Bulgaria has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 15 times since making its debut at the 2005 contest in Kyiv. The country won the contest for the first time in with the song "Bangaranga", performed by Dara. The Bulgarian participating broadcaster in the contest is Bulgarian National Television (BNT).
Bulgaria has failed to qualify for the final in nine out of 15 appearances at the contest, most narrowly in , when "Love Unlimited" by Sofi Marinova lost out on the 10th qualifying place from the second semi-final in a tie-break with . On three of the five occasions it has reached the final prior to its first win, Bulgaria finished in the top five: placing fifth with "Water" by Elitsa and Stoyan in , fourth with "If Love Was a Crime" by Poli Genova in , and second with "Beautiful Mess" by Kristian Kostov in .
Participation Bulgarian National Television (BNT) has been a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It has participated in the contest representing Bulgaria since its in 2005. Before becoming a member of the EBU, earlier contests had often been broadcast on BNT.
The first participant in the contest of Bulgarian origin is Nora Nova, a jazz and a pop singer who left Bulgaria for political reasons in 1959 and later represented in 1964.
History 1993–2003 BNT had planned to debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, 1996, and 2003; the latter year the broadcaster was unable to take part after the EBU decided that too many countries would be relegated from participation in 2003 if the country took part.
2005–2010 Bulgaria ultimately debuted at the contest in , with the song "Lorraine" performed by the jazz-inspired band Kaffe. Receiving only 49 points, they placed 19th in the single semi-final and failed to qualify to the final.
In 2006, They were succeeded by "Let Me Cry" by Mariana Popova, however it also failed to qualify for the final, coming 17th with 36 points in the single semi-final.
Bulgaria's first qualification for the final came in with "Water" by Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov. This was the first Bulgarian-language song to compete in the contest. They performed first out of twenty-eight in the single semi-final, placing 6th with 146 points to qualify to the final for the first time. Todorova and Yankulov repeated their song in the twenty-first order during the final and received 157 points, placing 5th in a field of 24.
In previous years, if a country placed in the top 10 countries in the final they automatically qualified to the final of the next contest. Had this rule remained for the 2008 contest, Bulgaria would have directly qualified for the final. However, a change in rules due to the large intake of countries participating in the contest meant that only five countries, the host country and the "Big Four" countries, would automatically qualify to the final. As such, Bulgaria was obliged to compete in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest.
At the 2008 contest, Bulgaria were represented by "DJ, Take Me Away" by Deep Zone and Balthazar. However, they could not repeat Todorova and Yankulov's result and received only 56 points, placing 11th of 19 competing in the second semi-final, thereby failing to qualify Bulgaria for the final.
Bulgaria competed in the 2009 contest in Russia, with a two-phase national selection process beginning in October 2008. The winner was Krassimir Avramov with his song "Illusion". But it failed to qualify for the final, coming 16th out of 18th place in the first semi-final.
In October 2009, BNT announced that Miro would represent Bulgaria at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway, with the song "". It was the second song to be sung in Bulgarian during the contest. However, for the third consecutive year, Bulgaria's entry failed to qualify for the final, coming 15th out of 17 participants in the second semi-final.
2011–2018 In 2011, Bulgaria was represented by Poli Genova, and the country's entry was sung in Bulgarian for the third time and for the second consecutive year. Her song was called ''", and missed out on a place for the final after coming 12th in the second semi-final, marking the fourth year in a row that Bulgaria didn't reach the final. In that year she competed with 18 more singers in the final of "EuroBGvision" (where by means of SMS voting the TV audience selects who will represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest). This was her fourth time in which she took part in the "EuroBGvision" and her first win.
Sofi Marinova represented Bulgaria in the 2012 contest in Baku with "Love Unlimited". Her song was mainly in Bulgarian, but it also contains the phrase "I love you" in 12 other languages, including Turkish, Greek, Spanish, French, and Serbian. Bulgaria's entry tied with Norway for 10th place in its semi-final; however, the tie broke in favor of Norway because it received points from more countries, making 2012 the fifth year in a row that Bulgaria didn't qualify.
In 2013, Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov were chosen through an internal selection to represent Bulgaria for a second time. Their song "" placed sixth in the second semi-final's televoting results, but 17th place (last) in the jury's results. The duo placed twelfth, with 45 points, thereby failing to qualify Bulgaria for the final for the sixth consecutive year. The nation subsequently announced on 22 November 2013, that they would not be participating in the 2014 contest due to financial problems.
On 15 September 2014, it was announced that Bulgaria had submitted a preliminary application to compete in the 2015 contest, but the following month, it was announced that they would not be returning to the contest. On 31 October 2014, it was announced that Bulgaria's participation was still undecided due to the political situation of the country. The EBU granted an extension and awaited a final decision. On 18 December 2014, BNT confirmed via their official Eurovision Twitter account that they would not take part in the 2015 contest.
On 15 September 2015, it was announced that BNT sent a preliminary application in order to compete in the 2016 contest, and the effective participation was further confirmed on 26 November 2015. Poli Genova was selected to represent Bulgaria for the second time, having previously done so in 2011. With "If Love Was a Crime", Poli performed twelfth at the second semi-final on 12 May 2016, and qualified for the final by finishing in 5th place with 220 points. In the final on 14 May 2016, she performed eighth and placed 4th with 307 points.
In 2017, Kristian Kostov represented Bulgaria with "Beautiful Mess", being the first singer at Eurovision to have been born in the 2000s decade. on 11 May 2017, after performed fifteenth, He placed 1st in the second semi-final with 403 points, the best score ever in any semi-final, qualifying Bulgaria to the finals for the third time. After performed twenty-fifth in the final, Kristian Kostov ended up getting the best result for Bulgaria before their first win in 2026, finishing in 2nd place with 615 points, the highest Eurovision score ever achieved for Bulgaria.
In 2018, BNT selected Equinox with "Bones". The group performed tenth in the first semi-final and qualified for the final, placing 7th with 177 points. Bulgaria reached the final for the fourth time, and they performed eighteenth, finishing 14th with 166 points.
2019–2027 On 10 September 2018, it was announced that Bulgaria had submitted a preliminary application to compete in the , but on 15 October 2018, BNT announced that they would not take part due to financial difficulties.
On 30 October 2019, BNT announced that Bulgaria would return for the . The country internally selected VICTORIA (Victoria Georgieva) as its representative with "Tears Getting Sober". However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled, and Victoria was later retained as Bulgaria's representative for the . Her entry for 2021, "Growing Up Is Getting Old", was internally chosen from a selection of songs from her EP A Little Dramatic, with input from the public and various focus groups. Victoria performed thirteenth at the second semi-final and qualified for the final, placing third with 250 points, thereby achieving Bulgaria's fifth final appearance. She then went on to performed seventeenth in the finals, finishing 11th place with 170 points.
In , BNT selected Intelligent Music Project with "Intention". The group failed to qualify for the final, finishing 16th in the first semi-final with 29 points. BNT later confirmed its absence from the contest, citing financial constraints. The absence continued through the and contests.
On 31 October 2025, BNT announced that the country would return to the contest in . Dara was selected to represent Bulgaria on 31 January 2026 through the newly developed national final format Natsionalnata selektsiya, a multi stage national final that first chose an artist, followed . The song with which she competed in Vienna, "Bangaranga", was selected on 28 February 2026. Dara performed first and wins the second semi-final, qualifying to the final for the sixth time since their last final appearance in 2021. After performed twelfth in the final, Bulgaria won the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with 516 points, marking the country's historic first win in the contest, the first time a winning song had topped both the televoting and jury voting since 's "Amar pelos dois" in , and setting the record for the largest winning margin in the contest's history at 173 points, beating out 's margin of 169 points with "Fairytale" in .
On 13 August 2026, BNT and EBU has chosen Burgas to host the Eurovision song contest 2027, the first time Eurovision will be hosted in Bulgaria on 11, 13, and 15 May 2027. It will be hosted in a 15,000-seat Arena Burgas which was opened in 2023 and served as a venue for indoor sports and concert events.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◁ Last place--> ◇ Entry selected but did not compete † Upcoming event
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Kaffe "Lorraine" English colspan="2" rowspan="2" 19 49 Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" English 17 36 Elitsa and Stoyan "Water" Bulgarian 5 157 6 146 Deep Zone and Balthazar "DJ, Take Me Away" English colspan="2" rowspan="6" 11 56 Krassimir Avramov "Illusion" English 16 7 Miro "" Bulgarian, English 15 19 Poli Genova "" Bulgarian 12 48 Sofi Marinova "Love Unlimited" Bulgarian 11 45 Elitsa and Stoyan "" Bulgarian 12 45 Poli Genova "If Love Was a Crime" English, Bulgarian 4 307 5 220 Kristian Kostov "Beautiful Mess" English 2 615 1 403 Equinox "Bones" English 14 166 7 177 Victoria ◇ "Tears Getting Sober" ◇ English ◇ colspan="4" Victoria "Growing Up Is Getting Old" English 11 170 3 250 Intelligent Music Project "Intention" English colspan="2" 16 29 Dara "Bangaranga" English 1 516 1 278 Confirmed intention to participate † colspan="2" align="center"
Trivia Selection process YearSelection process with 24 participants (12 in the final) with 24 participants (12 in the final) with 21 participants (12 in the final)EuroBGvision with 56 participants (14 qualified for the finals) (Auditions) with 21 participants (12 in the final) (Finals) with 45 participants (10 qualified for the finals) (Auditions) with 21 participants (12 in the final) (Finals)Internal selection (Artist) with 5 songs (Song) with 19 participants with 22 participants (12 in the final)Internal selection (Artist) with 3 songs (Song) Internal selection with 15 participants (8 in the final) (Artist) with 3 songs (Song)
Hostings
Year Location Venue Presenters Burgas Arena Burgas
Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards