Eurovision advances 10 finalists

Eurovision is back in its elimination phase now — the part where the contest stops being a long rollout and starts becoming a bracket. Tuesday night’s first semi-final in Vienna cut 15 acts down to 10 and locked in the first half of Saturday’s Grand Final field. The names through are Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Serbia and Sweden. The five acts out are Estonia, Georgia, Montenegro, Portugal and San Marino. ### What actually happened in Vienna? Semi-final 1 took place at Wiener Stadthalle on Tuesday, May 12, with 15 competing countries chasing 10 Grand Final places. Two automatic finalists — Italy and Germany — also performed during the show, but they were not in danger of elimination. By the end of the night, the qualifiers were confirmed on the official contest scoreboard. ### Who made it through? (eurovisionworld.com) The survivors were Belgium’s ESSYLA with “Dancing on the Ice,” Croatia’s LELEK with “Andromeda,” Finland’s Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen with “Liekinheitin,” Greece’s Akylas with “Ferto,” Israel’s Noam Bettan with “Michelle,” Lithuania’s Lion Ceccah with “Sólo Quiero Más,” Moldova’s Satoshi with “Viva, Moldova!,” Poland’s ALICJA with “Pray,” Serbia’s LAVINA with “Kraj Mene,” and Sweden’s FELICIA with “My System.” ### Who missed out? Five entries were eliminated: Estonia’s Vanilla Ninja, Georgia’s Bzikebi, Montenegro’s Tamara Živković, Portugal’s Bandidos do Cante and San Marino’s SENHIT. That matters because Eurovision reveals only the qualifiers on the night, not the full ranking, so for now fans know who is in and out, but not who scraped through or who dominated the vote. The detailed points breakdown comes later. (eurovisionworld.com) ### How was the vote decided? This semi-final used the current split-vote setup. The 15 participating countries voted, and so did Germany and Italy, the two pre-qualified finalists assigned to this show. Online “Rest of the World” voting also counted. Each voting country’s jury and televoters awarded the standard Eurovision set of points — 1 through 8, then 10 and 12. ### Why don’t we know the exact scores yet? (eurovisionworld.com) Because Eurovision holds back the detailed semi-final results until after the Grand Final. So the contest has confirmed the qualifiers, but not the full points table or finishing order. That delay is normal — and it keeps some suspense in the market for favorites, borderline qualifiers and possible dark horses heading into Saturday, May 16. ### What changed right after the show? (eurovisionworld.com) The qualifiers immediately drew their Grand Final placement categories. Sweden, Lithuania and Poland landed in the second half. Greece, Belgium and Serbia drew the first half. Finland, Israel, Moldova and Croatia got “Producer’s Choice,” which gives show producers flexibility to place them anywhere in the running order. Italy and Germany also drew Producer’s Choice. ### Why does that draw matter? Running order is one of Eurovision’s quiet power levers. A song placed early has to survive in viewers’ memory for longer. A song placed late can feel fresher. Producer’s Choice is even more important because it lets organizers build pacing — ballad here, chaos there, vocal showcase somewhere else — instead of leaving the whole final to luck. ### What happens next? Semi-final 2 takes place on Thursday, May 14, again in Vienna, and will send another 10 countries into the final. (escxtra.com) Saturday’s Grand Final then brings together the 20 semi-final qualifiers, the host country Austria and the pre-qualified “Big 4” — Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom — for a 25-song final. ### Bottom line Basically, Eurovision 2026 now has its first 10 survivors — and the real shape of Saturday’s final is starting to appear. (escxtra.com) The songs are only half the story. The next semi-final fills the field, and the running order draw will decide how the whole night feels before a single vote is cast. (eurovisionworld.com)