Press release – 2026 Grand Final
Australia’s Delta Goodrem the Eurovision Audience Poll 2026 favourite as clear top two emerges
A grand total of 25 acts will be competing to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna tonight. The all important jury rehearsal took place on Friday night and, like on Monday and Wednesday, the team of the Eurovision 2026 Audience Poll was present outside the arena to ask the general public attending the show the burning question: Who was your favourite? The answer was a clear victory for Australia’s Delta Goodrem.
Last night we held the fourth edition of the Eurovision 2026 Audience Poll, run by a collective of six fan media platforms (ESC Insight, 12 Points From America, ESCXTRA, ESC Gabe, Merci Chérie Podcast and That Eurovision Site).
Demonstrating its rise up the odds, Delta Goodrem topped the poll with 562 votes, (15.5%). Further back in second is Bulgaria. DARA backing up her victory in the Semi-Final 2 poll with 417 votes, (11.5%). Completing the podium is bookies favourite Finland, who amassed a total of 365 votes, (10.1%). Despite winning the Semi-Final 1 poll on Monday by over 300 votes, Moldova’s Satoshi is now adrift in only fourth place with 296 votes, (8.2%).
Following on, we see Moldova’s fellow televote contender, Greece two votes behind (8.1%). Next, we see the crowd pleasers of the show, Denmark (5.9%), Austria (5.7%), Norway (5%) and Sweden (3.8%). Taking tenth spot is the memorable showcase from Romania (3.3%). The latter decisively ahead of Italy in eleventh. For the second year in a row, the lowest placement of an automatic qualifier was the United Kingdom in twenty-second place (0.9%).
As is typical for a crowd that wants to party, the ballads underperformed with the voting audience. At the bottom of the table are, Albania (0.7%) and Lithuania (0.4%) and Poland (0.7%). Another shock result is Poland with 49 votes, (1.4%). Back in the Semi-Final 1 poll they were voted through as a safe qualifier in fourth spot. Overall, the poll received a total of 3620 responses from the attending guests.
Analysing the Grand Final Audience Poll results
Compared to previous expectations from bookmakers, fans and the ESCXTRA.com Press Poll, there are some surprising conclusions. Comparing the two polls against the odds and social media trends tells us that the pathway to victory is still uncertain. There are three obvious challengers – Australia, Bulgaria and Finland.
Finland and the Eurovision bubble
Finland, who are currently leading the odds, has shown in both the Semi-Final and Final audience polls that it can hold its own against the televote heavy weights of Moldova and Greece. Many pundits have cast doubt on Finland’s ability to compete in the public vote. However, most of the voting audiences on Saturday night will be seeing the eye-catching staging for the first time compared to those of us inside the bubble who have followed the journey of many acts since their national selections. Also worth noting is its running order position. During the live Grand Final, Finland will perform in seventeenth – Lordi won from this position twenty years ago in 2006.
Australia’s chances
Another that many have raised televote questions over is Australia. Yet, if we take the Audience Poll as a snapshot sample of the televote, then it is clear Delta Goodrem has to be in the winner conversation. So far Australia has placed runner-up in the Semi-Final 2 Audience Poll, won the Grand Final poll and achieved identical results in the equivalent Press Polls for each show. It is rare for a pop-ballad to have this level of success among these polls. Easily showing its potential to impress audiences and jurors alike with its professional styling and of course, Delta’s vocals to elevate the performance.
With the right components in place, locals will go for vocals. Especially with the experience and fame Delta brings to the table. Although we should be mindful that the ticketed members are predominantly from the German-speaking nations of our hosts Austria, as well as neighbouring Switzerland and Germany. Not forgetting the United Kingdom either, who remain one of the leading ticket purchases of every contest. All markets that Delta has achieved chart success in.
The Bangaranga dark horse
The success story of every Press Poll and Audience Poll this week is undoubtedly Bulgaria. The returning nation has picked up where it left off. After winning the Semi-Final 2 Press Poll and placing runner-up in last night’s Grand Final poll, DARA will be hoping that success continues tonight. The show producers have given Bulgaria a favourable position, as late in the first half as possible in twelfth. A position that also provides contrast to the many ballads placed before and after. The highly expressive performance and sharp staging package that blends choreography, camera work and a modern composition so seamlessly cannot be ruled out of the winner conversations. Over the course of the previous week, Bulgaria has now firmly settled inside the live top ten odds.
Underestimating Greece?
Another contender to consider is Greece. Akylas placed fifth in the Audience Poll and the Press Poll. Following the success of Käärijä, Baby Lasagna and Tommy Cash in our previous polls, underestimate Greece at your peril. Clearly there is televote and jury appeal in the innovative and immersive experience Akylas and his team have crafted. Vienna is currently a sea of knitted hats. At the time of writing, Greece is third in the winner odds. Yes, it has an early position in the order, much like Bulgaria, it also has been placed favourably among the lower tempo entries around it to stand out. In recent years we have seen Greece have good diaspora support with Marina Satti and Klavdia. The diaspora strongly support stage presentations they feel motivated for. Tonight will likely see that continue.
A fall for Denmark?
Early on in the Eurovision 2026 Denmark was one of the main contenders. Now it has slipped down to seventh in the live winner odds. Partly due to its opening position in the Grand Final running order. Still, it placed well in sixth in the Audience Poll. Suggesting the music video quality of the production can ensure people remember Søren. Opening is not the death knell many consider it to be. Marcus and Martinus in 2024 achieved top ten from this position.
Hosts and close countries
As we see every edition, there is strong home support for our hosts Austria. However it remains to be seen if the viral dance routine will catch on beyond the German-speaking nations, and its low result in the Press Poll (23rd) could predict a low jury result too.
Although not as strong, there is also some support for Germany (16th in the Audience Poll but 19th in the Press Poll), with a lot of German spectators attending the shows in the arena. This is less strong than in Basel though, where Germany was firmly in the top 10 of the audience, and much lower with the press.
Closing the top 10: Norway, Sweden and Romania
The Audience Poll closes its top 10 with Norway, Sweden and Romania, in line with previous results and with a late running order for all three countries, which are also strong crowd pleasers.
There is some variation here with the Press Poll: Sweden and Romania are also in its low top 10, but Norway is placed much lower. One must however remember that during the first dress rehearsal of the Grand Final (after which the poll was taken) JONAS LOVV made very little vocal effort in order to save himself for the jury show, and did not sing a lot of sections of his song.
Below the top 10: cutting through the bias
Below the top 10 of the Eurovision 2026 Audience Poll and the Press Poll, point differences can be minimal (there are only 8 votes between the entries ranked 17th and 21st for example). But there are still a few elements that can be useful for analysis.
As an article from our partners at ESCInsight shows, the Audience Poll suffers from a western/nordic bias, noticeably visible with the low scores of countries like Ukraine. Once again, Ukraine finished low (21st, and 16th in the Press Poll), probably lower than its eventual result. Lithuania could also suffer from the same bias, finishing last in the Audience Poll with only 14 votes: we know that Lithuania can generally count on a strong diaspora support from the United Kingdom, and will also be the only Baltic country in the Final, possibly gaining additional support from its non-qualified neighbours.
Another bias, that is very natural, is that the audience prefers uptempo songs and songs that can be enjoyed live: the low results of Albania, Malta and Czechia, for example, are also the result of slower entries who rely a lot on camerawork (for the latter two) or on screen experience (with Albania’s subtitles), although Malta was 24th in the Press Poll and 20th in the Audience one. Lithuania and Ukraine also suffer from this are they are far from being dance tracks.
Outside of these classic biases, some songs like Serbia are more appealing to specific segments of the audience, which votes en masse for it but which are only small groups.
As for the other countries we have not yet mentionned, their results are not particularly surprising: Italy sits just outside the top 10 in both polls with a funny, efficient and memorable staging that may end up doing better than most people think, but that is not as memorable as the rest. France does better in the Press Poll (8th) than in the Audience One (12th) which reflects the current expectations on its result (a possibly strong jury score, with a lower public vote in its favour).
As for Cyprus and Germany, they are the lowest-placed uptempo songs: less memorable than “Bangaranga”, with a very early running order for the Automatic qualifier, and less than ideal vocals from the island nation. Israel also ends up quite low (the lowest it has been so far in Grand Final Audience Polls), 18th with 44 votes, which is perhaps a more unbiased result, considering this is a mid-tempo song placed early in the running order. As for the United Kingdom and Belgium, there is little surprise there too, considering the latter’s running order and crowd appeal, and the former’s reliance on TV performance (although LOOK MOM NO COMPUTER does have quite a strong presence in the arena).
The Eurovision Audience Poll thanks you!
The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place tonight at 20:00 BST. Twenty-five acts will battle for Eurovision glory. Make sure you tune in to find out who will take the trophy home and to see where we’ll be travelling for Eurovision next year!
On behalf of the six partaking fan media platforms ESC Insight,12 Points From America, ESCXTRA, ESC Gabe, Merci Cherie Podcast and That Eurovision Site, we would like to thank you all for your interest and engagement with the Eurovision 2026 Audience Poll. It is safe to say: We will be back next year!
