The Favorites for Eurovision 2026: Finland, Australia, Greece and Others

A hovering duet between a star violinist and a studly Finn. An electro observe sung by a person dressed as a cat. A disco track accused of sounding just like the soundtrack to a Mafioso marriage ceremony.

All three are among the many favorites to win this yr’s Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday in Vienna, in accordance with prediction markets and betting firms.

Here’s what to find out about eight favored acts.

This yr’s favourite is Finland, and it is easy to see why.

Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen’s “Liekinheitin” (or “Flamethrower”) ticks each Eurovision field.

It’s primarily a duet between Parkkonen, 36, a Finnish pop star, and Lampenius, 56, a onetime violin prodigy, through which Parkkonen sings about his passionate obsession for a girl who treats him badly and Lampenius responds with forceful melodies on her instrument.

The competitors would not often permit dwell instrumental performances, however Eurovision organizers have given Lampenius particular permission to play onstage, on condition that her violin traces are so crucial to the track.

This week, a lot focus has been on Lampenius’s enjoying that some followers might have missed their struggles on the way in which to the Eurovision stage.

Lampenius was a crossover violin star within the Nineties, even doing the quilt of Playboy (which known as her the “Brahms Bombshell”). But amid that success, Lampenius acquired caught up in a authorized dispute with the Canadian vogue mogul Peter Nygard after she instructed a Finnish journalist that different ladies must be cautious in his firm.

Nygard sued her for defamation, demanding $10 million, an order that the violinist mentioned “ruined my life.” Since that point, nonetheless, Nygard has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in Canada for sexually assaulting 4 ladies.

For his half, Lampenius has lately signed a brand new main label deal and is now the favourite in Vienna.

“This is my revenge,” she mentioned.

Australia

‘Eclipse’ by Delta Goodrem

Sometimes a Eurovision nation surprises everybody by sending a singer who appears to have no use of a fame increase. This yr that individual is Delta Goodrem, representing Australia, who shot to stardom as a young person within the early 2000s starring within the wildly in style Australian soap “Neighbours,” and then as a singer of epic ballads.

So why is she at Eurovision with “Eclipse,” a hovering observe that grows in momentum and quantity with every verse?

Goodrem, 41, has mentioned in interviews that mates requested her for years to enter the competition, and in 2025 she lastly determined to strive. Her strategy in writing the track was to go as large as attainable, she mentioned this week in Vienna.

“When you’re doing Eurovision, I want a key change, I want high notes, I want wind machines, I want sparkles, I want surprises, I want it all!” Goodrem instructed Wiwibloggs, a preferred Eurovision YouTube channel.

She took the identical maximalist strategy for the staging, she added. “I want pyro! I want fire! I want smog! I want lighting! And I want 7,000 sparkles on my dress!”

That technique may work. After Goodrem’s semifinal efficiency on Thursday — which included her standing atop a golden piano — she was made second favourite.

Romania

‘Choke Me’ by Alexandra Capitanescu

It appears that each Eurovision has a lyrical controversy, and this yr’s facilities on Romania’s observe: Alexandra Capitanescu’s “Choke Me.”

When the hard-rocking track appeared on-line in March, it enraged some ladies’s rights teams for its refrain through which Capitanescu sings, “All I need is your love / I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me.”

Landing at a second when some consultants have drawn consideration to the dangers of choking during sexthe observe exhibits “an alarming disregard for young women’s health and well-being,” Clare McGlynn, a professor at Durham University, told the Guardian newspaper on the peak of the furor.

Yet Capitanescu has mentioned that the track has nothing to do with sexual practices. The singer told one interviewer that she was scuffling with anxiousness final yr and that her mom had mentioned, “You have to stop choking yourself with these negative thoughts.” That remark helped encourage the track.

Eurovision organizers recurrently order artists to alter lyrics if songs are considered political or extremely rude. But they have not made Capitanescu change a phrase, and Martin Green, Eurovision’s director, mentioned that Capitanescu’s clarification was adequate for him. “There would be an irony, it wouldn’t be there, if we were not believing this woman,” he mentioned.

The flap hasn’t appeared to harm Capitanescu’s Eurovision possibilities. She’s many followers’ favourite.

Last fall, Akylas was afraid that his music profession was over.

He had spent years attempting to make it as a pop star and had two minor successes in his native Greece, however he additionally needed to work as a waiter and cruise ship performer to pay his lease. At that time, he was looking for vacationers in Athens.

“It was the most difficult September in my life,” Akylas, 27, recalled in an interview. “I was like, ‘Maybe I should go back to the cruise ship.’”

Instead, he wrote “Ferto” (or “Bring It” in English). And now he’s among the many favorites to win Eurovision.

On the observe, which mixes conventional Greek devices with digital bleeps, Akylas sings in Greek about wanting the whole lot the world can supply, together with diamond rings, submarines and a number of “sashimi tuna.”

“I want the summit, not just a step,” he sings.

Although the lyrics make him sound like an insatiable Disney villain, Akylas mentioned in addition they mirrored his working-class childhood needing issues that others had. And the lyrics chimed with the financial precarity that many Greeks skilled within the monetary disaster that started in 2008. “A lot of my generation grew up feeling something was missing,” Akylas mentioned.

With Eurovision stardom, does he have the whole lot he sings about wanting in “Ferto”?” “The money, no,” Akylas mentioned. “But that’s going to come!”

France

‘Water!’ by Monroe

The United States might not but participate in Eurovision, however Americans nonetheless have a homegrown act to root for this yr: Monroe, who was born and raised in Salt Lake City, is representing France.

The daughter of a French mom and American father, Monroe is singing, “Water!” a sweeping observe about falling in love through which she repeatedly exhibits off her operational vary.

If she wins, she would be the third singer in a row to make use of operational expertise to assist safe the Eurovision title, following JJ of Austria and Nemo of Switzerland.

Monroe’s breakthrough got here in France final yr when she gained “Prodiges,” a preferred TV expertise present for classical musicians, singing the renowned “Queen of the Night” aria from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Before she realized that she was going to Vienna, Monroe had deliberate to check music at a university or conservatory within the US, however she mentioned in an interview that she had deferred gives to participate.

Still, she made time for an hour or two’s research a day whereas getting ready for the Eurovision remaining, she mentioned. “Learning in life is the most important,” the 17-year-old mentioned.

Italy

‘Per Semper Sì’ by Sal da Vinci

Italy often sends its hottest younger acts to Eurovision, like Maneskinthe snarly rock band that gained in 2021.

This yr, it has taken a unique tack. It’s entry is Sal da Vinci, 57, a suited Neapolitan singer, performing “Per semper sì” (“Forever Yes”), a disco anthem in regards to the joys of marriage that sounds, appropriately sufficient, like a marriage dance-floor filler.

“With my hand upon my chest / I promise it to you / Before God / It will be you and me,” da Vinci sings.

Da Vinci mentioned in a latest interview — alongside his spouse of 37 years, Paola Pugliese — that he was “a bit of a traditionalist.” He married the lady of his goals, he mentioned, and they persevered by way of all the same old ups and downs.

But he mentioned he hoped his track additionally appealed to extra liberal listeners. “I’m talking about universal love,” da Vinci mentioned. “Male, male; female, female. It’s not up to me to judge.”

Of this yr’s Eurovision entries, “Per semper sì” has probably the most Spotify streams. Yet the track has not been immune from criticism, with one Italian critic describing it because the soundtrack to a Mafia wedding.

Da Vinci mentioned feedback like these did not fear him. His track has touched so many individuals, in spite of everything — so why let a critic spoil it?

Israel has a latest behavior of sending energy ballads to Eurovision, however this time the nation is attempting one thing totally different with “Michelle,” a extra upbeat pop observe by Noam Bettan, through which he sings a few poisonous relationship over Spanish guitar and a shuffling Middle Eastern beat.

It’s additionally largely in French. “Adieu ma belle / Je te laisse parte / Mais je t’aime” Bettan sings in a typical excerpt. (“Goodbye my love, I’m letting you go, but I love you.”)

Bettan’s language selection stems from his French heritage: His mother and father emigrated to Israel from Grenoble, France, earlier than he was born.

The 28-year-old’s look at Eurovision is the top level of “more than eight years of hard work, Sisyphean work,” Bettan not too long ago told The Times of Israel.

Israel has gained Eurovision 4 instances, however the contest’s stage is a fraught place for any Israeli proper now. Five nations that had known as for Israel to be excluded due to its navy actions in Gaza are boycotting the eventand Israel’s authorities was accused after final yr’s contest of to influence the outcome trying. Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, which selects the nation’s Eurovision entry, mentioned that each one the promotions have been throughout the guidelines, however Eurovision’s director mentioned the campaign was excessive. This yr, the organizers have up to date the voting protocols.

During Tuesday’s semifinal, an viewers member shouted “Stop, stop, the genocide,” all through Bettan’s efficiency.

The Israeli singer told the BBC I’ve heard “booing and everything” and subsequently “looked for the flags of the people who love me and want me to do my best, and that really carried me.”

Denmark

‘Foer Vi Gaar Hjem’ by Soren Torpegaard Lund

When Soren Torpegaard Lund entered Denmark’s Eurovision choice competitors in February, he was third favourite to win out of eight. Chances have been, he was going residence with nothing.

But then he wowed the TV viewers together with his efficiency of “Foer Vi Gaar Hjem” (“Before We Go Home”), a pounding dance observe a few night time out, throughout which Lund climbed on high of a Perspex field full of membership children and tried to smash his manner inside.

He gained simply.

For a lot of this week, Lund, 27, was third favourite in lots of bookmakers’ odds to win Eurovision, and he mentioned in an interview that he hoped the match was a good one. “My room number at my hotel is also 333,” Lund mentioned, “so I’m, like, ‘There’s something about this number.’”

Lund attributed the power of his efficiency to his background in musical theater. He’s a musical star in his residence nation, having performed the lead in a Royal Danish Theater manufacturing of “West Side Story” amongst different main roles.

Few musicals function dance music like Lund’s Eurovision observe, however the singer mentioned that musical theater and Eurovision have been “natural bedfellows.” In each, he mentioned, you do not have to behave cool in the way in which that pop stars usually do.

You could be weak onstage or flamboyant. You can whisper or scream. “You’re allowed to be who you want to be,” he mentioned.