulgaria hosts
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