Yesterday Ukraine selected LELÉKA and her song “Ridnym” to represent them at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, bringing the total number of confirmed artists for 2026 to 11. This number will double over the next month, because next weekend we will be entering the season of Super Saturdays: Saturday evenings when three or more countries choose the song they will send to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest in May. This year, there are three of them on the calendar (down from four last year). Here is your guide to all of the upcoming Super Saturdays!
14 February: Estonia, Denmark, Latvia
You could spend Valentine’s Day evening taking your sweetheart out for a romantic dinner – or you could tune in to one (or all!) of the three national finals happening. First is Estonia’s Eesti Laul. At the moment, the two frontrunners in the odds are OLLIE, who is competing in Eesti Laul for the third time after being the runner up in both 2023 and 2024, and Vanilla Ninja, who represented Switzerland at Eurovision in 2005. Another Eurovision alum, Getter Jaani (“Rockefeller Street” in 2011), is also among the 12 competitors. They say that the third time’s the charm, so will this be the year OLLIE is finally chosen to fly the Estonian flag at Eurovision? Or will he add yet another silver medal to his Eesti Laul collection while Vanilla Ninja returns to the Eurovision stage under their home country’s flag? Eesti Laul will air on ETV from 18:30 to 21:55 CET.
After breaking Denmark’s four-year NQ streak last year, Faroese singer Sissal is back again with a new song called “Infinity.” Fans must be very grateful for her success and believe that she can continue to deliver Denmark to the Grand Final, because she is currently leading the odds with an impressive 48% chance of winning. She will compete against seven other artists. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix will air on DR1 from 20:00 to 22:00 CET.
Starting just 10 minutes after Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is Latvia’s National Final, Supernova. After two Semi Finals on the preceding Saturdays, 24 competitors will be reduced to 10 finalists. Emilija with the song “All We Ever Had” currently leads the odds by a large margin at a 34% chance of victory; however, she ranks fourth in Eurovision World’s “who should win” poll, which is led by Atvana with the song “Ēnā.” Supernova will air on LTV1 at 20:10 CET.
28 February: Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Serbia
On the final day of February, six different countries will choose their Eurovision artist and song: twice as many as is required to be considered a Super Saturday. Now that’s what I call supersized! This music-filled evening kicks off with Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix. Nine artists will compete to wave the Norwegian flag in May. Among them are Eurovision winner and two-time alum Alexander Rybak (2009 and 2018) as well as Melodi Grand Prix 2024 competitor Mileo, who was eliminated in the semi finals. He doesn’t need to worry about history repeating itself, though, since Melodi Grand Prix did away with the semi finals this year and instead pre-selected eight artists then held an “MGP Cup” to decide the ninth. Odds are not currently available, but in Eurovision World‘s “who should win” poll both Mileo and Rybak trail slightly behind newcomer eMMa: the teenaged younger sister of Marcus & Martinus, who won Melodifestivalen and represented Sweden in 2024. Melodi Grand Prix will air from 19:45 to 21:45 CET on NRK.
Bulgaria’s selection process works a little differently than the model most countries follow. The most common format involves a final round in which the artist and song are chosen at the same time; for Bulgaria, however, they use the first two rounds to select the artist, then the third round to select that artist’s song. Two shows were held in late January to select one artist out of 15 competitors, and the winner, Dara, was chosen during the second show. She will perform three brand new songs at the final show on 28 February, and a combination of jury and online voting will decide which song she will bring to Eurovision in May. This is similar to VICTORIA’s song selection process back in 2021, when she shared six new songs online and had fans vote on which one she should take to Eurovision. Natsionalna Selektsiya will air at 20:00 CET on BNT and ESCplus.
Next up, seven artists will compete to represent Finland through the 15th edition of their national selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK). If the numbers are to be believed, this year’s UMK is Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen’s to lose with their song “Liekinheitin.” They lead both the odds at a remarkable 66% and the Eurovision World “who should win” poll at 52%. Anything can happen at Eurovision, though, so a dark horse just might snatch their crown! Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu will air from 20:00 to 22:00 CET on YLE.
Germany has changed their song selection a lot over the past five years, with Germany 12 Points in 2022, Unser Lied für Liverpool in 2023, Das deutsche Finale in 2024, and Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland? in 2025. For 2026, they will be giving Das deutsche Finale another go. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’re choosing this show again when the last act chosen through it, ISAAK’s “Always on the Run,” earned Germany’s best Grand Final result since their Top 5 placement in 2018. ISAAK ultimately came in 12th place, so will this year’s Das deutsche Finale victor break the Top 10? Nine artists will be reduced by jury voting to three superfinalists, from which the public will vote for the winner. Das deutsche Finale will take place from 20:15 to 23:15 CET.
Italy’s national select, Sanremo, is even older than Eurovision itself. This massive music festival will take place over five nights starting on 24 February and concluding on 28 February. 30 artists will perform their potential Eurovision entry on the first night, then again on either the second or third night. All 30 artists will then come together again on the fourth night to perform a cover song. Lastly, the competitors will perform their Eurovision song for the third and final time on the fifth night, when just five artists will be chosen to move on to the superfinal from which the winner will be chosen. All five nights of Sanremo will air on Rai1.
Last but not least is Serbia’s Pesma za Evroviziju. Starting on 24 February, a total of 24 artists will be reduced to 14 finalists after two semi finals of 12 artists each. Serbia’s national final follows the same schedule as the Eurovision Song Contest: Semi Final 1 on Tuesday, Semi Final 2 on Thursday, then the Final on Saturday. Odds are not currently available, but at the moment Zejna and her song “Jugoslavija” lead Eurovision World‘s “who should win” poll with 39% of the votes. Drag queen group Harem Girls, who placed second in last year’s Pesma za Evroviziju with their song “Aladin,” has the second most votes (18%). Pesma za Evroviziju will air at 21:00 CET on YouTube.
7 March: Poland, Portugal, Sweden
As one of the most successful countries in Eurovision history, Sweden doesn’t mess around when it comes to selecting their Eurovision entry. Their national final, Melodifestivalen, is an over-one-month long affair across five “heats” of six artists each. The first two heats have already concluded, with four acts advancing to the final round. Heat 5, which will take place on 28 February, is of particular interest, with the lineup including Eurovision alum Sanna Nielsen (“Undo” in 2014) as well as American Song Contest winner and K-pop singer AleXa. Some other notable participants are rock band Smash Into Pieces, who placed third in both Melodifestivalen 2023 and 2024, and 90’s europop group A*Teens, who started out as a tribute band for legendary Eurovision winners ABBA. Melodifestivalen will air from 20:00 to 22:00 CET on SVT Play.
Like Germany, Poland has experimented with both internal selections and a variety of different national finals over the past few years. This year, they will be selecting their artist via Wielki Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji for the second year in a row. Among the eight competitors is Alicja Szemplińska (known by the mononym Alicja), who was set to represent Poland with her song “Empires” in 2020 but the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She attempted to return again in 2023 by competing in Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję!, but ultimately came in sixth place. Wielki Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji will air at 20:45 CET on TVP. The winner will be announced the following morning on the show “Pytanie na Śniadanie.”
Super Saturday season will conclude with Portugal’s Festival da Canção – another national final with a long history. This year, two semi finals of eight artists each will take place on 21 and 28 February with each sending five acts to the final in March. However, the winner of Festival da Canção will not necessarily represent Portugal at Eurovision: of the 16 competitors, all but two (André Amaro and Bandidos do Conte) have opted out of participating in Eurovision if they win. So, unless one of these two artists wins, it will be up to Portuguese broadcaster RTP to choose their act for Eurovision. Festival da Canção will air at 22:00 CET on RTP1.
