Bhutan in the Eurovision Song Contest Asia
| Bhutan in the Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) | |||
| Country |  Bhutan | |||
| Selection process | Rhythm of Bhutan | |||
| Selection date | 11 August 2026 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Lhayi Semo" | |||
| Artist | Nyendra | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Bhutan is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 with the song "Lhayi Semo", written by Lungten Wangchuk and Thukten Nyendra, and performed by Nyendra himself. The Bhutanese participating broadcaster, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), selected its entry for the contest through a national final.
Before Eurovision Asia
Druk Dra 2025
The Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) organised a televised national competition to select its entry for the Eurovision Asia Song Contest 2025, a contest that had not yet been officially announced. The selection was titled Druk Dra 2025 (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྒྲ།, romanized: Druk Dra, lit. 'Thunderclap'; IPA: [ɖ(ʐ)ṳ̀e̯ ɖ(ʐ)a]) and consisted of five episodes. The first three episodes were qualification rounds, the fourth was the semi-final, and the fifth was set to be the final.[1] The shows were presented by Kelzang Dolkar and Wangchuk Dem in Dzongkha and English interchangeably. A total of ten contestants took part in the competition that took place at the BBS Studios in Thimphu.
First and second episodes
The first episode aired on 19 August, and the second on 20 August 2025. The contestants performed covers.
| R/O E1 | R/O E2 | Artist | Online vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Baeyul 301 | 64.37% |
| 2 | 1 | Sangay Lhaden | 1.28% |
| 3 | 8 | Nyendra | 0% |
| 4 | 3 | Pelden Wangchuk | 8.51% |
| 5 | 6 | Tashi Choden | 0.85% |
| 6 | 2 | Tshering Namgay | 19.83% |
| 7 | 9 | Tandih Phub | 3.83% |
| 8 | 7 | Kinga Rinchen | 0.09% |
| 9 | 5 | Drukbi Tshompapo | 0.85% |
| 10 | 4 | Karma Drupchu | 0% |
Third episode
The third episode aired on 22 August 2025. The contestants performed covers. 90% of the result was determined by the jury, with 10% decided by an online vote. Drukbi Tshompapo withdrew from the contest before the episode due to personal reasons. Seven contestants qualified for the semi-final.[1]
| R/O | Artist | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sangay Lhaden | Qualified |
| 2 | Tshering Namgay | Qualified |
| 3 | Pelden Wangchuk | Qualified |
| 4 | Karma Drupchu | Qualified |
| 5 | Drukbi Tshompapo | Withdrew |
| 6 | Tashi Choden | Qualified |
| 7 | Kinga Rinchen | Eliminated |
| 8 | Nyendra | Qualified |
| 9 | Tandih Phub | Eliminated |
| 10 | Baeyul 301 | Qualified |
Fourth episode
The fourth episode aired on 26 August 2025. This episode is considered the semi-final, and the contestants performed covers. 80% of the result was determined by the jury, with 20% decided by an online vote,[1] including the votes from the previous shows. Each juror gave a rating to every contestant out of 100. Five contestants qualified for the final.[1]
| R/O | Artist | Jury | Online vote | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sangay Lhaden | 259 | 20.09% | Qualified |
| 2 | Nyendra | 258 | 17.38% | Qualified |
| 3 | Baeyul 301 | 243 | 16.99% | Qualified |
| 4 | Karma Drupchu | 173 | 12.10% | Qualified |
| 5 | Tshering Namgay | 166 | 11.17% | Eliminated |
| 6 | Pelden Wangchuk | 168 | 11.36% | Qualified |
| 7 | Tashi Choden | 158 | 10.92% | Eliminated |
Cancellation of the fifth episode
The fifth and final episode was originally scheduled for 29 August 2025, with 70% of the result set to be determined by the jury, and 30% decided by an online vote.[1] The winner was to represent Bhutan at the Eurovision Asia Song Contest 2025, with the runner up representing Bhutan at ABU TV Song Festival 2025.[1]
On 28 August 2025, Martin Green, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, stated that "no plans have been confirmed or announced to date" for the contest in Asia. He further noted that the Eurovision format rights holders in Asia had been in contact with BBS, and that the show had been taken off air and removed from online platforms.[2] Sangay Lhaden, one of the finalists, claimed on TikTok that the final was only postponed.[3]
Following the cancellation, BBS internally selected Pema Samdrup, a member of the Druk Dra jury, with the song "The Song of Joy" to represent Bhutan at the ABU TV Song Festival 2025.[4]
On 31 March 2026, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officially announced the Eurovision Song Contest Asia,[5] and stated that the cancellation of Druk Dra 2025 had resulted from a misunderstanding with BBS.
Rhythm of Bhutan
Following the confirmation of the participation of BBS in the Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 representing Bhutan, the broadcaster announced the resume of the national final with the name of Rhythm of Bhutan. The final took place on 11 August 2026, and featured five competing entries.[6]
The result was decided by a combination of the votes from a professional jury (40%), consisting of Choeying Jatsho, Pema Samdrup, Sonam Dorji and Ugyen, Bhutanese public voting (40%), and the Rest of the World voting (20%). Members of the public were given 8 free votes to spread across at least 3 acts, with an option of buying additional 10 votes.[7][8]
Competing acts
On 28 July 2026, BBS announced the five competing artists, selected "after months of auditions and live performances", which consisted of four of five finalists of Druk Dra 2025, as well as one semi-finalist.[6] The competing songs were released on 7 August 2026.[9]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The Sangay Lhaden Band | "Pemi Tshewang Tashi (The Legend)" (པད་མའི་ཚེ་དབང་བཀྲ་ཤིས།) |
|
| Nyendra | "Lhayi Semo (The Angel)" (ལྷ་ཡི་སྲས་མོ།) |
|
| Baeyul 301 | "Drenpa (The Memories)" (དྲན་པ།) |
|
| Karma Drupchu | "Pha Yuel (The Homeland)" (ཕ་གཡུས།) |
|
| Pelden Wangchuk | "Jo'druel (The Journey)" (འགྱོ་འགྲུལ།།) |
|
Contest overview
The final was held on 11 August 2026 at 19:00 BTT at the BBS Studios in Thimphu,[10][6] The winner was decided by a combination of jury voting, Bhutanese public voting and international public voting.[8] The show was presented by Kelzang Dolkar in English and Phub Tshering in Dzongkha.[8] The final was broadcast on BBS 1, streamed online on BBS' platforms, and on the Eurovision Song Contest official YouTube page.[11] The winner was the song "Lhayi Semo (The Angel)", written by Lungten Wangchuk and Thukten Nyendra, and performed by Nyendra himself.[12]
In addition to the competing acts, the interval acts saw Bhutanese high-schoolers and scouts performing dance routines. The Youtube broadcast on the official Eurovision Song Contest channel faced a multitude of technical issues, with viewers on Youtube being unable to watch almost the entire first song, and audio issues during the second song. However, the direct BBS Youtube stream did not face any issues.[12]
| R/O | Artist | Song | Jury | Public vote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bhutan | Intl. | ||||||
| 1 | Karma Drupchu | "Pha Yuel (The Homeland)" | 10 | 10 | 12 | 32 | 4 |
| 2 | The Sangay Lhaden Band | "Pemi Tshewang Tashi (The Legend)" | 20 | 16 | 5 | 41 | 2 |
| 3 | Nyendra | "Lhayi Semo (The Angel)" | 24 | 20 | 8 | 52 | 1 |
| 4 | Pelden Wangchuk | "Jo'druel (The Journey)" | 16 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 5 |
| 5 | Baeyul 301 | "Drenpa (The Memories)" | 2 | 24 | 10 | 36 | 3 |
Participation overview
| † | Upcoming event |
| Year | Artist | Song | Language | Final | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Nyendra | "Lhayi Semo" (ལྷ་ཡི་སྲས་མོ།) | Dzongkha | Upcoming †[14] | |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Granger, Anthony (26 August 2025). "Bhutan: Druk Dra Semi-Final Held". Eurovoix World. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
- ↑ "EBU shuts down Eurovision Asia speculation". The Eurotrip Podcast. 28 August 2025. Archived from the original on 28 August 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
- ↑ Jaromin, Piotr (3 September 2025). "Uczestniczka ujawnia, że selekcje Bhutanu do Eurovision Asia 2026 nie zostały całkowicie odwołane, a tylko "przełożone"" [A contestant reveals that Bhutan’s national final for Eurovision Asia 2026 has not been completely cancelled, but merely "postponed"]. ESCSpot (in Polish). Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ Tsinivits, Kyriakos (13 September 2025). "ABU Song Festival 2025: All you need to know". Archived from the original on 31 March 2026. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- ↑ Yossman, K.J. (31 March 2026). "Eurovision Song Contest Set to Launch in Asia With Bangkok as Host City". Retrieved 31 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Chozom, Sangay (28 July 2026). "Five artists vie for Bhutan's Eurovision spot". Bhutan Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
- ↑ "Cast your vote". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Your complete guide to 'Rhythm of Bhutan'". European Broadcasting Union. 7 August 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
- 1 2 Granger, Anthony (6 August 2026). "🇧🇹 Bhutan: Rhythm of Bhutan Songs Released". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
- ↑ "#introduction 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐲𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚". YouTube (Stated in 1:02.). Bhutan Broadcasting Service. 7 August 2026. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
- ↑ "Bhutan selects its song for Eurovision Asia on 11 August". European Broadcasting Union. 2 August 2026. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 Ljuština, Stevan (11 August 2026). "Azija 2026 | Thukten Nyendra za Butan". Evrovizija.rs. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ "JSON data". api.eurovisionasia.com. European Broadcasting Union. 11 August 2026. Archived from the original on 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Five artists vie for Bhutan's Eurovision spot". BBS. 28 July 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.