The sixteenth season of the talent show The Voice of Germany premiered on 11 September 2026 and is broadcast by the local television stations ProSieben and Sat.1.
Nico Santos, Shirin David, Rea Garvey, and duo Michi & Smudo all returned from the previous season for their fourth, third, ninth, and seventh seasons as coaches, respectively.
Thore Schölermann departed the show after serving as host for fourteen seasons. He was replaced by Matthias Killing, who joined Melissa Khalaj as co-host.
Panelists Coaches
On 27 April 2026, it was announced that Nico Santos, Shirin David, Rea Garvey, and Michi & Smudo would all return from the previous season. This marked the second time that the coaching panel had remained unchanged for more than two consecutive seasons, following season 2. It also marked the first time since the second season that no new coach joined the panel. Calum Scott did not return for the Comeback Stage.
Hosts Thore Schölermann was announced to depart the series after his fourteenth season. Melissa Khalaj returned for her fifth full-time season as host, with Matthias Killing joining to co-host with her following Schölermann's departure. Schölermann made a brief appearance in the first episode where he was "coaching" Killing how to present.
Teams
+ Teams color key Winner Sixth place Runner-up Seventh place Third place Eliminated in the Live shows Fourth place Eliminated in the Teamfights Fifth place Eliminated in the Battle rounds
+ Coaching teams Coaches Top 72 Artists Rea Garvey Lisa Aithnard Bianca Basler Ruben Claro Julia Vieregge Abby Vogue Stefanie Friess Katiuska McLean Jessica Movahed Fard Isabelle Trittel Anthony Bauer Margo Junique Luca-Marie Schiavo Maja Atzmüller Michi & Smudo Stephanie Joan Lingard Nicole Hagedorn Butch Williams Timo Görnhardt Bastian "Pelle" Franz Ardina Petre Kaye Nover Dozy Jane Emrecan Arpaci May Feiler Joachim Kenneweg Marvin Hollederer Kati Karney Emily Beadle Mel Vadouniotis Shirin David Paul Huber Tom Bushin Can Dean Hank Emma Powda Maxime Swinkels Isabel Hernández Benjamin Bieck Aylin Basar Mila Bouzid Daniel Del Castillo Jessica Paulo Laila Nöth Diogo Rosa Nico Santos Paul Nadler Emma Josephine Stappenbeck Beatriz Simöes Daris Soul-Food Vocalist Joe Jäger Andy Zimmer Tim & Mara Janis Eric Thommen Zayed Joel Undine Lux Marika Bjorn Shabanaga Leon Gerstner Anthony Uyumaz
Blind Auditions The Blind Auditions beegan broadcasting on 11 September 2026, and is broadcast every Friday on Sat.1 and every Saturday on ProSieben. Each coach has three blocks to prevent another coach from receiving an artist and one joker to further convince an artist to elect them as their coach.
For the fourth time the four coaches performed separately. In the second episode, each coach performed one of their songs, Nico Santos performed "Ray of Light". Shirin David followed his performance with "Juicy Money". Rea Garvey then performed "Take This Heart" and Michi & Smudo performed last with "MFG"
+ Blind auditions color key ✔ Coach hit his/her "I WANT YOU" button Artist defaulted to this coach's team Artist elected to join this coach's team Artist was eliminated with no coach pressing their button Artist received an 'All Turn'. Coach used Joker on this artist Artist is an 'Allstar' contestant ✘ Coach pressed "I WANT YOU" button, but was blocked by another coach from getting the artist: Blocked by Rea Blocked by Michi & Smudo Blocked by Shirin Blocked by Nico
+ Blind auditions results Episode Order Artist Age Song Coach's and artist's choices Rea Michi & Smudo Shirin Nico Episode 1 1 Lisa Aithnard 30 "Nothing's Real But Love" ✔ – ✘ ✔ 2 Paul Nadler 32 "Talking to the Moon" – ✔ ✔ ✔ 3 Marcel Häringer 39 "Here Without You" – – – – 4 Bianca Basler 28 "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ 5 Ruben Claro 37 "The Ballroom Blitz" ✔ ✔ – – 6 Oliver Schmitt 55 "Delilah" – – – – 7 Emma Josephine Stappenbeck 23 "Empire State of Mind" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 8 Florian Knak 24 "Bauch und Kopf" – – – – 9 Stephanie Joan Lingard 43 "I See Red" – ✔ ✔ – 10 Rossano Gerhartz 17 "Vampire" – – – – 11 Julia Vieregge 41 "I'm with You" ✔ – – ✔ Episode 2 1 Paul Huber 21 "T.N.T." ✘ ✔ ✔ – 2 Tom Bushin 31 "Skinny Love" – ✔ ✔ – 3 Viktoria Wieser 25 "What's Up?" – – – – 4 Abby Vogue 33 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ✔ ✔ – ✔ 5 Giovanni Lombardo 33 "Gloria" – – – – 6 Beatriz Simöes 33 "If I Were a Boy" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 7 Savin Place 28 & 29 "Follow Me" – – – – 8 Nicole Hagedorn 51 "Der Weg" – ✔ – – 9 Can Dean 29 "Love U Anyway" – ✔ ✔ ✔ 10 Hank 46 "Broken Vow" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Episode 3 1 Darwin "Daris" Sanchez Pereyra 26 "Tití Me Preguntó" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 Butch Williams 67 "Love's Divine" – ✔ – ✔ 3 Lara Vaupel 23 "Nemo" – – – – 4 Timo Görnhardt 24 "Blauer Ballon" ✔ ✔ – – 5 Emma Powda 26 "Escapism" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 6 Kilian Schmitt 22 "Heartache Tonight" – – – – 7 Maxime Swinkels 22 "Helium" ✔ – ✔ – 8 Sarah Karabatic 23 "Sk8er Boi" – – – – 9 Stefanie Friess 48 "Winter" ✔ ✔ – – 10 Frederic Levi 24 "Bad Dreams" – – – – 11 Soul-Food Vocalist 33, 57, 37 & 39 "Caruso" ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ Episode 4 1 Isabel Hernández 39 "Llorarás" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 Leroy Erxleben 19 "Schön genug" – – – – 3 Joe Jäger 19 "Drops of Jupiter" ✔ ✔ – ✔ 4 Andy Zimmer 29 "Simple Man" – ✔ – ✔ 5 Gloria Paletta 17 "I Kissed a Girl" – – – – 6 Bastian "Pelle" Franz 32 "Du schreibst Geschichte" ✔ ✔ – – 7 Tim & Mara 33 & 25 "Happy Ever After You" ✔ ✔ – ✔ 8 Simon Loughton 37 "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" – – – – 9 Katiuska McLean 48 "Skyfall" ✔ – – – 10 Tommy Morgenstern 52 "Dear Mr. President" – – – – 11 Janis Eric Thommen 25 "Hymne à l'amour" ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ Episode 5 1 Zayed 21 "One and Only" – ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 Ardina Petre 27 "Anxiety" – ✔ – ✘ 3 Simone Olivetti 36 "Laura non c'è" – – – – 4 Reiner Reisdorf 65 "Streets of London" – – – – 5 Benjamin Bieck 16 "Barfuß am Klavier" – ✔ ✔ ✘ 6 Jessica Movahed Fard 38 "River" ✔ ✔ – – 7 Aylin Basar 19 "Die on This Hill" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 8 Kevin Manthei 35 "Sophia Loren" – – – – 9 Kaye Nover 36 "Wicked Game" – ✔ – – 10 Lena Bronckhorst 27 "Someone like You" – – – – 11 Joel 31 "Ballerina" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Episode 6 1 Isabelle Trittel 29 "Love You I Do" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 Andre Berres 27 "Tears Don't Fall" – – – – 3 Undine Lux 38 "Ich liebe das Leben" – ✔ – ✔ 4 Ben Müller 31 "Unchain My Heart" – – – – 5 Dozy Jane 34 "Stop!" ✔ ✔ ✘ – 6 Elijah Peiler 23 "Riding to New York" – – – – 7 Marika 33 "Lila Wolken" ✔ ✔ – ✔ 8 Emrecan Arpaci 40 "Dostun Gül Cemali" ✔ ✔ – – 9 Yvonne Herrmann 40 "You Shook Me All Night Long" – – – – 10 Anthony Bauer 54 "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" ✔ – – – 11 Mila Bouzid 32 "No Tears Left to Cry" – – ✔ ✔ 12 Jason Bauer 24 "Stand by Me" – – – – Episode 7 1 Daniel Del Castillo 26 "Beyond the Sea" – ✔ ✔ – 2 May Feiler 56 "Wind Beneath My Wings" ✔ ✔ – – 3 JP Storm 31 "Human" – – – – 4 Bjorn Shabanaga 19 "Human Nature" ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ 5 Vivien Raquel Pigulla 30 "110 (Prolog)" – – – – 6 Margo Junique 19 "Slipping Through My Fingers" ✔ – – – 7 Joachim Kenneweg 26 "Eisberg" – ✔ ✔ ✔ 8 Jonas & Frederik 27 & 25 "Stick Season" – – – – 9 Luca-Marie Schiavo 22 "The Climb" ✔ ✔ – – 10 Raul Wessely 33 "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" – – – – 11 Marvin Hollederer 34 "Regen und Meer" – ✔ – – 12 Adisa Schäfer 36 "Try Again" – – – – 13 Jessica Paulo 20 "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ Episode 8 1 Maja Atzmüller 21 "Piece of My Heart" ✔ – – – 2 Tom Mostert 21 "Primadonna" – – – – 3 Laila Nöth 31 "Männer sind Schweine" – – ✔ ✔ 4 Ramon Nischwitz 21 "Survive" – – – – 5 Kati Karney 53 "Saving All My Love for You" – ✔ – – 6 Leon Gerstner 25 "Mamma Mia" ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 7 Patrick Keil 39 "Dein ist min ganzs Herz" – – – – 8 Emily Beadle 19 "We Are the Champions" – ✔ – – 9 Diogo Rosa 22 "Careless Whisper" ✔ – ✔ – 10 Alina Sebastian 28 "Need You Now" – – – – 11 Mel Vardouniotis 25 "Crazy in Love" ✔ ✔ – ✘ 12 Judith Harke 40 "Ja" – – – – 13 Anthony Uyumaz 25 "U Got It Bad" – ✔ – ✔ Episode 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Rea attempted to use his joker, however Shirin had already blocked him. Shirin originally blocked Nico, but later took it back and the block was removed making Nico eligible to be picked Following Raul Wessely's audition, host Melissa Khalaj performed "Man I Need". Nico willingly turned his chair while Khalaj pressed the button for Shirin, Michi & Smudo, and Rea, respectively. Michi & Smudo tried to turn for Marvin at the last second; however, their button did not activate. Nonetheless, during comments, they were allowed to acquire him for their team.
Contestants who appeared on other TV shows or previous seasons All-star contestants Butch Williams competed in the inaugural season as part of The BossHoss' team and was eliminated in the battles. Katiuska McLean competed in the tenth season as part of Samu Haber & Rea Garvey's team and was eliminated in the battles. Joel competed in the eleventh season under his real name Joel Zupan as part of Sarah Connor's team and was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Marika competed in the tenth season under her real name Maria Nicolaides as part of Yvonne Catterfeld & Stefanie Kloß's team and was eliminated in the sing-offs. Mel Vadouniotis competed in the seventh season under Melvin Vardouniotis and as part of Yvonne Catterfeld's team and was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Other TV shows Emma Powda previously competed in the inaugural season of The Voice Kids as part of Lena Meyer-Landrut's team and was eliminated in the battles. Leroy Erxleben previously competed in the eighth season of The Voice Kids as part of Deine Freunde's team and finished as a finalist. Soul-Food Vocalist appeared in the first season of The Voice Generations Italy as part of Gigi D'Alessio's team and finished as a finalist.
References