New Around the World: Sanremo Music Festival Returns to Billboard Global Charts

Once again, the Sanremo Music Festival impacts Billboard’s global charts. Italy’s qualifying competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, the showdown yields a handful of debuts on the Feb. 25-dated rankings. Sanremo was held at the Teatro Ariston from Feb. 7 to 11, and was broadcast by Radiotelevisione italiana. (Eurovision is set for May 9-13 in Liverpool.)

Five songs from the Sanremo competition enter the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, led by Lazza’s “Cenere,” at No. 29. In the week ending Feb. 16, “Cenere” drew 22.5 million streams worldwide, according to Luminate. Ultimately, it placed second in Sanremo.

The competition’s winner was Marco Mengoni for “Due vite,” which topped its competitors in all three categories – public televoting, jury of the press and demoscopic jury. Though it swept its way to a Eurovision qualification, it debuts just under Lazza’s high mark, hitting Global Excl. U.S. at No. 32, on the back of 21.3 million streams.

Mr. Rain follows at No. 42 with “Supereroi,” also third place in Sanremo. These three top 50 debuts also crack the Billboard Global 200 at Nos. 68 (“Cenere”), 80 (“Due vite”) and 97 (“Supereroi”).

Additionally, Madame enters Global Excl. U.S. at No. 104 with “Il Bene Nel” and Tananai rounds out the Sanremo scope at No. 195 with “Tango.” The latter song finished in fifth place in Sanremo, while the former ranked seventh.

All five charting songs from Sanremo drew more than 90% of their streams from Italy, with Lazza, Mr.Rain and Tananai each above 94%. They make up the entire top five of Luminate’s latest Global Hits – Italy ranking, as seen in the data firm’s Music Connect platform, with “Cenere” leading the pack.

The sum of five Sanremo-sparked Global Excl. U.S. entries falls short of last year’s seven but is still above 2021’s four. Plus, the three Global 200 debuts match last year’s high, after no Sanremo songs impacted two years ago. (Both worldwide tallies began in September 2020.)

The zero-to-100 (er, three) momentum from 2021 may have something to do with the notoriety that that year’s winner brought to the competition. Måneskin triumphed with “Zitti E Buoni,” before winning Eurovision and then scoring multiple global hits later that year (plus a Grammy nomination for best new artist this year), including “Beggin’,” which reached No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S.

The band’s pan-continental, and then worldwide, fame may have assisted a top 10 debut for last year’s Sanremo champion, “Brividi” by Mahmood and Blanco. The ballad reached No. 7 on Global Excl. U.S. following Sanremo and returned to the chart after Eurovision.

But while Måneskin may have helped launch a new era of international success for Sanremo-associated titles, one may forget that the Italian glam-rockers were initially outpaced on the global charts. “Zitti E Buoni” debuted at No. 106 on the March 20, 2021-dated ranking, slightly behind the year’s runner-up “Chiamami Per Nome” by Francesca Michielin and Fedez at No. 100. That Måneskin went on to greater heights should give extra hope to Mengoni as he prepares for Eurovision, as even though his competition-winning song didn’t yield the biggest initial chart impact, even bigger things could be right around the corner.