The Bulgarian national broadcaster BNT announced that the country’s Eurovision 2026 representative will be chosen on January 31st. How will the new selection process look like?
Bulgaria is making a comeback to Eurovision 2026 in Vienna, Austria, following a three-year break since 2022, as revealed at the end of October. The Greek Eurovision site Eurovisionfun has disclosed new details regarding Bulgaria’s selection process for their representative in Vienna.
It appears Bulgaria is moving toward a mixed selection method in which the representative will be chosen through a TV show, while the song will later be selected by a professional jury. It was revealed that Bulgaria will hold one or several television broadcasts, through which the country’s representative will be chosen. The selection will take place on Saturday, January 31st, 2026.
This year, BNT has decided to make a major change and let go of its exclusive right to select the country’s contestant, handing some of the decision-making power to the public and artists. BNT has reviewed a list of the 50 most-played artists in Bulgaria, from which 10 to 15 artists will be chosen to compete with their songs in a TV program expected to span two nights – a semi-final and a final. Voting will be divided between a jury panel and the public. Bulgaria aims to send a well-known and established artist with high artistic quality. The Bulgarian song will be selected internally by a professional committee organized by BNT, as has been the case in most of Bulgaria’s selections so far.
Several prominent Bulgarian artists have reportedly expressed interest in participating, including Krisiya, Dara, Mihaela Marinova, Galena, and Tita. Will Bulgaria’s top music stars try their luck? And what song will be written for the chosen representative? More details are expected to be announced soon. Will Bulgaria recreate its dramatic comeback from exactly a decade ago? Time will tell…
Bulgaria’s Eurovision Journey
Bulgaria joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and has competed 14 times since. Its debut entry, performed by the band Kaffe with the song “Lorraine”, finished 19th in the semifinal and did not qualify for the final.
The country achieved its first-ever qualification for the final in Eurovision 2007 in Helsinki, Finland, when Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov reached 5th place with their energetic entry “Water”. The duo later returned to the contest in Malmö, Sweden, in Eurovision 2013 with “Samo Shampioni”, finishing 12th in the second semifinal and failing to qualify. Between 2008 and 2013, Bulgaria did not reach any finals.
Since joining Eurovision, Bulgaria has missed six editions of the contest. The country first withdrew in 2014 (Copenhagen, Denmark) due to financial reasons, and its absence continued in 2015 (Vienna, Austria).
In 2016, Bulgaria made a powerful comeback when Poli Genova, representing the nation for the second time, performed “If Love Was A Crime” in Stockholm, Sweden. She broke Bulgaria’s previous record, finishing in 4th place. This success came after failing to qualify for the Eurovision 2011 final in Düsseldorf, Germany, with her song “Na Inat”, which placed 12th in its semifinal.
A year later, Kristian Kostov represented Bulgaria with “Beautiful Mess”, achieving the country’s best-ever result by finishing second, setting a new national record.
Bulgaria at Eurovision 2022
For Eurovision 2022, Bulgaria sent Intelligent Music Project with their song “Intention”, which interrupted Bulgaria’s streak of successes as they failed to qualify for the final for the first time since Eurovision 2013. The band finished sixteenth out of seventeen countries in the first semi-final held in Turin, Italy, receiving a total of 29 points, split to 11 points from juries and an additional 18 points from public voting. Following this participation, drummer Stoyan Yankoulov became the first artist to represent Bulgaria three times at Eurovision after participating in both Eurovision 2007 and Eurovision 2013.
Source: Eurovisionfun.
Eurovision 2026: This will be Bulgaria’s 15th participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Bulgaria joined the competition in 2005 and achieved its best result in Eurovision 2017 when the singer Kristian Kostov finished in second place with the song “Beautiful Mess”.
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Ilay Gaist is a leading Israeli content creator and writer specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest. He is a well-known commentator with extensive expertise in the contest’s history, rules, and dynamics. His passion for Eurovision drives him to deliver rich, professional, and innovative content to his audience.
Ilay holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and has a multilingual background. He also engages in cultural research, with a particular focus on global culinary traditions and the evolution of local cuisines around the world.
