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It’s been a month since DARA gave Bulgaria its first Eurovision Song Contest win, so let’s take a look at what’s been going on in the world of our fave EBU-backed pop music competition.
Ratings were down
We’ve taken a deep dive into who watched where, but the headline is that Eurovision 2026 attracted 131 million viewers worldwide – down 35 million from the 166 million who watched the 2025 contest in Basel. That is the lowest figure since 2012, and it follows directly from the withdrawal of five countries and, crucially, three of their broadcasters not airing the show at all.
The EBU has tried to soften the blow by noting that 131 million is still higher than every edition between 2009 and 2023. That framing is technically true though operationally meaningless: the relevant comparison is year-on-year, and a 21% single-year drop caused by a preventable institutional crisis is not something you style out by citing 2011 numbers. Eurovision Director Martin Green acknowledged the loss with characteristic diplomatese: “We remain committed to doing everything possible to find pathways back for those five members in 2027.”
Ireland chose Father Ted
Among the more quietly satisfying details of the contest week: RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, replaced the Eurovision grand final with Father Ted – specifically “A Song For Europe,” the 1996 episode in which Father Ted and Father Dougal perform My Lovely Horse in Ireland’s national Eurovision selection and score zero points.
The Slovenian broadcaster, meanwhile, aired a series of documentaries about the Middle East under the collective title Voices of Palestine. Less fun, but arguably more on-the-nose about the reason for the boycott.
DARA’s homecoming
DARA returned to Sofia on 17 May to a crowd of thousands gathered in Alexander I Battenberg Square in the city centre. Bulgarian National Television broadcast the homecoming live. The singer, visibly moved, told the crowd: “I didn’t expect anything like this at all… thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”
Then, on 6 June, the fuller story emerged. In an interview with BBC Newsbeat, DARA revealed she had come close to withdrawing from Eurovision twice before the contest – first when she objected to contractual terms in her initial agreement, and subsequently when the announcement of her selection was met with a wave of online hostility that left her, as she told the BBC, “shaking in her bed”. DARA, whose real name is Darina Yotova, disclosed that she has been diagnosed with ADHD and that the pressure of the selection process genuinely threatened her mental health: “I immediately felt like I did something bad, that I’m not worthy I didn’t want to risk my mental health to such a degree that I couldn’t heal it.”
DARA lobbies for Turkey’s return
In an interview with CNN Türk, DARA called directly for Turkey to return to Eurovision 2027 in Bulgaria. “Turkey has always been a colourful and original country – we want to see you in Bulgaria next year, please come back,” she said, noting that her husband is Turkish. Turkey has competed only once since 2012, withdrawing again after 2013, citing dissatisfaction with the voting system. Turkish state broadcaster TRT has not publicly responded to the invitation, which was delivered in the most personally credible terms possible: from a winner with direct family ties to the country.
Bulgaria: The host city race
The formal process for selecting a Eurovision 2027 host city began on 8 June, when BNT Director-General Milena Milotinova held a working meeting with the mayors of the four candidate cities – Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas – and outlined the EBU’s requirements. The host city is expected to be announced by the end of July, several weeks earlier than the usual August timeline, to allow the winning city to launch public procurement procedures without delay.
Milotinova has been specific about what BNT is looking for: not just a venue, but a “partner city” prepared to commit to a year-long collaboration. The EBU’s minimum venue requirement is 10,000 capacity indoors, with extensive press centre space, delegation facilities, and transport infrastructure. An interdepartmental organising committee is already in place, led by Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov.
The Four Cities
Who’s confirmed for 2027 (so far)
Since the contest, a handful of broadcasters have formally committed:
- Denmark: DR has confirmed participation and has set the Melodi Grand Prix 2027 for 13 February, with Kolding as the host city
- Finland: Yle has confirmed participation; UMK applications expected to open in August
- Germany: SWR has confirmed its place
- North Macedonia: MRT confirmed return after a four-year absence, with the national broadcaster’s director citing renewed institutional enthusiasm
- Luxembourg: Prime Minister Luc Frieden personally confirmed participation at the Chamber of Deputies on 21 May, with national selection format discussions underway
- San Marino: SMRTV has confirmed a return, presumably with a pay-to-play national final featuring familiar faces
Didn’t someone say Kosovo will finally be let in?
RTK (Kosovo) has made a renewed, specific push for Junior Eurovision 2026 and Eurovision 2027, with Acting Director General Zana Spahiu arguing that Kosovo’s continued exclusion is becoming harder to justify.
The official Eurovision FAQ still says Kosovo cannot currently take part because RTK is not an EBU Member, and Kosovo is neither in the International Telecommunication Union nor the Council of Europe, which blocks the normal full-membership route. Eurovision’s own eligibility page still frames participation as limited to EBU Members or specially invited Associates, with Associate participation decided case by case by the Reference Group.
The next real checkpoint is the EBU General Assembly on 25–26 June. If any new membership category is approved, Kosovo could have a route in. Until then, it’s still “possible pathway”, not “debut confirmed”.
Italy: a Eurovision night at Sanremo?
RAI confirmed on 6 June that the 77th Festival di Sanremo will run from 16 to 20 February 2027, with Stefano De Martino taking over from Carlo Conti as artistic director. The dates were expected; the interesting detail is the accompanying rumour – not yet confirmed by RAI – that the traditional Covers Night will be replaced by a dedicated “Eurovision Night” on the fourth evening, with Italy’s Eurovision 2027 representative selected during that show.
Post-contest: the artists carry on
A brief rundown of what 2026’s participants have been doing since Vienna:
- Finland (Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen): “Liekinheitin” has surpassed 22 million streams across platforms — an impressive post-contest commercial run for a song that finished sixth. The duo appear to be among the few 2026 acts whose commercial trajectory has matched the contest buzz.
- Moldova (Satoshi): Released a new single, “All We Are About,” in early June. His “Viva, Moldova!” had been one of the contest’s more celebrated entries despite a jury-versus-public-vote controversy involving Moldova’s professional panel.
- San Marino (Senhit & Boy George): The official music video for “Superstar” was released on 15 May – the day before the grand final – for a song that had already been eliminated. Whether releasing the video anyway was bravado, contractual obligation, or simply good marketing is unclear, but it has accumulated views regardless.
The structural questions … that won’t be answered yet
With the host city selection due by the end of July and the first national selections running from February 2027, the coming months are largely administrative. The more consequential decisions – whether the EBU will institute any meaningful reform of its Israel policy or its televote verification procedures – are on no visible timetable.
A possible EBU membership shake-up has been rumoured – by fan sites and not confirmed in any official way. Official Eurovision guidance still says participation is limited to EBU Members or specially invited Associates, with Associate participation decided by the Contest’s Reference Group on a case-by-case basis, which is how SBS Australia has remained in Eurovision since its original 2015 invitation.
The firmer evidence for new membership categories comes as we said from Kosovo. The EBU General Assembly in Prague on 25–26 June is expected to examine statute changes, including limited categories such as Non-European Membership and Auxiliary Membership. And maybe find a way to shift existing member broadcasters into other categories that could remove automatic Eurovision eligibility. (hint)
No official EBU statement found so far confirms that such reclassification has been formally proposed or agreed, so this is best framed as a live governance discussion, potentially relevant to Kosovo, Australia and other broadcasters outside the current full-member route, rather than as settled Eurovision policy.
