Vienna has been chosen to host Eurovision 2026, the world's largest live music event on television, Austrian public broadcaster ORF has announced.

Austrian JJ won this year's contest, held in Basel, Switzerland, with his hit "Wasted Love," which combines techno beats with opera vocals, making his country the host of the 2026 contest.

Vienna, which has already hosted the glitzy television show in 1967 and 2015, beat its rival Innsbruck, the capital of the western province of Tyrol, to host the contest next year, public broadcaster ORF announced.

The final of the 70th edition of Eurovision will take place on May 16, 2026, at the Wiener Stadthalle, Austria's largest indoor arena, with the semi-finals scheduled for May 12 and 14, Eurovision announced, according to AFP.

Since its launch in 1955, Eurovision has become the biggest pop platform, launching Swedish icons ABBA to global fame and promoting artists such as Celine Dion, Cliff Richard, and Olivia Newton-John.

Around 166 million viewers in 37 countries watched this year's contest, with a record 60% of viewers aged between 15 and 24. The contest received even more views on Instagram and TikTok.

The show has often been controversial, with pro-Palestinian activists staging protests during the extravagant concert in Switzerland in May after Eurovision allowed Israel, which came second, to take part in the contest despite the devastating war in Gaza.

Immediately after his victory, JJ, whose real name is Johannes Piec, called in an interview for Israel to be excluded from next year's contest, sparking a storm of criticism in Austria, which is a staunch supporter of Israel.

The 24-year-old JJ tried to calm the controversy by saying through his record company Warner that he was "sorry if his comments were misinterpreted."

The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which won last year's election but failed to form a government, described Eurovision as a "weird, left-wing, woke show" and criticized Vienna for wanting to host the contest despite the high costs.

Basel has allocated nearly $40 million to organize the contest.

Under the slogan "Europe, shall we dance?", Vienna, better known for its classical music and Baroque architecture, is vying to host the contest, citing its experience with major events.

It also highlighted its "enormous" accommodation capacity, "excellent" transport links, and "cosmopolitanism," with two million people living in the Austrian capital.

The chosen venue, the Wiener Stadthalle, hosted Eurovision in 2015, after Conchita Wurst won the contest the previous year.

Located in the center of Vienna, the hall was opened in 1958 and has 16,000 seats in its main hall.

When Vienna last hosted Eurovision, traffic lights showing same-sex and opposite-sex couples instead of a single figure were installed in the city, which proved so popular that the authorities decided to keep them permanently. | BGNES