Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Soldiers of Love" written by Sebastian F. Ovens, Daniel Lund Jørgensen, Katrine Klith Andersen, Søren Bregendal, Johannes Nymark and Martin Skriver. The song was performed by the group Lighthouse X. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the Danish entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten songs competed in a televised show where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. The results of the first round were decided upon through the combination of jury voting and public voting while in the second round, the winner was selected solely by public televoting. "Soldiers of Love" performed by Lighthouse X was the winner after gaining 42% of the public vote.

Bulgaria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "If Love Was a Crime" written by Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Bo Persson and Poli Genova. The song was performed by Poli Genova, who had previously represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 where she failed to qualify to the final with the song "Na inat". In November 2015, the Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that they would be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest after a two-year absence following their withdrawal in 2014 due to financial limitations. On 19 February 2016, the broadcaster announced that Poli Genova had been selected to compete at the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. The song that Genova competed with, "If Love Was a Crime", was also internally selected and was presented to the public on 21 March 2016.