And The Winner Of 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Is…

Bulgaria’s DARA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna on Saturday with “Bangaranga,”  a crowd-pleasing dance track, touching on themes of empowerment and surrendering to the night.

In a recent interview, DARA shared the song defines “a special energy that everybody has in themselves, it is something that everybody can unlock only by letting go.”

Earlier this week, 35 countries competed in two semi-final performances for 25 spots in today’s Grand Finals.

For those unacquainted, scoring for the 70-year competition is split 50/50 between votes from professional juries in each competing nation (who can’t vote for their own country), and viewers voting for their favorites online or phone lines.

The Top 5 after the national jury votes were:

• Bulgaria – 204 points
• Australia – 165 points
• Denmark – 165 points
• France – 144 points
• Finland – 141 points

But the second half of the scoring comes from the fan votes. Israel surged into the top spot with 220 votes from viewers (with audible boos coming from the live audience).

Several countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, boycotted the event because of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and expressed concern that Israel’s government had spent heavily on YouTube ads and mounted a social media campaign in search of votes.

But after the jury and audience votes were combined Bulgaria held steady in the top spot winning the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.

1. Bulgaria – 516
2. Israel – 343
3. Romania – 296
4. Australia – 287
5. Italy – 281

You can watch the full show below. For those unacquainted, the performances range from power pop to over-the-top costumes and staging.

This is Bulgaria’s first win at Eurovision, and Israel’s second year in a row as the runner-up.

All in all, it was a fun, unpredictable viewing experience.

My girl Delta Goodrem (representing Australia) threw down an amazing performance, and was in the top tier throughout the competition. I’m super-proud of her.

At the end of the day, Delta placed 4th in the contest just as her friend and mentor Olivia Newton-John did back in 1974. ABBA won that year with “Waterloo.”