The time is now – get voting for your favourite at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The 2026 competition has officially gone underway, with the first 10 acts now through to the grand final and tonight, the next 10 will be decided.
Earlier this week, those in the United Kingdom weren’t able to vote but tonight, the voting will soon open!
Of course, UK residents won’t be able to vote for their own entry – but if you’re wanting to know how you can vote, we have all the information you need below.
How to vote via the app for Eurovision 2026
Audiences tuning into Eurovision 2026 will be able to cast their votes via the official Eurovision app during the semi-finals and grand final.
The app is available to download for iOS, Android and Windows users, and if you vote in the app you’ll also get a special message from your favourite performers!
How to vote in Eurovision 2026 from a non-participating country
In 2023, the decision was made to allow viewers watching in eligible countries not participating in Eurovision the chance to vote in each semi-final and the Grand Final.
Audiences can vote via the app or on ESC Vote.
When can you vote in Eurovision 2026?
For participating countries, during the semi-finals, the vote will open after the last song has been performed and stays open for around 18 minutes according to the official Eurovision website.
Things are slightly different for the grand final, with voting opening just before the first song is performed and remaining open until 40 minutes after the last song has been presented.
Viewers in the rest of the world will have around 24 hours to vote. The online vote opens at midnight on the day of each semi-final and the grand final, and stays open until the live shows begin.
At the grand final, rest of the world voting opens just before the first song is performed and remains open until 40 minutes after the last song has been presented.
How does the Eurovision voting system work?
Eurovision was originally judged by juries before being opened to the public for a televote. However, when people started airing concerns about political ‘bloc voting’ – that’s the idea that certain countries were all just voting for each other – they introduced a new dual system.
The juries from each country award 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points to their favourite songs, and reveal those jury scores through their national spokesperson in the usual time-consuming yet exciting way.
Viewers from each country also vote, with points from 1-12 awarded to the most popular acts amongst the viewers. Then, all the results from each country’s public votes will be combined to give one overall Eurovision viewer score per song.
These scores are revealed in reverse order: the country that receives the least amount of votes from the jury will be awarded their public points first.
This means that winner of the contest is only revealed at the very last minute. Exciting, eh?
Viewers in all the competing countries – including those who were knocked out in the semi-finals – can vote up to 20 times for the songs of their choice, but they can’t vote for their own country.
The country with the highest number of combined votes wins the competition and gets to host it the next year.
What happens if there’s a tie?
If there is a tie between two or more songs in the combined ranking between public votes and the jury votes, the song that obtains a better ranking from the public vote is deemed the winner.
How many countries can compete in Eurovision?
As you may have noticed, Eurovision isn’t just a ‘European’ Song Contest. That’s because it’s open to active members of the European Broadcasting Union, which is an alliance of public service broadcasters (like the BBC in the UK) from across Europe and its neighbouring countries.
Around 43 countries enter the Eurovision Song Contest each year, and they’re each entitled to enter one song. This year, however, only 35 countries are competing, with only 25 making it to the final.
How do the Eurovision semi-finals work?
Only six nations are guaranteed an automatic place in the final. The ‘Big Five’ – Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Germany – as well as the host nation (Austria this year) all have a free pass to the final, while everyone else has to battle it out to make it to the stage on Saturday night.
The other countries compete in two semi-finals – the aptly name semi-final 1 and semi-final 2 – with 25 places up for grabs.
However this year, the Big Five has been renamed the Big Five after Spain withdrew from the competition due to Israel’s participation in the contest.
The Spanish broadcaster RTVE said: “The board of directors of RTVE agreed last September that Spain would withdraw from Eurovision if Israel was part of it.
“This withdrawal also means that RTVE will not broadcast the Eurovision 2026 final… nor the preliminary semi-finals.”
And why do the Big 5 always get a spot in Eurovision?
Well, they pay the most money to keep the contest going so it’d be a bit odd if they weren’t always in the running now, wouldn’t it?
Anything goes on the Eurovision stage though, right?
Wrong. There are actually rather strict rules about what the contestants can and can’t do.
For example, no more than six people are allowed on stage per entry and their songs must not last a second longer than three minutes.
You can sing in absolutely any language you want, but you’ve got to sing live because miming is banned.
What happens if Australia wins Eurovision?
Don’t worry, the show won’t go Down Under – but what happens if Australia wins Eurovision in future?
The Aussie delegation will be asked to select a European country to host next year’s show on their behalf.
The Eurovision Song Contest has faced significant criticism over its decision to allow Israel to take part in the event due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
This year, a number of countries will boycott the contest following the European Broadcasting Union’s decision not to expel Israel from the competition.
At the EBU general assembly in December 2025, a vote was held to introduce new rules that would stop governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters. No vote was held on Israel’s participation.
The EBU said in a statement: “A large majority of members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place.”
Following this, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland confirmed they would not participate in this year’s Eurovision.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ said: “RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.”
The BBC, which broadcasts the competition in the UK, has said it supports the decision made by the EBU. “This is about enforcing the rules of the EBU and being inclusive,” it said in a statement.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final will take place on Saturday 16 May 2026.
You can also check out the full list of Eurovision winners and how many times the UK has won Eurovision.
Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
