Tonight: Semi-final 1 of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

The 70th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest begins tonight!

15 songs will compete, but only 10 will qualify for Saturday's Grand Final. The show starts at 21:00 CEST, broadcast live from Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. The hosts are Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski. The running order was decided by Austrian broadcaster and producer ORF based on an allocation draw.

On Thursday, Semi-final 2 will find the last 10 qualifiers from 15 songs.

Lineup Semi-final 1

Opening: "L'amour est bleu"

The first Semi-final opens with a film titled By Your Side for 70 Years, telling the story of the Eurovision Song Contest’s seven-decade history through the eyes of Toni, an Austrian boy who grew up watching Eurovision. We'll see clips of some of the most legendary acts through the decades, as Toni grows older.

Now we're live from Wiener Stadthalle, where the older Toni is behind a piano and a 70-member choir pay tribute to "L’amour est bleu", originally performed by Vicky Leandros at Eurovision 1967 — the year Vienna hosted the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Vicky Leandros enters the stage and joins in the song (the song finished 4th, and just five years later, she returned to Eurovision and won with "Après toi" in 1972).

Our hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski take the stage, and after the voting rules are explained in both English and French, it's time...

Let the Eurovision Song Contest Begin!

After approximately 10 minutes, the first country on stage is Moldova.

Postcards

Before each of the songs, we’ll see a short "postcard" while the stage is being prepared for the next performance.

The postcards for Eurovision 2026 combine real footage from locations across Austria with studio recordings of the artists, layered together to create imaginative and visually striking scenes.

The artists will appear in a variety of settings – from riding a chairlift above snow-covered mountains to wandering as miniature figures through forests and meadows among giant plants, or walking across spectacular city skylines.

The tradition also has a special Austrian connection. The first postcard was invented in 1869 by Emanuel Herrmann.

Commercial Breaks

After Georgia, the evening's first commercial break takes place:

For viewers without commercials, Victoria is in the green room presenting a pre-recorded video segment about Eurovision memories from fans and former contestants (Sissal, Miriana Conte, JJ, Eleni Foureira, Victoria) as well as Will Ferrell (Eurovision movie).

After the video, Victoria introduces the "Big Four" and the next country to take the stage: Italy.

After Germany, the second commercial break takes place. For viewers without commercials, a pre-recorded video features host Victoria as "Professor Eurovision", taking us through some Eurovision stats. This time, the focus is on "null points", including which language has received the most zero points (German), which country has received the most zero points overall (Austria), and the first host country to score zero points (Austria 2015).

Interval Acts: Zurcaroh and Kangaroo

After all 15 songs have been performed, it is time to start the voting. All countries participating in Semi-final 1, along with the two pre-qualified countries (Italy and Germany), can vote in this Semi-final.

The presenters explain the rules and quickly open the voting:

Start Voting Now!

After the first recap, we move to the green room, which has been transformed into a Viennese café. Victoria explains why it is called the "Green Room". The colour green is said to have a calming and relaxing effect, so Michael dresses in traditional Austrian clothing and talks with some of the artists.

We move from the tension of the green room to the magic of Vienna: the Prater, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. Austrian dance company Zurcaroh takes us back to Prater in 1900 with a stage performance combining acrobatics and dance, transforming the arena into a giant circus. A spectacular journey through time.

Stop Voting Now!

The voting is now closed, but we still have a few moments to wait.

Next up is another commercial break. For viewers without commercials, the "Douze Points – Eurovision Quiz" is presented, with Michael as quizmaster and several commentators as contestants.

The hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, together with the "Milkshake Man" Go-Jo, who represented Australia last year, perform the next interval act, "Kangaroo". It is a light-hearted musical number explaining the difference between Austria and Australia.

We then see short clips of the songs in Semi-final 2 on Thursday.

We are now ready to find out which ten countries have qualified, decided by public voting and national juries.

Good Night Europe!

Voting

Each participating country will have two sets of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points to give. One set for each country's jury, and one set for each country's televoting. Viewers in some of the non-participating countries ("the rest of the world") will be able to vote online. The "rest of the world" online votes will have the same weight as one participating country.

• The 10 songs with most points will qualify for the Grand Final.
• Each of the 15 countries participating in Semi-final 1 will vote.
• The pre-qualified countries Italy and Germany will broadcast and vote in Semi-final 1.
• Each country has a national jury who gave one set of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points.
• Each country will have televoting, which also results in a set of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points.
• Online voting "rest of the world" has the same weight as one participating country: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points.
• The voting results will not be revealed before the Grand Final has finished on Saturday.
• Only the 10 qualified songs will be revealed, and in random order.

Eurovision Song Contest 2026

The 70th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in May 2026. The contest will be held in Vienna, Austria and produced by Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF).

• Location: Vienna, Austria
• Participants: 35
• Semi-final 1: 12 May 2026: The 10 best songs qualify for the Grand Final
• Semi-final 2: 14 May 2026: The 10 best songs qualify for the Grand Final
• Grand Final: 16 May 2026: 25 participants – Austria, Big-4 (Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom), 10 best from Semi-final 1, 10 best from Semi-final 2