{"id":960734,"date":"2026-05-15T03:59:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960734\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T03:59:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:59:29","slug":"eurovision-2026-all-the-countries-through-to-the-song-contests-grand-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960734\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision 2026: All the countries through to the song contest\u2019s grand final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"sc-1uza6dc-1 eRQajs\">Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n<p>The line-up for this year\u2019s 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/eurovision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eurovision<\/a> final has been confirmed after<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-live-updates-semi-final-israel-finland-b2974741.html\"> the first semi-final on Tuesday<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-live-results-vote-uk-final-b2976402.html\">the second on Thursday<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Acts representing<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/israel-eurovision-2026-noam-bettan-song-b2975323.html\"> Israel, <\/a><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-finland-linda-lampenius-pete-parkkonen-liekinheitin-meaning-b2972993.html\">Finland <\/a>and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-greece-akylas-ferto-meaning-b2974272.html\">Greece<\/a> were among the first 10 voted through after performing live in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/vienna\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vienna<\/a>, Austria, earlier in the week. The second heat then saw the likes of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/tv\/culture\/eurovision-love-island-cyprus-antigoni-video-b2976950.html\">Cyprus<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-australia-delta-goodrem-cancer-b2976356.html\">Australia<\/a> and Denmark qualify. <\/p>\n<p>The line-up is completed by the hosts Austria, who go through automatically alongside the \u2018Big Four\u2019, aka the nations whose broadcasters make the biggest financial contributions to Eurovision. <\/p>\n<p>These are the UK, Italy, Germany and France. <\/p>\n<p>Spain is usually the fifth country on this list, but its broadcaster is <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/eurovision\/eurovision-2026-which-countries-dropped-out-b2976335.html\">among those boycotting the 2026 song contest due to Israel\u2019s continued participation<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778817562_952_2275868329.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Greek contestant Akylas made it through the final\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Greek contestant Akylas made it through the final (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>The 10 countries voted through from the first semi-final are as follows:<\/p>\n<p>1. Greece: Akylas &#8211; \u201cFerto\u201d<\/p>\n<p>2. Finland: Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen &#8211; \u201cLiekinheitin\u201d<\/p>\n<p>3. Belgium: ESSYLA &#8211; \u201cDancing on the Ice\u201d<\/p>\n<p>4. Sweden: FELICIA &#8211; \u201cMy System\u201d<\/p>\n<p>5. Moldova: Satoshi &#8211; \u201cViva, Moldova!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>6. Israel: Noam Bettan &#8211; \u201cMichelle\u201d<\/p>\n<p>7. Serbia: LAVINA &#8211; \u201cKraj Mene\u201d<\/p>\n<p>8.Croatia: LELEK &#8211; \u201cAndromeda\u201d<\/p>\n<p>9. Lithuania: Lion Ceccah &#8211; \u201cS\u00f3lo Quiero M\u00e1s\u201d<\/p>\n<p>10. Poland: ALICJA &#8211; \u201cPray\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 10 countries voted through from the second semi-final are as follows: <\/p>\n<p>1. Malta: AIDAN &#8211; \u201cBella\u201d<\/p>\n<p>2. Cyprus: Antigoni &#8211; \u201cJALLA\u201d<\/p>\n<p>3. Albania: Alis &#8211; \u201cNan\u201d <\/p>\n<p>4. Denmark: S\u00f8ren Torpegaard Lund &#8211; \u201cF\u00f8r Vi Gar Hjem\u201d<\/p>\n<p>5. Czechia: Daniel \u017di\u017eka &#8211; \u201cCROSSROADS\u201d<\/p>\n<p>6. Bulgaria: Dara &#8211; \u201cBangaranga\u201d<\/p>\n<p>7. Ukraine: LEL\u00c9KA &#8211; \u201cRidnym\u201d<\/p>\n<p>8. Norway: JONAS LOVV &#8211; \u201cYA YA YA\u201d<\/p>\n<p>9. Australia: Delta Goodrem &#8211; \u201cEclipse\u201d<\/p>\n<p>10. Romania: Alexandra C\u0103pit\u0103nesc &#8211; \u201cChoke Me\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The performance by Israel\u2019s artist, Noam Bettan, was disrupted during Tuesday\u2019s semi-final by shouts of \u201cstop the genocide\u201d. Despite this, Bettan received enough votes to get through to the final on Saturday 16 May.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778817569_452_2275873825.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Israel\u2019s contestant Noam Bettan made it through to the final\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Israel\u2019s contestant Noam Bettan made it through to the final (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>The first semi-final otherwise seemed to go relatively smoothly. <\/p>\n<p>Among the most notable moments on the night included a brief appearance from British pop star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/boy-george\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Boy George<\/a>, who joined San Marino entry SENHIT for her rendition of \u201cSuperstar\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, San Marino crashed out at the first hurdle, as SENHIT (and Boy George) did not receive enough votes to qualify for the final on Saturday (16 May).<\/p>\n<p>There was also a cameo from Hollywood actor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/will-ferrell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Will Ferrell<\/a>, in a nod to his 2020 Eurovision comedy film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Austrian hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski took part in a colourful skit with Australia\u2019s 2025 entry Go-Jo, with each party singing the virtues of their respective countries.<\/p>\n<p>The second semi-final also ran like clockwork, with Australia\u2019s Delta Goodrem among the acts who received the biggest cheers in the arena. <\/p>\n<p>The former Neighbours star made light work of qualifying for the grand final \u2013 which she goes into as one of the favourites. <\/p>\n<p>It also saw UK entrant Look Mum No Computer take to the stage for a divisive performance of his track \u201cEins, Zwei, Drei&#8221;, while former Love Island star Antigoni represented Cyprus and won them a place in the final. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":960735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[266979,261305,157021,7907,4080,47671,77,13735,1450,44888,269,14886,2249,382,16,15,266977,266978],"class_list":{"0":"post-960734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-70th-eurovision-song-contest","9":"tag-akylas","10":"tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","11":"tag-austria","12":"tag-celebrities","13":"tag-color-image","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-eurovision-song-contest","16":"tag-greece","17":"tag-horizontal","18":"tag-music","19":"tag-performance","20":"tag-photography","21":"tag-tv","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-vienna-austria","25":"tag-wiener-stadthalle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116576595933921948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}