The top three finishers at Italy’s Sanremo music festival have entered Billboard’s global charts, including the contest’s winner, Marco Mengoni. The Billboard Global 200 dated Feb. 25 sees debut from rapper Lazza’s “Cenere” (“Ashes”) at No. 68; Mengoni’s “Due Vite” (“Two Lives”) at No. 80; and Mr. Rain’s “Supereroi” (“Superheroes”) at No. 97.
The Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart features two more Sanremo artists – Madame and Tananai – for a total of five songs from Sanremo 2023. On that chart, “Cenere” debuts at No. 29, “Due Vite” bows at No. 32 and “Supereroi” enters at No. 42. Meanwhile, Madame’s “Il Bene nel Male” (“The Good in the Bad”) starts at No. 104 and Tananai’s “Tango” arrives at the No. 195 spot. On Luminate’s Global Hits – Italy chart for the week ending Feb. 16, “Cenere,” “Due Vite,” “Supereroi,” “Il Bene nel Male” and “Tango” are Nos. 1-5, respectively.
Since the launch of the Billboard global lists in 2020, Sanremo’s most successful songs enter the charts each year after the event. The 2021 edition saw three songs make it to the Global 200 and six enter the Global Excl. US immediately after the contest. In that year, the song that won Sanremo, “Brividi” by Mahmood and Blanco, reached the highest positions on both charts, and at more impressive spots: No. 15 on the Global 200 and No. 7 on the Global Excl. U.S.
Mengoni, who is signed to Sony Music Entertainment’s Epic Records Italy, won Sanremo 2023, after the pop star dominated the song contest from start to finish with “Due Vite.” It was his second victory at the festival, his first coming in 2013 with “L’essenziale” (“The Essential”).
Under the artistic direction of Amadeus, who oversaw his fourth Sanremo this year, recent editions of the Italian song contest have started resonating with younger audiences, especially on streaming platforms. This year’s edition was the highest rated since 1995. Overall, 63.1% of TV viewers followed the five nights of the event, with the final night (Feb. 11) drawing an audience of 12,256,000 people, or 66% of Italian TV viewers.
