Eurovision is coming to Asia and Bangkok will host the very first edition: Which countries are participating?

Dubai: One of the world's most beloved music competitions is heading east.

The Eurovision Song Contest is launching its first ever Asia edition in 2026, with Bangkok confirmed as the host city and the grand final set to take place on 14 November.

It is a significant moment for a contest that has been running for 70 years and has never before expanded into a full multi-country Asian competition.

For anyone who has not come across it before, Eurovision is the world's longest running international music competition, first held in 1956. Every year, countries from across Europe send a representative act to compete on a single stage, performing original songs that are then voted on by music experts and the public.

The contest has launched some of music's biggest names, including ABBA and Celine Dion, and last year alone drew around 163 million viewers worldwide. It is loud, colourful, occasionally outlandish, and completely irresistible.

With 2026 marking Eurovision's 70th anniversary, organisers at the European Broadcasting Union felt the timing was right to open a new chapter. Asia was a natural choice.

The region has one of the most passionate music cultures in the world, fuelled by rising incomes, thriving social media and a young audience that has grown up on K-pop, karaoke and homegrown pop movements like Thailand's T-Wind. Global music labels have been investing heavily in the continent, and collaborations between Asian and Western artists have been growing steadily.

Martin Green, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest at the EBU, said it felt "especially meaningful" to expand into Asia at this milestone, describing the region as "rich in culture, creativity and talent."

Ten countries have already confirmed their participation, with more expected to be announced in the coming months:

Notably absent for now are major markets like China, Japan and India, though the door remains open for more countries to join. Social media has already been buzzing with excitement, with fans from across the region making the case for their home countries.

Following the same format that has made the original contest so popular, each participating broadcaster will hold its own national selection process to choose their entry before the grand final in Bangkok. Thailand's Channel 3 will serve as the host broadcaster, organising the event alongside the EBU, Los Angeles-based entertainment company Voxovation and Thailand-based S2O Productions.

The contest's website states that every vote will count and that the event will be a celebration of original pop music. As with the original Eurovision, performers are expected to sing live with original songs, though the exact rules for the Asia edition are still to be confirmed in full.

The Thai capital was a fitting choice for a contest built on cultural diversity and creative exchange. It is a city where tradition and contemporary expression exist side by side, and where music, nightlife and celebration are genuinely part of everyday life. Eurovision Asia will represent more than 600 million people across the participating countries, and with no comparable pan-Asian platform currently in existence, it has the potential to become one of the region's biggest entertainment events almost immediately.

Yes, though not always successfully. In 2022, it launched the American Song Contest, covering all 50 US states and hosted by Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson. Despite the star power, it struggled with viewership and was not renewed for a second year. There have also been multiple attempts to create an Asian version of the contest since the 2000s, none of which got off the ground.

Organisers will be hoping this edition sticks. Given Asia's extraordinary appetite for music and competition, the conditions feel right.

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.