The 70th Eurovision Song Contest grand final airs tonight (Saturday, May 16) at 8pm British Summer Time. This year, the UK will be pinning its hopes on electronic act Look Mum No Computer with the track Eins, Zwei, Drei.
Eurovision 2026 wasn’t without controversy this year after it was boycotted by five nations, including Ireland, over Israel’s inclusion due to the country’s military action in Gaza.
Eurovision fans will be getting a dazzling array of performances from nations across Europe and, indeed, Australia, which has been part of the competition for the past decade.
A total of 35 acts participated in this year’s contest, and these were whittled down to just 25 finalists over two semi-finals this week.
The Big Four of the UK, Germany, France and Italy automatically qualify due to their significant financial contribution to the contest.
As per Eurovision rules, the reigning champions, Austria, are also automatically through to the final.
Here’s a look at the running order for this year’s contest and what audiences tuning in can expect from the show.
The Eurovision running order was largely decided by a draw. Countries that made it through the semi-finals were entered into a draw, which gave them one of three outcomes: a place in the first half of the show, a place in the second half of the show, or Producers' Choice.
The Producers' Choice means that the producers of the final decided where to put these countries in the remaining slots within the running order.
The UK is in the middle at number 14, while host nation Austria and its entry COSMÓ with the song Tanzschein are performing last.
The grand final will be opened by The Queen of the Night, which will see 2025 Eurovision winner JJ showing off his incredible vocal skills and blending together Mozart-inspired elements with his own music.
Accompanying on the stage will be more than 40 dancers and acrobats as the 25 finalists appear with their flags.
Once all 25 countries have performed, there will be a voting period and three interval acts, which include the Eurovision All Stars, who will perform iconic songs from the Contest’s history to mark the 70th anniversary, Austrian electro-swing icon Parov Stelar, and Austrian Eurovision legend César Sampson who will be performing a soulful version of Billy Joel’s Vienna.
Audiences will then be finding out the jury votes, before the public votes are announced and the Eurovision victor crowned.
The Eurovision Song Contest grand final will be airing tonight on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm BST
