{"id":1801,"date":"2026-05-16T23:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/16\/bulgaria-comes-out-of-nowhere-to-win-eurovision-israel-is-runner-up\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T23:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:35:00","slug":"bulgaria-comes-out-of-nowhere-to-win-eurovision-israel-is-runner-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/16\/bulgaria-comes-out-of-nowhere-to-win-eurovision-israel-is-runner-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria Comes Out of Nowhere to Win Eurovision, Israel Is Runner-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tBulgaria won a raucous, contentious<\/a> Eurovision<\/a> on Saturday, topping Israel in what turned into both a musical and geopolitical nailbiter in its final moments.<\/p>\n

\tSitting outside most oddsmakers\u2019 top five coming into Saturday\u2019s final in Vienna, Bulgaria improbably won both the overall jury vote and the popular vote among the 25 national finalists thanks to pop star Dara\u2019s dance-hall thumper \u201cBangaranga\u201d and went on to collect its first-ever Eurovision title. Nobody knows what \u201cBangaranga\u201d means, but Dara said at the show Saturday it\u2019s the \u201cfeeling that everybody gets in themselves the moment you choose to lead through love and not fear.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tBut Bulgaria was only one of the big news stories of the night. In a year marked by boycotts<\/a> and heckles over Israel\u2019s participation, the Middle Eastern country\u2019s \u201cMichelle\u201d surged into the lead midway through the popular vote after finishing eighth in the jury vote, and held that lead until the last possible second, when Bulgaria\u2019s tally was announced. (The winner is decided by a 50-50 weight of national juries and public phone voting.) <\/p>\n

\tThe presence of Israel\u2019s Noam Bettan<\/a> in a dramatic final-two split-screen with Bulgaria\u2019s Dara during the ceremony\u2019s closing seconds prompted both booing<\/a> and Jewish-solidarity calls of \u201cAm Yisrael Chai\u201d in the background, as the entire world \u2014 or at least the 160 million or so people who watch Eurovision \u2014 held their breath on who would finish first.<\/p>\n

\tBulgaria achieved its first win ever, having joined only in 2005 and failing to even making it to the final day in all but five previous competitions. Israel joined Eurovision in 1973 and was seeking its fifth overall title. The country also finished in second last year as Nova Massacre survivor Yuval Raphael, also a writer on \u201cMichelle,\u201d captured a large section of the public vote. \t<\/p>\n

\tLong a Super Bowl-esque ode to global unity (if a pyro-heavy candy-colored one), Eurovision in recent years has become a more somber political affair beneath its silly surface. Russia\u2019s participation in 2015 shortly after its annexation of Crimea generated backlash, and the country would later go on to be banned after its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine; the latter would win Eurovision the same year in an apparent solidarity play from voters and jurors. <\/p>\n

\tCalls for an Israel ban from some members began after the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel\u2019s subsequent war in Gaza. Israel would finish fifth in 2024 amid heavy security and threats against performer Eden Golan; the country then rose to second last year with Raphael. Five countries, including Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, declined to compete in Eurovision this year as a protest over Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, prompting a financial crisis <\/a>for the institution.<\/p>\n

\tA child of French immigrants to Israel, Bettan climbed the standings thanks to the rousing toxic-love story anthem \u201cMichelle,\u201d which, though it seems like a standard-issue symphonic pop song, has become regarded by some<\/a> as a metaphor for Jews\u2019 fractious relationship with Europe<\/a>. Bettan faced \u201cFree Palestine\u201d heckles in the semifinals and even rehearsed<\/a> with simulated boos to prepare for the evening. Israel tends to do better in the popular vote than the jury vote, though did earn high jury scores from Poland and Moldova on Saturday night. \t<\/p>\n

\tOrganizers had sent a letter to Israeli broadcaster Kan asking it to curb its campaigning among the public after some anti-Israel critics said its lobbying tactics went over the line and helped the country reach second place last year. The letter raised eyebrows among some pro-Israel voices who noted other countries\u2019 broadcasters and governments engage in similar campaign practices. Kan halted the practices but the network appeared to be vindicated as Israel finished in second place again anyway. <\/p>\n

\tRomania finished in third with don\u2019t-call-it-a-sex-song \u201cChoke Me,\u201d sung by the goth-attired physics graduate student Alexandra C\u0103pit\u0103nescu. Pre-final favorites Finland, Australia and Greece all finished outside the top three. Australia had rode a wave of momentum <\/a>coming out of the semifinals as it sought its first title since joining Eurovision eleven years ago but notched only a fourth-place finish.<\/p>\n

\tFinland in particular was a favorite throughout the competition with a dramatic, star-laden production. The Millennial pop star Pete Parkkonen and Gen X violinist Linda Lampenius teamed up for \u201cLiekinheitin,\u201d about Parkkonen\u2019s conflicted romantic feelings.\u00a0But the country only managed a sixth-place finish.<\/p>\n

\tThe event closed a week-long competition at Vienna\u2019s Stadthalle with 25 countries competing in the final. Amid protests and counterprotests, the scene in the city in recent days grew tense<\/a>. Vienna deployed\u00a0500 private security personnel, 180 new cameras and a host of counter-drones and sniffer dogs to counter threats. City officials also teamed up with\u00a0an FBI task force<\/a>\u00a0in New York to monitor cyber threats.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\tNext year\u2019s final will now be held in Bulgaria in keeping with the tradition of the show moving to the country of the winning broadcaster. The spandex and flashing lights will follow, and politics won\u2019t be far behind.<\/p>\n

\tThe final Eurovision 2026<\/a> standings:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. Bulgaria<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Israel<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Romania<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Australia<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Italy<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Finland<\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Denmark<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Moldova<\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. Ukraine<\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. Greece<\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. France<\/strong><\/li>\n
  12. Poland<\/strong><\/li>\n
  13. Albania<\/strong><\/li>\n
  14. Norway<\/strong><\/li>\n
  15. Croatia<\/strong><\/li>\n
  16. Czechia<\/strong><\/li>\n
  17. Serbia<\/strong><\/li>\n
  18. Malta<\/strong><\/li>\n
  19. Cyprus<\/strong><\/li>\n
  20. Sweden<\/strong><\/li>\n
  21. Belgium<\/strong><\/li>\n
  22. Lithuania<\/strong><\/li>\n
  23. Germany<\/strong><\/li>\n
  24. Austria<\/strong><\/li>\n
  25. United Kingdom<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bulgaria won a raucous, contentious Eurovision on Saturday, topping Israel in what turned into both a musical and geopolitical nailbiter in its final moments. Sitting outside most oddsmakers\u2019 top five coming into Saturday\u2019s final in Vienna, Bulgaria improbably won both the overall jury vote and the popular vote among the 25 national finalists thanks to pop star Dara\u2019s dance-hall thumper \u201cBangaranga\u201d and went on to collect its first-ever Eurovision title. Nobody knows what \u201cBangaranga\u201d means, but Dara said at the show Saturday it\u2019s the \u201cfeeling that everybody gets in themselves the moment you choose to lead through love and not fear.\u201d But Bulgaria was only one of the big news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1108,1109,2,116,91,92,1111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurovision","category-eurovision-2026","category-hollywood","category-international","category-music","category-music-news","category-noam-bettan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}