Bulgaria at Eurovision, by the numbers
One win, twenty-one years after a first entry, and a first hosting at the 71st contest. The card, with the blanks left blank.
The short answer
Bulgaria first entered Eurovision in 2005, won for the first time in 2026 with "Bangaranga" by Dara in Vienna, and hosts the contest for the first time in 2027, when the 71st edition takes place at Arena Burgas with the Grand Final on 15 May.
The story of Bulgaria at Eurovision is told at length elsewhere on this site. This page is the card: the numbers the archive holds, in a table, and an honest line for the ones it does not.
The card
| Item | Record |
|---|---|
| First entry | 2005, the 50th contest, in Kyiv |
| Wins | 1 |
| Winning year | 2026, the 70th contest, in Vienna |
| Winning song | "Bangaranga" |
| Winning artist | Dara |
| Hosts | 2027, the 71st contest |
| Host venue | Arena Burgas, Burgas |
| Host broadcaster | BNT |
The 2026 win came at the Wiener Stadthalle, the same hall where Sweden won in 2015. It was Bulgaria's first, and it made Bulgaria a host for the first time.
Twenty-one years from debut to win, in context
Bulgaria's first entry was in 2005 and its first win in 2026: twenty-one years. The archive holds the first year and the win years of every country, so the wait can be compared directly. These are a selection of first-win waits from the archive, longest first.
| Country | First entry | First win | Wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 1964 | 2017 | 53 years |
| Finland | 1961 | 2006 | 45 years |
| Greece | 1974 | 2005 | 31 years |
| Belgium | 1956 | 1986 | 30 years |
| Turkey | 1975 | 2003 | 28 years |
| Bulgaria | 2005 | 2026 | 21 years |
| Estonia | 1994 | 2001 | 7 years |
| Azerbaijan | 2008 | 2011 | 3 years |
| Latvia | 2000 | 2002 | 2 years |
| Ukraine | 2003 | 2004 | 1 year |
| Serbia | 2007 | 2007 | 0 years |
Portugal waited 53 years, the longest of any country; Finland 45. Bulgaria sits in the middle: a shorter wait than Belgium, one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956, or Portugal and Finland, and a longer one than the post-2000 debutants who won within a few years — Latvia on its third attempt, Azerbaijan on its fourth, Serbia on its first entry as an independent country.
The wait is in years, not in entries. The archive does not hold how many times each country has competed, and this table does not pretend otherwise.
Hosting for the first time: the 71st contest
Bulgaria has never hosted. The 2027 contest, the 71st, will be the first, at Arena Burgas in Burgas, with BNT as host broadcaster. The EBU has announced the dates: Semi-Final 1 on Tuesday 11 May, Semi-Final 2 on Thursday 13 May and the Grand Final on Saturday 15 May 2027, with six preview shows from Monday 10 to Saturday 15 May. The slogan is "United by Music", which is permanent.
The ordinal is worth a line. The 2027 contest is the 71st although the first was in 1956, because 2020 was cancelled and consumed no number. Bulgaria's debut contest in 2005 was the 50th; its winning one in 2026, the 70th.
What the archive does not hold
The archive behind the history page and the all-time table records first years, win years, winning songs and hosts. It does not record how many entries each country has sent, or its placings, and it does not fill those blanks with estimates. So this card has no count of Bulgarian entries and no list of finishes: that is a gap we would rather show than guess at. The Bulgaria page carries the tracker status and the record block together, and the host city page follows Burgas.
What is not settled for 2027
The dates, the venue and the slogan are announced. Not announced: how Bulgaria will choose its 2027 entry, the number of participating countries, the rules for the contest, and anything about tickets. We will update the card when the EBU or BNT publishes them.
FAQ
When did Bulgaria first enter Eurovision?
In 2005, at the 50th contest, held in Kyiv.
Has Bulgaria ever won Eurovision?
Once. Bulgaria won the 2026 contest in Vienna with Bangaranga by Dara, twenty-one years after its first entry.
Has Bulgaria hosted Eurovision before?
No. The 2027 contest, the 71st, is the first Bulgaria has hosted. It takes place at Arena Burgas, with semi-finals on 11 and 13 May and the Grand Final on 15 May 2027.
