Eurovision returns for another chapter in 2027 for the 71st edition of the iconic international song contest.
The 2027 contest will be held in Bulgaria after the country triumphed in the 2026 edition with "Bangaranga" by Dara.
Find out all you need to know from the schedule to the dates to how scoring works for the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest below.
Date
The dates have the 2027 Eurovision song contest are yet to be confirmed, but both semi-finals and the final are due to take place in May 2027.
Eurovision 2026 Winner
Bulgaria picked up their first ever Eurovision win in 2026 with "Bangaranga" by Dara, which won both the televote and jury vote, the first entry to do so since 2017.
You can see a full list of previous winners here
Host Country and Venue
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest will be held at in Bulgaria, although the exact host city is yet to be confirmed.
Four host cities have expressed an interest in hosting, Burgas, Plovdiv, Sofia and Varna, with a final decision set to be made in the near future.
Traditionally, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contests undertakes the duties of hosting the following year. There was an exception in 2023 when Liverpool hosted Eurovision with Ukraine unable to after their 2022 success.
Running Order
The running order is partly decided by random ballot, with nations previously finding out whether they will be in the first or second half of the draw. Typically, countries are at an advantage in the second half, when more viewers are watching.
From there, the show's producers would select where to place the entries, trying to create the best show possible. Producers would try not to group similar songs together, and in order not to unfairly penalise the favourites drawn in the first half, these entries would typically be drawn later in the first half (in 2023, Sweden were ninth, in 2022, Ukraine were 12th, in 2019, the Netherlands were 12th).
However, first introduced in 2024, there is now a slight change to the draw. While there are still six first half and second half slots, there will be 13 'Producer's Choice' slots, where nations can be drawn anywhere.
The running order for the Grand Final will be confirmed after the second semi-final.
Voting and Scoring
The two semi-finals will be voted on by the countries performing within each respective semi-final, as well as Germany, Italy and the Rest of the World, made up of non-participating countries, for the first semi-final, and hosts Austria, France and the United Kingdom for the second semi-final.
15 countries will compete in the first semi-final with another 15 competing in the second semi-final; 10 countries from each will qualify for the Grand Final.
The voting and scoring systems have undergone a number of changes over the years, and the current system sees the televote and jury votes combined. Juries have now been expanded from five members to seven, with each required to have two jurors aged between 18 and 25. The maximum number of votes per payment method has also been reduced from 20 to 10.
Each country announces its jury scores first, with the best song receiving 12 points, the second best 10 points, then the next 10 receiving eight points down to one. These are all added up to create a leaderboard, but since 2016, a new system has been used where the televotes are then tallied separately and added after the jury results have been announced
These are announced in ascending order for each country's televote. For example, the country with the lowest televote score will be announced first, with their score added to their jury score. The country with the highest televote score will be announced last, with their score added to their jury score. The country with the highest combined score wins.
In 2023, Sweden were leading after the jury vote with 340 points (Israel were second with 177, ahead of Italy (176) and Finland (150)), and although Finland won the televote with 376 points, Sweden's 243 points were enough to win the Grand Final.
Draw
All countries who qualify for the final will be randomly allocated a half of the draw or given a 'Producers's Choice' slot where the producers can place them anywhere in the running order. Historically, the best place to be drawn is in the second half of the draw, ideally around 18th-24th, when more people are tuning in.
In the interest of fairness, any leading contenders who are drawn in the first half of the Grand Final are usually given a draw later in the first half; for example, in 2023, Sweden and Finland were allocated 9th and 13th in the Grand Final.
Eurovision 2027 UK Entry
The United Kingdom have not yet announced their representative for Eurovision 2027.
As a member of the 'Big Four' (reduced from five in 2026 on the back of Spain's withdrawal), who contribute more money to the running of Eurovision, the United Kingdom, along with Germany, Italy, France, and the previous year's winner (in this case, Austria) are automatically assured of a place in the Grand Final.
Early flagbearers in the competition, the UK won four times between 1967 and 1981 with Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Brotherhood of Man and Bucks Fizz, before winning again in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves.
The UK has fared decidedly worse in recent years, however, finishing bottom more times (six) than finishing in the top five (four), with the infamous nul points twice in that time with Jemini and James Newman.
Sam Ryder is the UK's most successful entry of the 21st century, finishing second with Space Man in 2022.
Why are Australia in Eurovision?
The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast in Australia every year since 1983 to a large audience, with the contest earning a large cult following, so much so that the country was granted an entry to the 2015 Grand Final to commemorate the 60th edition.
After finishing fifth in the Grand Final, Australia were granted an entry in 2016, but were entered into the semi-finals, which they won, eventually coming second in the Grand Final.
Australia have been entered into Eurovision 11 times, appearing in seven finals, where they've recorded three top-five finishes and three more top-10s.
