| Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2026 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Bulgarian National Television (BNT) | |||
| Country |  Bulgaria | |||
| Selection process | Artist: National final | |||
| Selection date | Artist: TBD January 2026 | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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Bulgaria is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which will be held in Vienna, Austria. The Bulgarian participating broadcaster, Bulgarian National Television (BNT), will select its entrant through a national final.
Prior to the 2026 contest, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Bulgaria fourteen times since its first entry in 2005. Its best result in the contest was second, which it achieved in 2017 with the song "Beautiful Mess" performed by Kristian Kostov. To this point, it had achieved another two top five placings at the contest: in 2007 when "Water" performed by Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov placed fifth and in 2016 when "If Love Was a Crime" performed by Poli Genova placed fourth. In 2022, Bulgaria failed to qualify for the final with the song "Intention" performed by the Intelligent Music Project. [1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, BNT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has used various methods to select its entry in the past, including the national final Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya” between 2005 and 2013 (used only to select the song in 2010 and 2013, with the artists internally selected), as well as full internal selections between 2016 and 2018, in 2021 and 2022. [2] Bulgaria did not participate in the contest in 2014, 2015, 2019, and between 2023 and 2025; its most recent absence was originally motivated by financial constraints. [3] On 31 October 2025, BNT announced it would return to the contest in 2026. [4] The following day, Fakti.bg reported that the broadcaster would organise a national final to select its entry for the contest; [5] the organisation of a national final was confirmed on 18 November 2025, but it was not specified whether it would concern only the artist or both the artist and the song. [6]
On 18 November 2025, BNT signed an agreement with Prophon to jointly select the competing artists for its national final, with acts invited based on data provided by Prophon on the top 40 most broadcast Bulgarian artists on radio and television over the past eight months. The competition will be held in January 2026. [6]