Bulgaria’s Dara has won the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest with her song ‘Bangaranga’.
The 70th edition of the show went down in Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle tonight (May 16), after Austria were victorious in the 2025 contest with JJ’s song ‘Wasted Love’.
The event was not without controversy, with Israel’s participation once again proving to be divisive, and the country’s Noah Bettan nearly took away the trophy, finishing in second place. There were audible boos in the hall when their high score was announced.
It is Bulgaria’s first ever win, with 27-year-old Dara winning with her rap and bhangra-adjacent track ‘Bangaranga’ coming top of both the jury and audience voting. Check out her performance here:
The UK’s entry – Look Mum No Computer’s ‘Eins, Zwei, Drei’ – finished at the bottom of the table in 25th place, picking up only one point from the jury scores and zero from the public. The YouTuber and electronic musician, real name Sam Battle, is the former frontman of indie band Zibra and is known for building and playing instruments made from unconventional materials.
This year’s contest once again proved to be fraught with controversy, with several countries – Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain – boycotting the event in protest at Israel’s inclusion, despite the nation’s military action in Gaza.
During the semi-finals earlier in the week, Irael’s entrant Noam Bettan received a mixed response from the audience, with some cheering the singer while others booed and shouted anti-Israel slogans. One person in particular could be heard for around a minute during the performance, saying “Stop the genocide”.
Austrian broadcaster ORF, which is hosting the show, confirmed ahead of time that it would not censor any negative reactions from the crowd to any participants.
Amnesty International called earlier in the week for Israel to be suspended from the contest, and criticised the EBU for not suspending the country like it did with Russia in 2022 due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
“The failure of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an illustration of blatant double standards when it comes to Israel”, said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.
“Instead of sending a clear message that there is a cost for Israel’s atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people, the EBU has given Israel this international stage even as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza, unlawful occupation, and apartheid. The EBU is betraying the values of the Eurovision Song Contest, which include freedom from intolerance, hate speech, and discrimination”.
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of waging genocide, and denies committing any war crimes, maintaining that its operations are lawful acts of self-defence following Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens at the Nova Music Festival on October 7 2023, which killed over 1,100 people and saw 250 taken as hostages.
Pressure to exclude Israel from the competition has also come from No Music For Genocide, who issued an open letter signed by over 1,100 cultural workers and artists, calling for fans to boycott this year’s Eurovision unless Israel is banned from participating.
The open letter was first shared on April 21, and featured signatures from Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Paloma Faith, Paul Weller, Kneecap, Hot Chip, Of Monsters and Men, IDLES, Primal Scream, Sigur Rós, Young Fathers, Mogwai, Black Country New Road, Erika de Casier, Nadine Shah, Dry Cleaning, Ólafur Arnalds, David Holmes, Nemahsis, Macklemore, Roger Waters, Peter Gabriel, Vacations, Smerz, a number of former Eurovision finalists, and more.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ aired the Eurovision-themed episode of Father Ted in place of Eurovision this evening.
Reports have also emerged claiming that Israel’s government orchestrated a “well-organised campaign” to use the Eurovision Song Contest as a “soft power” tool.
Boy George, meanwhile, featured in the San Marino entry alongside Senhit, but they failed to qualify for the final.
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