Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Albania is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the song "Nân", written by Alis Kallaçi and Desara Gjini, and performed by Alis himself. The Albanian participating broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), selected its entry through its national selection competition Festivali i Këngës.

Prior to the 2026 contest, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Albania 21 times since its first entry in 2004. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been fifth place, which was achieved in 2012 with the song "Suus" performed by Rona Nishliu. It accomplished its second-highest placement wat its first appearance in 2004, with the song "The Image of You" performed by Anjeza Shahini, finishing seventh. During its tenure in the contest, the nation failed to qualify for the final eight times. At the prior year's contest, it qualified to the final, after placing second in the semi-final with the song "Zjerm" performed by Shkodra Elektronike.^[1]

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTSH broadcasts the event in Albania and organises Festivali i Këngës, an annual music competition which has been consistently used as its national selection format for the contest since its 2004 debut.^[1] On 10 June 2025, RTSH confirmed its intention to participate in the 2026 contest, and that Festivali i Këngës would select its entry.^[2]

The Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 was selected during the 64th edition of Festivali i Këngës, an annual music competition in Albania organised by RTSH at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. The event took place between 17 and 20 December 2025 and was hosted by Arilena Ara and Salsano Rrapi.^[3][4] The broadcaster opened an application period for interested artists and composers to submit their applications on 1 September 2025, lasting until 30 September 2025,^[5] and ultimately selected 28 contestants.^[6]

The final took place on 20 December 2025. The winner, "Nân" by Alis, was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from a seven-member jury and a public televote.^[7]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, and consist 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, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final will progress 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 will perform 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.^[9] Albania was scheduled for the second half of the second semi-final.^[10]