Malta was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the song "", written by Aidan Cassar, Joep van den Boom and Sarah Bonnici, and performed by Aidan himself. The Maltese participating broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), organised the national final Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2026 to select its entry for the contest.

Background

Prior to the 2026 contest, the Maltese Broadcasting Authority (MBA) until 1975, and the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) since 1991, have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Malta thirty-seven times since MBA's first entry in 1971. MBA briefly competed in the contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years, while PBS competed in every contest since their return in 1991. Their best placing in the contest so far is second, which it achieved on two occasions; with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco, and in with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In , "Serving" performed by Miriana Conte qualified to the final and placed 17th.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, PBS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2026 contest on 29 May 2025. Since 2022, PBS has selected its entry through a national final procedure called Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC), a method that will be continued for its 2026 participation.

Before Eurovision Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2026 Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2026 was the national final format developed by PBS to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 15 and 17 January 2026, respectively, at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. Both shows were hosted by Keane Cutajar, Destiny Chukunyere (who won Junior Eurovision 2015 and represented ) and Gaia Cauchi (who won Junior Eurovision 2013). The competition was broadcast live on TVM as well as on TVM+ with Maltese sign language interpretation and lyrics, as well as on the broadcaster's streaming service TVMi. The final was also broadcast on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel.

Format The competition consisted of eighteen songs competing in the semi-final on 15 January 2026 where the top twelve entries qualified to compete in the final on 17 January 2026. Ten judges and the public via televoting evaluated the songs during the shows, both of which had an equal stake (50%) in the final result. Ties in the final results were broken based on the entry which received the higher score from the public. The ten members of the jury that evaluated the entries during the semi-final and final consisted of:

Kevin Abela (Malta) – Orchestrator, arranger and director Andreas Anastasiou (Cyprus) – International relations officer of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) Joseph Chetcuti (Malta) – Television producer, musician and lawyer Russell Davies (United Kingdom) – Organiser of the London Eurovision Party Ramona Depares (Malta) – Journalist and cultural critic Elaine Falzon (Malta) – Cultural manager Felix Häring (Germany) – Member of OGAE Germany Ersin Parlak (Turkey) – Assistant of the Sammarinese delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest Ozzy Lino (Malta) – Singer-songwriter Alexia Souferi (Greece) – International television and media executive at Antenna Group

Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 17 and 23 November 2025. Songwriters from any nationality were able to submit songs as long as the artist (at least half of the lead vocalists for groups or duos) and one of the songwriters per entry were Maltese or possessed Maltese citizenship. A songwriting camp called the MESC Music Exchange Camp was held between 15 and 24 June 2025 in order to create songs to be submitted for the competition, with up to 80 songs eventually created in the camp. 18 semi-finalist entries were selected and announced during a special programme aired on TVM, hosted by Daniel Testa (who represented ) and Ylenia Spiteri, on 1 December 2025. Artist Song Songwriters Adria Twins "" Aidan "" Chess Galea "Shout It Out" Denise "Trophy" Ema "Achikuku (Don't Think About It)" Franklin Calleja "Guide You Home" Janice Mangion "" Kelsie Borg "Let a Girl Breathe" Kelsy Attard "Perfectly Broken" Kurt Anthony "On the Borderline" Liston "" Mark Anthony Bartolo "" Matt Blxck " (The Flute)" Matthew Cilia and the AfterParty "Brutality Mentality" Mychael Bartolo Chircop "My Sweet Angel" Nathan Psaila "" Rhiannon Micallef "Hold Myself Up" Stefan Galea "Pose"

Semi-final The semi-final took place on 15 January 2026. Eighteen songs competed for twelve qualifying spots in the final. The running order was announced on 13 January 2026. The interval act of the show featured performances by Gaia Cauchi, Tommy Cash, who represented , the Mużika Mużika 2025 winner Jamie Cardona, and musician Ivan Grech. + Semi-final – 15 January 2026 Artist SongResult 1 Aidan "" Qualified 2 Ema "Achikuku (Don't Think About It)" Qualified 3 Chess Galea "Shout It Out" 4 Liston "" 5 Franklin Calleja "Guide You Home" Qualified 6 Kelsy Attard "Perfectly Broken" 7 Matthew Cilia and the AfterParty "Brutality Mentality" Qualified 8 Mark Anthony Bartolo "" Qualified 9 Denise "Trophy" Qualified 10 Kurt Anthony "On the Borderline" 11 Rhiannon Micallef "Hold Myself Up" 12 Stefan Galea "Pose" 13 Matt Blxck " (The Flute)" Qualified 14 Adria Twins "" Qualified 15 Kelsie Borg "Let a Girl Breathe" Qualified 16 Mychael Bartolo Chircop "My Sweet Angel" Qualified 17 Janice Mangion "" Qualified 18 Nathan Psaila "" Qualified

Final The final took place on 17 January 2026. The twelve entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the 50/50 combination of votes of a ten-member jury panel and the results of public televoting determined the winner. The interval act of the show featured performances by co-host Destiny Chukunyere, Eliza Borg (who represented ), Baby Lasagna (who represented ), Miriana Conte (who represented ) and the band Scream Daisy. After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "" performed by Aidan was the winner. +Final – 17 January 2026ArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace1Janice Mangion""231134102Kelsie Borg"Let a Girl Breathe"141731113Matt Blxck" (The Flute)"6820026824Denise"Trophy"45267165Nathan Psaila""15233896Ema"Achikuku (Don't Think About It)"52126477Franklin Calleja"Guide You Home"31124388Mychael Bartolo Chircop"My Sweet Angel"676913639Mark Anthony Bartolo""751287410Aidan""113170283111Matthew Cilia and the AfterParty"Brutality Mentality"701484512Adria Twins""7142112

+ Detailed jury votesSong scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "" 2 2 1 3 4 3 62 23 2 "Let a Girl Breathe" 2 462 14 3 " (The Flute)"4 7 8 78812536 68 4 "Trophy" 55 4 4 5 4 10143 45 5 "" 312 1215 15 6 "Achikuku (Don’t Think About It)" 6 3 3 8 3 5 7881 52 7 "Guide You Home" 1 4 561 1 274 31 8 "My Sweet Angel" 8 6 10 2 7 10 36510 67 9 ""10106106610107 75 10 "" 12 12 121212 125121212 113 11 "Brutality Mentality"787510 7 8378 70 12 ""2 14 7

Ratings + Viewing figures by show Show Date Viewership Share(%) Semi-final 15 January 2026 185,00085% Final 17 January 2026 275,00090%

Promotion To promote his entry, Aidan went on a promotional tour of Europe. He performed in various Eurovision 2026-related events including the Lithuanian national final, the Melodifestivalen final pre-party (the Swedish national final) and more.

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. Malta was scheduled for the second half of the second semi-final.

Voting

Points awarded to Malta

+ Points awarded to Malta (Semi-final 2) 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 Malta (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 Malta

+ Points awarded by Malta (Semi-final 2) 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 Malta (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 Maltese jury: Kevin Abela Mychael Bartolo Chircop Sigmund Mifsud Stephen Mintoff Andrea Frendo Julia Cassar Giselle Calleja

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

References

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