🇲🇩 Moldova: Selecția Națională 2026 Finalists Revealed

TRM, the Moldovan national broadcaster, has revealed the finalists for Selecția Națională 2026.

Following the initial song submission window, a total of 36 artists were invited to in-person auditions at TRM Studios in Chișinău, which took place yesterday. From the auditions, sixteen artists were chosen for the live final. For the first time since 2015, the auditions were not broadcast live.

The finalists of Selecția Națională 2026 are:

Sasha Flowers – “Can do more”
Evghenii Avramov & ALenin Ivan – “Foc la ghete” (Fire in the boots)
Adelisha – “Alegria” (Joy)
Artiom Topal – “Money”
Pavel Orlov – “Can’t say goodbye”
Ilinca Siviroveanu – “Running through the rain”
Bacho – “Tata” (Father)
Satoshi – “Viva, Moldova”
Curly – “Respir liber” (I breathe freely)
DAYANA – “Doina”
Emforia – “Tipare” (Patterns)
Katy Rain – “Dance & Cry”
Cristy Rouge – “Bliss”
Maxim Zavidia – “Alo” (Hello)
Valleria – “Valerian Steel rai di ri di dam”
Catalina Solomac – “Pink Margarita”

The longlisted acts that did not qualify are:

Adelina – “Putere în durere” (Strength in pain)
Adrian Sîrbu – “Ne-am stins” (We have passed away)
Sasha Flowers – “We fight till the end”
Alexei Legasi – “Rebel”
Annet Smirnova – “Sunt femeia” (I am the woman)
Chris Cross ft Radco – “Taci” (Be quiet)
Dana Marchitan – “Cry”
Lisa Volk – “Dragostea Mea” (My love)
Iulia Teleuca – “Luna Mea” (My moon)
Moniq Monua – “Like I do”
August Black – “You make me crazy”
Nadejda Rotaru – “Winter story”
Rodica Jabinschi – “Dependentă” (Dependence)
Oliv Sky – “Bad dream”
Sasha Bognibov – “On the right path”
L-ERA – “Friends”
Zeleno – “No pain no gain”
Chris Cross – “Close my eyes”
MOLDIE – “Moldova mea” (My Moldova)
DAYANA – “Cry a river”

Sergey Orlov, music producer of the selection commented:

“The live auditions helped us see who was truly ready for the big stage. We took into account not only the voice, but also the charisma, stage presence and the way the artists can communicate with the audience. Initially, we intended to choose 10 participants, but we decided to go further with 16 finalists, because we felt potential in several artists and we wanted to give them the chance to take the stage at the Arena in the National Final on January 17”

The final of Selecţia Naţională 2026 will take place on January 17 at the Chișinău Arena. The jury for the national selection will consist of 20 members; 5 international members and 15 Moldovan members. The winner will be decided by the international jury members (33%), the Moldovan jury members (33%) and public voting (33%).

TRM also intends to offer the winner of the selection a prize to support their preparations for Eurovision and the support of the producers through their journey to the competition.

Moldova withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 “following a detailed analysis of the current situation, as well as the economic, administrative and artistic challenges”. Moldova had planned to compete in Basel, but withdrew following the live auditions stage of Etapa Națională. Moldova had competed annually in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 2005.

Moldova was the third country to announce its return to Eurovision 2026, BNT of Bulgaria and TVR of Romania.

Natalia Barbu performed “In The Middle” in Semi-Final One of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Moldova placed 13th in the semi-final scoring 20 points.

Image source: EBU / Alma Bengtsson | Source: TRM