Vienna has been chosen to host the Eurovision song contest 2026, the world’s biggest live televised music event, Austria’s public broadcaster announced, with the final set for 16 May.
Austria’s JJ won this year’s competition, held in Basel in Switzerland, with his song Wasted Love, which blends techno beats with operatic vocals – making his home country the 2026 host.
Vienna, which previously hosted the glitzy TV extravaganza in 1967 and 2015, edged out Innsbruck, the capital of western Tirol province, to stage next year’s contest, the public broadcaster ORF announced on Wednesday.
The final of Eurovision’s 70th edition will be held at the Wiener Stadthalle, Austria’s largest indoor arena, with semi-finals set for 12 and 14 May, Eurovision said.
Since its launch in 1955, Eurovision has become the ultimate pop platform, catapulting the Swedish group Abba to worldwide fame, as well as boosting the likes of Céline Dion, Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John.
About 166 million viewers in 37 countries watched this year’s contest, with a record 60% of viewers aged 15 to 24 tuning in. The competition got even more views on Instagram and TikTok.
The show has often drawn controversy, with pro-Palestinian activists staging protests in Switzerland in May after Eurovision allowed Israel – who was runner-up – to participate in the contest despite the devastating Gaza war.
After his win, JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, in an interview called for Israel to be excluded from next year’s competition, sparking a storm of criticism in Austria, a staunch supporter of Israel.
JJ, 24, has since sought to defuse the controversy, saying via his record label, Warner, that he was “sorry if his comments had been misinterpreted”.
Austria’s far-right Freedom party, which came top in elections for the first time last year but failed to form a government, has described Eurovision as a “queer, leftwing, woke spectacle” and criticised Vienna for wanting to stage it despite the high costs.
Basel put up nearly $40m (£30m) to host the contest.
Under the slogan “Europe, shall we dance?”, Vienna – more commonly known for classical music and the baroque splendour of its architecture – pushed to host the contest, citing its experience with big events.
It also touted its “enormous” accommodation capacities, its “excellent” transport links, and its “cosmopolitanism”, with 2 million people living in the Austrian capital.
The the Wiener Stadthalle hosted Eurovision in 2015, after the previous year’s edition was won by the drag performer Conchita Wurst. Located in central Vienna, it opened in 1958 and seats 16,000 people in its main hall.
When Vienna last hosted the Eurovision contest, the city installed traffic lights showing same-sex and heterosexual couples instead of a single figure – which proved so popular that authorities decided to keep them for good.