{"id":44844,"date":"2026-05-17T01:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/44844\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:10:15","slug":"bangaranga-bulgaria-wins-eurovision-but-uk-comes-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/44844\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangaranga! Bulgaria wins Eurovision – but UK comes last"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bulgarian pop star Dara has won the Eurovision Song Contest with her pneumatic dance anthem Bangaranga.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old topped both the public and the jury vote in a nail-biting conclusion, soaring ahead of Israel in second and Romania in third to score a massive 516 points.<\/p>\n

Dara was far from a front-runner going into the contest, but her intricate choreography and naggingly catchy chorus helped her eclipse the competition – giving Bulgaria its first ever Eurovison title.<\/p>\n

The UK, however, continued its run of disastrous results. Look Mum No Computer’s song Eins, Zwei, Drei took last place, with one solitary point.<\/p>\n

\"Look<\/p>\n

Look Mum No Computer gave a quirky, if awkward, performance – failing to win the hearts of viewers [Getty Images]<\/p>\n

The musician predicted his downfall earlier in the week, admitting that his synth-driven track was “Marmite – you either love it or hate it”.<\/p>\n

But he put a positive spin on the situation. “I always say to expect nothing,” he said, “because if you expect nothing, you lose nothing”.<\/p>\n

“He gave it his all,” said Graham Norton as the results became clear. “It just clearly didn’t shine with the audiences across Europe.”<\/p>\n

It is the third time since 2020 that the UK has placed last.<\/p>\n

The top five of the leaderboard looked like this:<\/p>\n

Bulgaria: Dara – Bangaranga (516 points)<\/p>\n

Israel: Noam Bettan – Michelle (343 points)<\/p>\n

Romania: Alexandra C\u0103pit\u0103nescu – Choke Me (296 points)<\/p>\n

Australia: Delta Goodrem – Eclipse (287 points)<\/p>\n

Italy: Sal Da Vinci – Per Sempre (281 points)<\/p>\n

\"Dara<\/p>\n

Dara’s performance: A cross between an AA meeting and an exorcism [EPA]<\/p>\n

Unlike Look Mum No Computer, who is best known for a YouTube channel where he builds eccentric contraptions, Dara is a major pop star in her home country.<\/p>\n

Her songs and videos have amassed over 80 million listens and views, including the number one single Thunder, and she is a coach on the country’s version of the TV talent show The Voice.<\/p>\n

To the uninitiated, Bangaranga seems cast in the mould of nonsensical Eurovision songs like Diggi-Lou, Digg-Lay – but the title actually means “uproar” in Jamaican patois.<\/p>\n

The lyrics address Dara’s commitment to overcoming anxiety and ADHD, which she was diagnosed with last year.<\/p>\n

“Bangaranga is something that everyone’s got in themselves,” she explained.<\/p>\n

“It’s the moment you choose to lead with love, not fear.”<\/p>\n

Her performance came with whiplash-inducing choreography, based on the ancient Bulgarian tradition of Kukeri, in which masked performers chase away evil spirits.<\/p>\n

Before the grand final, it also earned the singer an award for the year’s best staging, voted for by commentators, including the UK’s Graham Norton.<\/p>\n

The UK was among the many countries who gave Bangaranga 12 points in the public vote.<\/p>\n

Speaking backstage after lifting the crystal microphone trophy, Dara said: \u201cI want to thank everybody who felt the Bangaranga and felt connected to the force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bulgarian National Television also confirmed next year\u2018s contest will be held in the country\u2019s capital, Sofia.<\/p>\n

\"Noam<\/p>\n

Israel’s Noam Bettan was booed during a brief period where his song topped the leaderboard – showing the strength of feeling over the country’s participation [Reuters]<\/p>\n

The run-up to this year’s contest was overshadowed by protests over Israel’s participation, due to the death toll of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Five countries boycotted the event, including Spain, Iceland and seven-time winners Ireland. In Vienna, there were protests in the city centre ahead of the grand final.<\/p>\n

Protests were also anticipated during Israel’s performance, after singer Noam Bettan was heckled with anti-Israel chants during Tuesday’s semi-final.<\/p>\n

However, there were no disturbances during his song, Michelle – a heartfelt Mediterranean love song, that took second place.<\/p>\n

Czechia’s performance, meanwhile, was interrupted by a technical error, during which the video feed was interrupted and singer Daniel \u017di\u017eka temporarily disappeared.<\/p>\n

“That did not happen at any of the rehearsals, the distorted picture,” said Graham Norton on BBC One. “I think the camera[man] fell, I’m not quite sure.”<\/p>\n

\u017di\u017eka asked for a chance to reprise his performance, but organisers declined, saying his “performance and audio were not affected” by the “small camera issue”.<\/p>\n

\"Delta<\/p>\n

Delta Goodrem made the top five for Australia [Getty Images]<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the contest’s two presumed favourites were pushed out of the top three altogether.<\/p>\n

Finnish duo Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius topped bookmakers’ odds for weeks – but although their stormy duet was called Liekinheitin (flamethrower), it failed to catch fire, ending in sixth place.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some commentators believed Delta Goodrem could become Australia’s first ever Eurovision winner, with her Celine Dion-adjacent power ballad Eclipse.<\/p>\n

She delivered the night’s most jaw-dropping vocal, rising above the arena on a platform she allegdly borrowed from Beyonc\u00e9. But ultimately, the song proved too dated to top the leaderboard, coming fourth.<\/p>\n

\"Romania<\/p>\n

Romania’s rock opera Choke Me was a surprise favourite with the public [Getty Images]<\/p>\n

This year’s contest was held in Vienna, Austria, after 25-year-old JJ lifted last year’s trophy in Basel, Switzerland, with his song Wasted Love.<\/p>\n

The show opened with a recap of that song – before the competition started in earnest with Denmark’s S\u00f8ren Torpegaard Lund.<\/p>\n

Writhing with dancers in a sweaty plastic box, his performance set the tone for a night dominated by stories of obsession and animal passion.<\/p>\n

Germany’s Sarah Engels was “on fire”, Norway’s Jonas Lovv had “no self control” and Sweden’s Felicia gave us an image that’s hard to forget: “You’re in my head, my heart, my body parts”. TMI, Felicia.<\/p>\n

As for Serbia, the lead singer of rock band Lavina was so tortured by someone who “trampled on his heart” that he ended his song with a blood-curdling scream.<\/p>\n

Representing Romania, meanwhile, Alexandra C\u0103pit\u0103nescu provoked controversy with the lyrics to her song Choke Me.<\/p>\n

Campaigners criticised the track for glamourising sexual violence – but C\u0103pit\u0103nescu said it was really about suffocating under the weight of self-doubt.<\/p>\n

Performed second-to-last, her powerful performance – essentially Lady Gaga fronting the nu metal band Evansecence – proved tantalising enough to take third place.<\/p>\n

More on the Eurovision Song Contest 2026:<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t all lust, lust, lust.<\/p>\n

Italy’s Sal Da Vinci delivered a sweetly nostalgic slice of 70s disco, with a song dedicated to his wife, Per Sempre, which came fifth.<\/p>\n

And Greece’s Akylas had the most kaleidoscopic performance – sliding down a fireman’s pole, raiding a bank vault and dancing with a Greek statue during his techno banger, Ferto.<\/p>\n

It was a lot to take in – but the maximalism hid a sweet message about working overtime to pull his parents out of poverty.<\/p>\n

Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984 was Lithuanian singer Lion Ceccah.<\/p>\n

His song, S\u00f3lo Quiero M\u00e1s, was all about breaking free of algorithms and reclaiming our humanity – a struggle he illustrated by painting himself head-to-toe in silver.<\/p>\n

Croatian band Lelek also wore face paint, with symbols representing the resistance of Catholic women during the Ottoman Empire, a topic they addressed with haunting folkloric harmonies on their song Andromeda.<\/p>\n

\"Lelek<\/p>\n

Lelek’s performance told a powerful story of female solidarity and resistance [EPA]<\/p>\n

The evening also marked the 70th anniversary of Eurovision, which launched in 1956 under the name European Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Back then, only seven nations took part, with Swiss singer Lys Assia taking the first title.<\/p>\n

To mark the paltinum anniversary, organisers staged a spectacular tribute featuring some of the most memorable songs of last seven decades.<\/p>\n

Former winners Lordi played a heavy metal version of Brotherhood of Man’s Save Your Kisses For Me; while Ukranian comedian Verka Serduchka played Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String with an Oompah band.<\/p>\n

Erika Vikman recreated Abba’s Waterloo – 1974’s Eurovision winner – while Alexander Rybak gave Cliff Richard’s Congratulations the hoedown treatment.<\/p>\n

The performance ended with a mass singalong to Nel blu, dipinto di blu, originally by Italian singer Domenico Modugno.<\/p>\n

The third song ever to win Eurovision, in 1958, it sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and remains the only contest winner to have topped the US charts.<\/p>\n

Whether any of this year’s entries can end that 68-year reign remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bulgarian pop star Dara has won the Eurovision Song Contest with her pneumatic dance anthem Bangaranga. The 27-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20858],"tags":[21119,28159,20859,20863,20860,1896,21810,145,21215,15649,968,22843],"class_list":["post-44844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eurovision","tag-delta-goodrem","tag-disastrous-results","tag-eurovision","tag-eurovision-song-contest","tag-eurovision-song-contest-2026","tag-getty-images","tag-graham-norton","tag-israel","tag-noam-bettan","tag-performance","tag-romania","tag-sal-da-vinci"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}