Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2026 (review)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 18 May 2026

This year, Eurovision headed to Vienna in Austria, following their win last year represented by JJ with his operatic ballad Wasted Love.

As always, there was an array of different genres. There was female pop from the likes of Belgium’s Essyla with Dancing on the Ice, powerful ballads such as France’s Monroe with Regarde, dance from Sweden with Felicia’s My System and rock from Romania with Alexandra Căpitănescu’s controversial entry Choke Me. Elsewhere, Poland sent gospel and R&B with Alicja’s Pray, while Italy went disco and funk with Sal Da Vinci’s Per sempre sì. There was surprisingly a lack of novelty acts this year but more fun entries included Greece with Akylas’ energetic Ferto and the United Kingdom’s Look Mum No Computer with electro-punk song Eins, Zwei, Drei. Despite sending something more daring as opposed to staying safe, the UK still managed to come last with one point.

Favourites this year were Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen with Liekinheitin and Australia’s Delta Goodrem with Eclipse, but it was fan favourite Bulgaria’s Dara who won the contest with her dance-pop banger Bangaranga, winning both the jury vote and public vote and marking Bulgaria’s first ever win. Once again, Israel’s participation caused controversy, with five countries withdrawing in protest this time, and they again came second, further highlighting the close possibility of what would be a nightmare for producers.

Interval acts included past entrants performing past entries of others to celebrate the contest’s 70th anniversary and Cesár Sampson performing Billy Joel’s Vienna in honour of the host city. There was also mention of the recently announced upcoming Eurovision Asia, taking place in Bangkok in November.

Vienna 2026 felt like a poor year of entries but the results sequence is always exciting to watch and the EBU always put on a good show.

8/10