Bulgaria wins Eurovision, Delta Goodrem ‘stoked’ as Australia comes fourth
Vienna: Delta Goodrem is thrilled with the result after Australia placed fourth in the 70th annual Eurovision Song Contest, won by Bulgaria in a nail-biting final count, saying she felt the nation’s support for her during her stunning performance.
The result on Sunday morning AEST came after a four-hour telecast and a week of Eurovision celebrations in Vienna, Austria, in which Australia was catapulted to the centre of the story.
In a photo-finish, Australia, Israel, France and Italy dominated the leaderboard until the global TV audience votes were added. The final block of votes handed victory to Bulgaria, pushed Israel into second place, Romania into third place and Australia into fourth place.
When Bulgaria was named the winner with the bouncy and addictive Bangaranga sung by Dara, the Wiener Stadthalle erupted into applause and cheering. In a field of 35 competing countries, Australia’s result of fourth place is an extraordinary result.
The final scores were Bulgaria at the top of the leaderboard with 516 points, followed by Israel (343), Romania (296), Australia (287), Italy (281), Finland (279), Denmark (243), Moldova (226), Ukraine (221) and Greece (220).
The final moments of the count turned into a nail-biter as Noam Bettan brought Israel into the lead after securing a large audience vote of 220 points, before Bulgaria romped home with an audience vote of 312 points. Five countries withdrew from the competition in protest against Israel’s inclusion, following the war in Gaza.
In historical terms, it is Australia’s second-best performance (Dami Im came second in 2015). And for context: more than a dozen European countries did not survive a brutal semi-final round to make it into the grand final.
Speaking backstage after the grand final, Goodrem said: “I’m absolutely stoked…
“I am honoured to have hit the stage, that iconic Eurovision stage. I am so blown away by the love and support. I don’t even know how to say thank you. I felt the country with me. All I wanted to do was do my very best and feel that it was a great day. It’s a bit of a heart-starter out there.”
Goodrem described the journey to the Eurovision stage as one she was thankful for. “I am blown away, I did not know what to expect, it was a wild adventure,” she said. “I led with passion, and it’s been more incredible than I could have possibly imagined. Coming off stage, the emotional part was … getting that release after the pressure cooker. Now I just feel I will take a moment to enjoy what this adventure was.”
The 41-year-old Sydney-born star said the experience, and the elevation of her stagecraft at Eurovision, would shape her next career steps. “I feel like the past few years, I have been hitting the road a bit more. That’s my favourite thing to do. We like to have emotion, but we like to have a lot of fun, standing on a piano … but now I am thinking in my next shows, there’s going to have to be a lift out of my piano,” she added referring to how she rose above the Eurovision audience on an ascending platform.
For Goodrem, this was a performance for the ages, and confirmation of her maturation as an artist. Already an accomplished singer-songwriter-instrumentalist, Eclipse is the apotheosis of her stagecraft: explosive, majestic and, to the 16,000-strong crowd in the arena, quite simply mesmerising.
She received a pat on the back from the country’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, shortly after the results landed. “Well done, Delta Goodrem. You did Australia proud,” he wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Goodrem in all her golden glory.
Courtney Act, who co-hosted SBS’ Eurovision coverage this year, shared their love for Goodrem on social media shortly after her dazzling finale performance. “That was so amazing. I didn’t know it was possible for that to be any better than the semi-final, but somehow Delta Goodrem added another layer of brilliance to that joyous performance.”
Act said live on SBS at the end of the broadcast: “Oh Australia, we’re with you. We came fourth. I know Aussies were feeling the hope – we were feeling the hope – so I know you must be feeling crestfallen right now.”
Im, who represented Australia at Eurovision in 2016, also showered Goodrem with praise following her finale performance, telling her Instagram followers it was “even better than the semi – perfection”.
The semi-final rounds of Eurovision are watched by about 35 to 40 million people. Like other global events such as the Oscars, the global TV audience figure is a somewhat nebulous calculation of uncertain mathematical provenance. Best estimates say upwards of 150 million people.
Whatever the final number, it is certainly the biggest audience of Goodrem’s professional career. What makes that calculus so extraordinary is that Goodrem did not just meet the moment, she exceeded it in every way. A hefty fusion of acoustic and visual artistry, Goodrem moved through it as though she were light as air.
Behind the diaphanous folds of her hand-crafted gold gown – a dazzling assembly of 7000 Swarovski crystals which took more than 500 hours to sew by hand – by Sydney label Velani, designed by Nicky Apostolopoulos, was a piece of innovative stage technology known as a Versa Ribbon Lift; the same technology was used by the queen of stagecraft, Beyoncé.
The performance itself took Goodrem through layers of moon shadow, to an intersection of moon and sun at the heart of the eclipse, and finally – after a piano intermezzo played in fortissimo with a cheeky smile – into an explosion of gold that turned the arena into a shimmering ocean of fire.
Designed by Dan Shipton and Ross Nicholson, the effect was extraordinary. Goodrem knew it, her confidence clearly on display. And the audience knew it, erupting into rapturous applause. Even in the media centre, backstage, a 1000-strong crowd of journalists from around the world applauded and cheered. Win or place, whatever happens now, this was truly a winning performance.
That reaction also underlined Goodrem’s months-long campaign for Eurovision love, that took her from Australia to the “pre-party” season in Europe in March and April, performing at concerts in Amsterdam and Oslo, and pressing the flesh with Eurovision fans.
For Australia, the Eurovision journey is as existential as it is colourful. Our place in a European music competition is always up for debate, even as it seems like a natural expression of our European history and the plain ambition of the European Broadcasting Union to turn Eurovision itself into a global brand.
Goodrem’s campaign this year will momentarily silence the critics who found voice recently, as a number of Australian entrants had their Eurovision campaigns cut short, cut down in the semi-finals.
This year’s first semi-final sent Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Portugal to the final. The second sent through Bulgaria, Ukraine, Norway, Romania, Malta, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Australia.
In the grand final, those 20 countries were up against four of the so-called “Big Five” – the biggest members of the European Broadcasting Union, France, Germany, Italy and the UK – and the host country, Austria, all of whom book final slots automatically.
The fifth member of the Big Five, Spain, withdrew in protest over the inclusion of Israel.
Four other countries joined the boycott: Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, reflecting a deeply felt schism that illuminated a growing problem for the EBU: how it handles the delicate relationship between soft diplomacy and the perception that Eurovision is being used as a political proxy.
The Eurovision grand final is, in the final count, a four-hour-long marathon of song, spectacle and abacus-style mathematics.
The contest’s antiquated scoring system, which involves crossing from the main stage in the host country to each of the participating countries for them to assign scores from two to eight, 10 and 12 points to the songs, is one of the most beloved aspects of the broadcast.
The 2026 Eurovision competition featured artists and songs from 35 countries performing in 20 languages.
With Nell Geraets
SBS will replay the Eurovision grand final tonight at 7.30pm AEST. Both semi-finals and the grand final are available via SBS on Demand.
Source: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/eye-of-the-storm-delta-poised-to-set-the-eurovision-stage-on-fire-20260517-p5zxs2.html
Was Delta Goodrem robbed after Eurovision voting changes?
London | She sang, she soared but singer Delta Goodrem couldn’t quite conquer Eurovision thanks again to the vagaries of the world’s biggest singing competition’s voting system.
Despite being one of the fan and bookies’ favourites for Saturday night’s (Sunday AEST) final, after wowing audiences in earlier rounds, Goodrem could only finish fourth in Eurovision’s 70th anniversary battle.
Placing fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest, Delta Goodrem talks about the honour of representing Australia on the world stage.
Bulgaria claimed the top spot, but Israel was second after winning a large chunk of the audience vote. Israel’s strong result came a year after the Israeli government courted controversy by paying for a social media campaign encouraging multiple voting for its 2025 entrant, who also finished second. Geopolitics by G chord.
This year, organisers had changed the voting system to strike a better balance between the jury vote – which is made up of music industry professionals expected to focus impartially on the musical merits of each composition and performance – and the audience.
The maximum number of times an audience member can vote was reduced from 20 to 10 times. A clamp down was also imposed on third-party campaigning.
But you still can’t beat parochialism at times. The Greek jury gave its maximum 12 points to Cyprus, where there is a large Greek population; the Cypriots returned the favour.
Goodrem’s power ballad Eclipse polled 287 points, made up of both the viewer vote and jury vote.
Australia’s Delta Goodrem remains among the favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest after an incredible performance in Vienna.
After the initial jury vote, Bulgaria was in front, ahead of Goodrem, who received the maximum score of 12 points from juries in three of the 35 countries participating.
But as the audience votes were tallied, Israel leap frogged a swath of countries to hit the lead, setting up a tense countdown.
Israel received 343 points as it jumped up the leaderboard, with the audience at the host venue in Austria erupting in boos. Two-thirds of its score came from 220 audience points.
Because of her strong performance, Goodrem was the second last act to have her audience score revealed. But she underperformed with those watching at home, polling lower than expected and leaving her in fourth.
While Goodrem has been a stalwart of Australia’s music scene for two decades, Eurovision was easily the biggest global platform she has performed on. Last year’s Eurovision was watched by 166 million viewers, organisers claimed.
Goodrem looked the part, dazzling in a gold, handmade dress that had a staggering 7000 Swarovski crystals stitched into it as flames erupted around her, and the backdrop shifted between the moon and the sun.
During her performance, Goodrem literally towered above her rivals. Her gold and glittery piano actually contained a podium lift that elevated Goodrem several metres in the air during the crescendo.
While Goodrem combined style and substance, it wasn’t enough. The highest placed Australian performer at Eurovision remains Dami Im who came second a decade ago.
Bulgaria’s Dara won with a combined 516 points for her song Bangaranga, climbing over the top of Israeli singer Noam Bettan after earning 312 audience points. Romania finished third.
Israel’s participation had been a sore point given opposition to the war in Gaza. Five countries including Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland boycotted this year’s event in protest.
Reaction online showed many people were grateful that Bulgaria won to deny Israel, questioning its continued participation given both the war and its alleged rigging of voting. Some users on X meanwhile thought Goodrem was hard done by.
While the winning country secures hosting rights for the following year, Bulgaria announced during its telecast that it would not host Eurovision unless something was done to rein in the high cost of staging the event.
Still, it could be worse; Great Britain came stone motherless last in the final out of 25 countries, with just one solitary point. No wonder Brits feel so off-key.
Source: https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/was-delta-goodrem-robbed-after-eurovision-voting-changes-20260517-p5zxst