Serbia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 by the song "", written by members of the band Lavina, namely Andrija Cvetanović, Bojan Ilić, , Nikola Petrović, Pavle Aranđelović and Pavle Samardžić, alongside Ivan Jegdić, and performed by Lavina. The Serbian participating broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest.

Background

Prior to the 2026 contest, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Serbia seventeen times since its first entry in , winning the contest with its debut entry "" performed by Marija Šerifović. Since then, 13 out of the 17 total Serbian entries have featured in the final with RTS failing to qualify in , , , and most recently in , when "" performed by Princ placed 14th in its semi-final, Serbia's worst result to date.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to determine its entries throughout the years. Between 2007 and 2009, RTS used the national final, but after its 2009 entry failed to qualify to the final, the broadcaster shifted its selection strategy to selecting specific composers to create songs for artists. After a successful internal selection in , in 2013 RTS returned to an open national final format, titled Beosong, but it failed to qualify to the final. After reverting to internal selection in and 2017, it returned to use the national final between and , managing to qualify to the final in both 2018 and 2019, with Eurovision having been cancelled in 2020. In , RTS returned to organising a national final under the name , with this format being used every year since.

On 27 May 2025, RTS confirmed its commitment to not withdraw from the contest. On 15 September 2025, RTS announced its intention to select its entry through .

Before Eurovision

The fifth edition of was organised by RTS in order to select its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. It marked the first edition of the format without the involvement of , who was removed from the role of supervisor after she allowed participants of the 2025 edition to make statements supporting the Serbian anti-corruption protests during the shows; she was replaced by Uroš Marković.

Semi-finals

The first semi-final took place on 24 February 2026. "Unseen" performed by , "" performed by Zejna, "" performed by Yanx, "" performed by , "" performed by , "" performed by Mirna and "" performed by advanced to the final, while "" performed by , "" performed by Makao, "" performed by Manivi, "" performed by and "" performed by Đurđica were eliminated from the contest. The second semi-final took place on 26 February 2026. "" performed by Geminni, "" performed by , "" performed by , "" performed by Lu-Ka, "" performed by Lavina, "" performed by and "" performed by Harem Girls and advanced to the final, while "" performed by , "" performed by , "" performed by , "" performed by Avgust and "" performed by were eliminated from the contest.

Final

The final took place on 28 February 2026. The winner was selected based on the 50/50 combination of votes from five jurors and from a public televote. The winner was "", written by members of Lavina, Andrija Cvetanović, Bojan Ilić, Luka Aranđelović, Nikola Petrović, Pavle Aranđelović and Pavle Samardžić alongside Ivan Jegdić, and performed by Lavina. +Final28 February 2026ArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace1 Brat Pelin ""4101442 Lores "Unseen"62863 Jack Lupino "" 011134 Ana Mašulović "" 2 02125 Harem Girls and Ivana "" 781536 Iva Grujin "" 044107 Kosmos trip "" 05588 Zejna "" 1061629 Geminni "" 0331110 Lu-Ka "" 5059 11 Lavina "" 121224112 Yanx ""808713 Zona "" 3710514 Mirna ""10114

Promotion

As part of the promotion of their participation in the contest, Lavina attended Eurovision in Concert on 11 April 2026 and PzE Afterparty on 22 April 2026. Lavina also released two additional versions of their Eurovision entry , an English languaged version, a symphonic version with the RTS symphonic orchestra and choir, as well as a cover of "In My Dreams" by Wig Wam.

Additionally, Lavina visited the Austrian embassy in Belgrade on 24 April 2026, and the Serbian embassy in Vienna on 5 May 2026 in the lead-up to the contest.

At Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 took place at the in Vienna, Austria, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2026. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. On 12 January 2026, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country performed in; the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. Serbia was scheduled for the second half of the first semi-final. The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; Serbia was set to perform in position 15.

In Serbia, RTS broadcast all shows on RTS 1 and RTS Svet with commentary by Duška Vučinić, as well as the first semi-final and final on with an unknown commentator.

Performance Lavina took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. The performance was directed by Milica Mikić Soldatović, who also directed Serbia's performances in 2024 and 2025.

Semi-final Serbia performed in position 15, closing the show, following the entry from . Serbia qualified for the final.

Final Serbia performed in the first half of the final. They finished in 17th place.

Voting

Points awarded to Serbia

+ Points awarded to Serbia (Semi-final 1) Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded to Serbia (Final) Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Serbia

+ Points awarded by Serbia (Semi-final 1) Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded by Serbia (Final) Score Televote Jury 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Detailed voting results Each participating broadcaster assembles a seven-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent and two of which have to be between 18 and 25 years old. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. No member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following members comprised the Serbian jury: Jelena Tomašević Aleksandra Kovač

Ivan Mileusnić Mateja Blažić

+ Country Jury Televote Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Juror 6 Juror 7 Rank Points Rank Points 01 9 5 1 2 5 11 3 4 7 4 7 02 11 9 11 10 9 7 6 11 10 1 03 7 4 10 11 10 12 10 9 2 1 12 04 4 1 2 6 1 4 1 2 10 3 8 05 6 12 4 4 6 3 13 6 5 12 06 13 14 13 14 14 13 12 14 14 07 5 6 7 8 7 10 9 8 3 6 5 08 8 7 9 12 11 5 11 10 1 2 10 09 3 8 5 5 13 2 5 5 6 9 2 10 1 3 6 1 2 1 2 1 12 5 6 11 10 10 8 7 3 8 4 7 4 13 12 12 11 14 9 12 14 14 13 8 3 13 14 13 12 13 8 9 7 12 11 14 2 2 3 3 4 6 8 3 8 7 4 15 + Country Jury Televote Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Juror F Juror G Rank Points Rank Points 01 5 9 2 1 6 7 11 5 6 11 02 21 15 15 19 17 15 16 19 19 03 9 19 1 2 8 5 6 7 4 7 4 04 13 16 9 9 12 14 10 13 23 05 22 6 22 24 16 22 17 15 10 1 06 2 3 10 7 2 1 3 1 12 3 8 07 20 18 18 14 20 23 15 20 20 08 4 12 6 10 11 11 7 9 2 8 3 09 10 12 1 4 12 1 6 1 3 8 18 11 16 24 16 15 21 18 20 21 16 12 6 2 7 11 5 3 2 4 7 2 10 13 3 14 23 13 10 10 14 12 1 12 14 23 22 21 23 23 19 24 24 22 15 14 13 12 16 9 17 12 14 12 16 10 7 17 6 7 8 4 8 3 6 5 17 11 4 19 8 19 9 13 11 9 2 18 8 8 11 4 14 12 9 10 1 17 19 24 21 24 17 24 21 23 23 21 20 17 20 8 18 18 16 19 16 15 21 18 10 13 22 15 20 22 17 13 22 1 5 5 3 3 4 5 2 10 5 6 23 7 11 3 5 4 2 8 6 5 14 24 19 17 20 20 22 24 21 22 4 7 25 15 23 14 21 13 13 18 18 24

Controversy The Serbian jury votes in the final faced backlash on Serbian and Croatian social media. While the Croatian jury awarded 12 points to Serbia, the Serbian jury did not award Croatia any points (the Serbian televote awarded 12 points to Croatia regardless). One of the jury members, Jelena Tomašević, later apologized and explained that she put Croatia high in her ranking. Additionally, there was backlash for the points awarded to Israel by the Serbian jury. The jury chairperson, Aleksandra Kovač, defended the vote of the jury, stating that their votes represented their own views, and were not related to any political considerations. Because of this, Kovač faced backlash, which led her to turn off comments on her Instagram account. Lores, a member of the jury, defended her involvement, stating that "she used only the musical criteria and personal affinities" when voting. The juries were also criticized by the Konstrakta and Kovač's sister Kristina Kovač, both referring to Kovač's remark about the political considerations.

Ratings +Viewing figures by show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Serbia Show Air date 12 May 20261,100,000 470,000 19.8% ( 0.7%) 14 May 2026 350,000 13.9% ( 0.5%) Final 16 May 2026 1,400,000 575,000 36.3% ( 21.3%)

References