Eight artists still in the running to represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2026
Bulgaria’s Natsionalna Selektsiya 2026 kicked off tonight, as 15 artists took to the stage with songs from their back catalogues. Eight of them secured a place in the artist selection on 31 January
Tonight, the first show of Bulgaria's Natsionalna Selektsiya 2026 took place. Fifteen artists took to the stage to perform songs from their back catalogues, with eight of them advancing to the artist selection on 31 January.
The decision was made through a combination of votes from a five-member jury (awarding 1–5 points to each artist) and online voting (15, 14, 13, …, 1 points).
Natsionalna Selektsiya 2026 – Artist selection
Natsionalna Selektsiya 2026
Natsionalna Selektsiya 2026 will first select the artist (show 1 & 2) and then the song (show 3).
Voting in all shows consists of a five-member jury (1–5 points to each artist) combined with online voting (15, 14, 13, …, 1 points).
All three shows will be held at BNT Studio 1 in Sofia and hosted by Georgi Lyubenov, Boryana Gramatikova, and Vladimira Ilieva (backstage).
ARTIST:
Show 1: 24 January 2026- Show 2: 31 January 2026
In the first show, 15 artists performed songs from their back catalogues. Eight artists qualified for show 2, where the finalists will perform additional songs from their back catalogues. The artist who will represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2026 will be selected during this show.
SONG:
- Show 3: 28 February 2026
In the third show, the selected artist (from show 2) will perform three new songs written specifically for Eurovision. The winning song will be Bulgaria’s official entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times, but with mixed success. They have a 2nd, 4th, 5th, 11th and 14th place in their Eurovision account, and the other 9 years they didn't qualify for the Grand Final.
The best result was 2017's 2nd place finish (Kristian Kostov - Beautiful Mess), and this was also one of the five times they have qualified for the Grand Final out of 14.
