Israel Scores 2nd place in Eurovision Final
Bulgaria Wins Eurovision 2026 as Israel’s Noam Bathan Secures Second Place
Bulgaria has made history by winning the 70th Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna, Austria. Bulgarian representative Dara captured the glass microphone trophy with her hit song "Bangaranga," marking her country’s first-ever victory in the competition. It also marked a rare moment of complete consensus, becoming the first time since 2017 that both the professional jury and the public televote were in unanimous agreement on the night's winner.
Meanwhile, Israel’s representative, Noam Bathan, achieved a phenomenal result by taking second place with an acclaimed performance of his song "Michelle." Bathan electrified the arena and capped off his performance by calling out "Am Yisrael Chai" on the Vienna stage to roaring applause from the audience.
Bathan's second-place finish continues an unprecedented era of success for Israel at the contest. This marks the second consecutive year that Israel has finished as the runner-up, following Yuval Rafael’s second-place finish last year. Furthermore, it extends Israel’s streak to four consecutive years in the top five, following third- and fifth-place finishes in the years prior. This back-to-back silver medal performance mirrors Israel's historic run in 1982 and 1983, when Avi Toledano ("Hora") and Ofra Haza ("Chai") achieved consecutive second-place finishes.
The voting sequence brought intense drama to the scoreboard. At the conclusion of the international jury voting, Israel sat in 8th place with a strong 123 points, while Bulgaria, Australia, and Denmark led the pack.
However, the public vote completely shifted the momentum, awarding Israel a massive 220 points from the global televote. This surged Bathan temporarily into first place before Bulgaria secured the final points needed to lock in their victory.
Rounding out the top tier of the grand final were Romania, Australia, and Italy. Meanwhile, Finland, which entered the week as the overwhelming oddsmakers' favorite to win the entire competition, ultimately fell short of expectations, finishing the night in 6th place.