DARA has been chosen to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna.
The artist final of Natsionalnata Selektsiya 2026 took place tonight in BNT Studio 1 in Sofia. The show was hosted by Boryana Gramatikova and Georgi Lyubenov, with Vladimira Ilieva hosting backstage. Alongside the contest performances, there were also guest performances from Eldar (Eurovision 2011 winner for Azerbaijan), Alis (Albania Eurovision 2026), AIDAN (Malta Eurovision 2026), Ivo Dimchev and Nevena Tsoneva/
The eight remaining artists performed a song from their back catalogues. The results were decided by a combination of public and jury vote. Five jury members awarded between 1 and 5 points to each performance, while the public voted once on the BNT website for their favourite. The public’s favourite received 8 points, and the least favourite received 1 point. The maximum score available for this show was 28 points. The jury members for the show were:
Bogdana Karadocheva
Nina Nikolina
Lyubo Kirov
Krisko
Viktoria Halkiti
The results were as follows:
ArtistJury VotePublic VoteTotal PointsResultRoksana161178thMona176233rdPreyah183215thMihaela Marinova197262ndMolets174216thDARA228301stInnerglow162187thKerana & Kosmonavite185234th
DARA will now prepare three original songs for Eurovision. She will perform those three songs in the final night of Natsionalnata Selektsiya 2026 on February 28. A ten-member jury and public voting will decide which of the three songs will be the Bulgarian entry for Eurovision 2026.
Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest+
At the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, 17-year-old Kristian Kostov finished in second place in the Grand Final. Bulgaria has qualified for the Grand Final five times out of thirteen attempts at the contest. Bulgaria debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2005. The country competed annually from 2005 to 2013, before withdrawing for two years due to financial issues. Since returning to the contest in 2016, Bulgaria qualified for the final in every contest they have competed in up until the 2022 contest.