VIDEO // Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026: DARA triumphs with “Bangaranga”, Satoshi climbs to eighth place

Bulgaria has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Bulgaria’s representative, DARA, triumphed with the song “Bangaranga”, scoring 516 points and overtaking Israel in the final ranking. Israel placed second with the song “Michelle”. Romania, represented by Alexandra Căpitănescu with the song “Choke Me”, finished in third place, while the Republic of Moldova, represented by Satoshi with the song “Viva, Moldova!”, ended the competition in eighth position.

Update 02:00: Bulgaria has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Bulgaria’s representative, DARA, triumphed with the song “Bangaranga”, scoring 516 points and overtaking Israel in the final ranking.

Update 01:53: Israel climbed to first place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 ranking, scoring 343 points. The country was represented by Noam Bettan with the song “Michelle”.

Update 01:51: Romania climbed to first place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 ranking. The country’s representative, Alexandra Căpitănescu, scored 296 points with the song “Choke Me”.

Update 01:49: The Republic of Moldova rose to first place at Eurovision Song Contest 2026 after the announcement of the public vote. The song “Viva Moldova”, performed by Satoshi, scored a total of 226 points, of which 43 were given by the jury and 183 came from the audience.

Update 01:43: The jury vote results at Eurovision Song Contest 2026 have been announced. Bulgaria, represented by DARA with the song “Bangaranga”, ranked first, scoring 204 points. The Republic of Moldova, represented by Satoshi with the song “Viva Moldova”, received 43 points from the jury.

Initial report: Satoshi, the representative of the Republic of Moldova at Eurovision 2026, takes to the stage in Vienna this evening, where he will compete in the grand final of the music contest. The artist will perform 16th, in the second half of the show.

According to the organizers, the Eurovision 2026 final will be opened by Denmark and will end with the song of Austria, the host country. The running order in the final is as follows: Denmark, Germany, Israel, Belgium, Albania, Greece, Ukraine and Australia. The contest then continues with Serbia, Malta, Czechia and Bulgaria, followed by Croatia, the United Kingdom and France. In the second half of the show, the Republic of Moldova performs, followed by Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Sweden. The evening concludes with Cyprus, Italy, Norway and Romania, and the competition ends with Austria.

The Republic of Moldova qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final after its performance in the first semifinal, held on 12 May in Vienna. Satoshi opened the show with the song “Viva, Moldova!” and secured one of the 10 available spots for the grand final on 16 May. Alongside the Republic of Moldova, Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland qualified from the first semifinal. From the second semifinal, held on 14 May, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Norway, Australia, Malta, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark and Czechia advanced. In both the semifinals and the final, the contest results are determined 50% by the public vote and 50% by the scores awarded by national juries.

Citizens can cast their votes through several methods, depending on the country: via the official Eurovision Song Contest app, online voting on the www.esc.vote platform, by SMS or by phone call, using the numbers provided by national broadcasters during the live shows.

To avoid an excessive concentration of votes for a single contestant, the 2026 edition of the contest introduces a limit on the number of votes a person can cast per payment method, set at a maximum of ten votes, compared to 20 in previous years.

Fans in the Republic of Moldova cannot vote for the country’s own representative in the contest. However, citizens from the diaspora who are in countries participating in tonight’s final can vote for Satoshi.

The Republic of Moldova returns to the contest after a one-year break. According to the international press, Satoshi’s song is considered one of the favorites of the competition.