The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 completed its second semi-final this Thursday, May 14, in Vienna. Since 21:00 CEST, presenters Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, together with Emily Busvine in the Viennese green room, were responsible for welcoming the last 15 participating delegations onto the Eurovision stage at the Wiener Stadthalle, along with Monroe (France), COSMÓ (Austria) and LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER (United Kingdom) as exhibition performances (non-competing), as they already hold a direct spot in the grand final.
Despite reaching its 70th anniversary, the European contest is taking place in a climate of unprecedented tension and protests. The participation of Israel in the competition has led to the largest boycott in its history, with the withdrawal of five countries (Slovenia, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, and Netherlands) after refusing to share the stage with the Israeli representative.
Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Romania, Luxembourg, Czechia, Armenia, Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Ukraine, Albania, Malta, and Norway were subject to the vote of the national juries (which have returned to the semi-finals in this 70th edition), along with viewers from the participating countries and the “rest of the world”. Only 10 of them managed to reach the grand final.
Which countries qualified for the Eurovision 2026 grand final?
Maintaining its current format with two semi-finals, 30 countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 competed for a place in the grand final on Saturday, May 16. From both semi-finals, the 20 finalists emerged (10 per semi-final). In total, 25 entries will compete for the crystal microphone. As a note, the absence of Spain due to the boycott of the festival over Israel’s participation reduces the number of finalist entries, something that had not happened since Turin 2022, an edition hosted by Italy, whose broadcaster is part of the group of “Big Five” countries in the contest.
These are the countries from the second semi-final this Thursday, May 14, that secured one of the 10 places in the grand final:
Second Semi-Final – Results (Thursday, May 14)
| Running Order | Country | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Bulgaria | DARA | «Bangaranga» | Qualified |
| 02 | Azerbaijan | JIVA | «Just Go» | Not Qualified |
| 03 | Romania | Alexandra Căpitănescu | «Choke Me» | Qualified |
| 04 | Luxembourg | Eva Marija | «Mother Nature» | Not Qualified |
| 05 | Czechia | Daniel Žižka | «CROSSROADS» | Qualified |
| 06 | Armenia | SIMÓN | «Paloma Rumba» | Not Qualified |
| 07 | Switzerland | Veronica Fusaro | «Alice» | Not Qualified |
| 08 | Cyprus | Antigoni | «JALLA» | Qualified |
| 09 | Latvia | Atvara | «Ēnā» | Not Qualified |
| 10 | Denmark | Søren Torpegaard Lund | «Før Vi Går Hjem» | Qualified |
| 11 | Australia | Delta Goodrem | «Eclipse» | Qualified |
| 12 | Ukraine | LELÉKA | «Ridnym» | Qualified |
| 13 | Albania | Alis Kallaçi | «Nân» | Qualified |
| 14 | Malta | AIDAN | «Bella» | Qualified |
| 15 | Norway | JONAS LOVV | «YA YA YA» | Qualified |
Let us remember that, in the semi-finals, the participating countries are subject to the verdict of the professional jury (49.4%) and the televote plus online vote (50.6%). The viewers from the participating countries, together with those from the “rest of the world” who are not part of the 70th edition of the European contest, also vote. As a new feature, the expert panels (which increase their composition to seven members) return to the qualifying rounds and once again decide part of the final result, just as happened until the Turin 2022 edition.
In the semi-finals, we do not learn the full ranking live nor the points received by each country. Only the 10 qualifiers are revealed in random order. It will be on Saturday, after the grand final, when the European Broadcasting Union (EBU-UER) will publish the detailed breakdown of results.
Review the performances of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026
01. Bulgaria: DARA – «Bangaranga»
02. Azerbaijan: JIVA – «Just Go»
03. Romania: Alexandra Căpitănescu – «Choke Me»
04. Luxembpurg: Eva Marija – «Mother Nature»
05. Czechia: Daniel Žižka – «CROSSROADS»
FINALIST | France: Monroe – «Regarde!»
06. Armenia: SIMÓN – «Paloma Rumba»
07. Switzerland: Veronica Fusaro – «Alice»
08. Cyprus: Antigoni – «JALLA»
FINALIST | Austria: COSMÓ – «TANZSCHEIN»
09. Latvia: Atvara – «Ēnā»
10. Denmark: Søren Torpegaard Lund – «Før Vi Går Hjem»
11. Australia: Delta Goodrem – «Eclipse»
12. Ukraine: LELÉKA – «Ridnym»
FINALIST | United Kingdom: LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER – «Eins, Zwei, Drei»
13. Albania: Alis Kallaçi – «Nân»
14. Malta: AIDAN – «Bella»
15. Norway: JONAS LOVV – «YA YA YA»
Rewatch the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 below
How did the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 work?
The second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 began at 21:00 CEST from the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna. The show opened with a special performance by presenters Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, who performed a comedic reinterpretation of «Wasted Love», the song with which JJ won the contest in 2025.
After the competing performances together with the exhibition performances from France, Austria, and the United Kingdom, voting opened for viewers from the participating broadcasters, along with those from the rest of the world (who count as one additional country). Let us remember that the online voting has a fixed cost of €0.99 per vote through the new platform vote.eurovision.com. Meanwhile, the decision of the juries was determined during the jury show held on Wednesday, May 13, during the second general rehearsal of the qualifying round.
During the voting period, the Austrian broadcaster ORF offered a special performance by JJ, who presented his new single «Unknown».
The semi-final concluded with the anticipated announcement of the last ten qualifiers for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Following the changes introduced in the previous edition regarding the reveal of the selected countries through a three-screen format, in 2026 the classic format returned, in which the presenters simply announce the ten most-voted countries of the qualifying round.