The Sanremo Music Festival 2021 (), officially the 71st Italian Song Festival (), was the 71st edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by (RAI). The show was held between 2 and 6 March 2021. The show was presented by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition. Fiorello returned as co-host after appearing as a regular guest in the previous edition.
The festival was won by Måneskin with the song ""; their victory earned them the right to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, which they went on to win as well. Gaudiano won the Newcomers' section with "".
Format The 2021 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, organized by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The artistic director and the presenter for the competition was Amadeus, for the second consecutive year.
For the first time in the event's history, the Festival took place without a live audience, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presenters Shortly after the end of the 2020 edition, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 71st edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Together with Amadeus, Italian comedian and television presenter Fiorello returned, after appearing as a regular guest in the previous edition, to cover the role of co-host. Alongside Amadeus and Fiorello, five co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Matilda De Angelis, Elodie, Vittoria Ceretti, Barbara Palombelli and Beatrice Venezi. British supermodel Naomi Campbell was set to participate as co-host in the first evening, but due to restrictions imposed in the United States for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to give up the aforementioned role.
Voting Voting occurred through the combination of four methods: Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting. Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web. Demoscopic jury, composed by music fans who voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos. Musicians and singers of the Sanremo Music Festival Orchestra.
Voting during the five evenings for Big Artist section: First evening: Demoscopic jury. Second evening: Demoscopic jury. Third evening: Music and singers of the Sanremo Music Festival Orchestra. Fourth evening: Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web. Fifth evening: Televote. At the end, a ranking of the songs/artists was drawn up determined by the average of voting percentages obtained in all the evenings, determining the three finalist. To select the winner the voting systems had the following weight: 34% Public televoting; 33% Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web; 33% Demoscopic Jury.
Voting during the three evenings for Newcomers' section: First evening: The voting systems had the following weight: 34% Public televoting; 33% Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web; 33% Demoscopic Jury. Second evening: The voting systems had the following weight: 34% Public televoting; 33% Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web; 33% Demoscopic Jury. Fourth evening: The voting systems had the following weight: 34% Public televoting; 33% Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web; 33% Demoscopic Jury.
Selections Newcomers' section The artists competing in the Newcomers' section were selected through two separate contests: Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo.
Sanremo Giovani 2020 On 7 October 2020, Rai Commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2021 announced a list of 961 acts, but only 61 artists coming from all Italian regions -excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta- and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On 20 October 2020, the jury of Sanremo Festival 2021 has selected the 20 semi-finalists. The selection was preceded by five late night shows on "AmaSanremo", hosted by Amadeus and Riccardo Rossi, where the artists and their entries were presented and were selected the 10 finalist.
On 17 December 2020, the ten finalists performed their songs at Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, with the show Sanremo Giovani 2020 broadcast on Rai 1 presented by Amadeus and Riccardo Rossi. The six selected by the jury composed by Luca Barbarossa, Beatrice Venezi and Piero Pelù, televote and music commission were added to the two entries of Area Sanremo, for a total of eight young emerging artists in the category of the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021. Gaudiano, Folcast, Greta Zuccoli, Davide Shorty, Wrongonyou and Avincola were chosen as contestants of the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021.
Artist Song TV Jury Music Comm. Televote Total 1 Folcast "Scopriti"2810.65%12.41%11.81%11.62% 2 Greta Zuccoli "Ogni cosa sa di te"2810.65%12.41%11.98%11.68% 3 Wrongonyou "Lezioni di volo"3011.41%12.41%7.26%10.33% 4 Gaudiano "Polvere da sparo"2911.03%12.41%10.71%11.38% 5 I Desideri "Lo stesso cielo"207.60%6.20%15.03%9.67% 6 Avincola "Goal!"249.13%12.41%10.64%10.72% 7 Hu "Occhi Niagara"3011.41%12.41%5.80%9.83% 8 M.e.r.l.o.t "Sette volte"217.98%9.51%7.76%7.32% 9 Davide Shorty "Regina"259.51%6.70%13.55%9.95% 10 Le Larve "Musicareoplano"2810.65%6.45%5.46%7.50%
Area Sanremo After the auditions, RAI Commission - composed by Vittorio De Scalzi, Rossana Casale, Gianmaurizio Foderaro, Erica Mou and G-Max; plus the participation of Maurilio Giordana - identified 8 finalists for the competition among the 600 acts:
Aurora Fadell Dellai Elena Faggi Federica Marinari Francesca Miola Guasto Luca d'Arbenzio Mirall
Newcomers' Finalists
Gaudiano - "Polvere da sparo" Folcast - "Scopriti" Greta Zuccoli - "Ogni cosa sa di te" Davide Shorty - "Regina" Wrongonyou - "Lezioni di volo" Avincola - "Goal!" Elena Faggi - "Che ne so" Dellai - "Io sono Luca"
Big section The Big Artists section of the contest saw the participation of 26 artists. All the artists performed and were scored throughout the week, and every competing artist advanced to the final night.
Competing entries +Competing songs and artists, showing writers, orchestra conductor and results achievedBig Artists section Song Artist Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Måneskin Enrico Melozzi1 Winner of the "Big Artists" section – Golden Lion "" Francesca Michielin & Fedez Fabio Gurian2 "" Ermal Meta Diego Calvetti3 "Giancarlo Bigazzi" Award for Best Arrangement "" Colapesce & Dimartino Davide Rossi4 "Lucio Dalla" Press, Radio, TV, & Web Award "" Irama Giulio Nenna5 "" Willie Peyote Daniel Bestonzo6 "Mia Martini" Critics' Award "" Annalisa Daniel Bestonzo7 "" Madame Carmelo Patti8 Lunezia Award for Best Music-letterary Value "Sergio Bardotti" Award for Best Lyrics "" Orietta Berti Enzo Campagnoli9 "" Arisa Adriano Pennino10 "" La Rappresentante di Lista Carmelo Patti11"Nilla Pizzi" Award for Best Interpretation "" Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo Roberto Molinetti12 "" Lo Stato Sociale Fabio Gargiùlo13 "" Noemi Andrea Rondini14 "" Malika Ayane Daniele Parziani15 "" Fulminacci Rodrigo D'Erasmo16 "" Max Gazzè Clemente Ferrari17 "" Fasma Enrico Melozzi18 "" Gaia Daniele Dezi19 "" Coma_Cose Vittorio Cosma20 "" Ghemon Rodrigo D'Erasmo21 "" Francesco Renga Carmelo Patti22 "" Gio Evan Valeriano Chiaravalle23 "" Bugo Simone Bertolotti24 "" Aiello Jacopo Senigaglia25 "" Random Valeriano Chiaravalle26Newcomers' section Song Artist Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Gaudiano Valeriano Chiaravalle 1 Winner of the Newcomers' section – Silver Lion "" Davide Shorty Carmelo Patti 2 "Lunezia" Award for Best Lyrics "Enzo Jannacci" Award for Best Performance "Lucio Dalla" Press, Radio, TV, & Web Award "" Folcast Rodrigo D'Erasmo 3 "" Wrongonyou Valeriano Chiaravalle4 "Mia Martini" Critics' Award "" Avincola Simone AvincolaEdoardo Petrettistyle="text-align:center;" "" Dellai Federico Melozzistyle="text-align:center;" "" Elena Faggi Beppe Vessicchiostyle="text-align:center;" "" Greta Zuccoli Greta ZuccoliRodrigo D'Erasmostyle="text-align:center;"
Shows First evening The first thirteen Big Artists each performed their song and the first four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time in two matches, two for each one.
Big Artists ArtistSongVotesPlaceDemoscopic Jury 1Arisa"Potevi fare di più"6th11 2Colapesce & Dimartino"Musica leggerissima"9th17 3Aiello"Ora"13th26 4Francesca Michielin & Fedez“Chiamami per nome”4th7 5Max Gazzè & Trifluoperazina Monstery Band"Il farmacista"8th16 6Noemi"Glicine"2nd5 7Madame"Voce"11th20 8Måneskin"Zitti e buoni"7th15 9Ghemon"Momento perfetto"12th25 10Coma_Cose"Fiamme negli occhi"10th18 11Annalisa"Dieci"1st2 12Francesco Renga"Quando trovo te"5th10 13Fasma"Parlami"3rd6
Newcomers
ArtistSongVotesPlaceDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%)Press Jury(weight 33%)Public(weight 34%) 1Gaudiano"Polvere da sparo"26.26%26.20%36.88%29.85% 2Elena Faggi"Che ne so"23.42%22.79%17.28%21.12% 3Avincola"Goal!"24.27%24.17%22.37%23.59% 4Folcast"Scopriti"26.05%26.85%23.47%25.47%
Second evening The other thirteen Big Artists each performed their song and the other four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time.
Big Artists ArtistSongVotesDemoscopic JuryPlace 1Orietta Berti"Quando ti sei innamorato"11th22 2Bugo"E invece sì"13th24 3Gaia"Cuore amaro"6th12 4Lo Stato Sociale"Combat Pop"4th8 5La Rappresentante di Lista"Amare"8th14 6Malika Ayane"Ti piaci così"3rd4 7Ermal Meta"Un milione di cose da dirti"1st1 8Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo"Bianca luce nera"9th19 9Random"Torno a te"12th23 10Fulminacci"Santa Marinella"7th13 11Willie Peyote"Mai dire mai (La locura)"5th9 12Gio Evan"Arnica"10th21 13Irama"La genesi del tuo colore"2nd3
Newcomers
ArtistSongVotesPlaceDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%)Press Jury(weight 33%)Public(weight 34%) 1Wrongonyou"Lezioni di volo"26.01%26.59%24.45%25.67% 2Greta Zuccoli"Ogni cosa sa di te"23.78%23.42%25.98%24.41% 3Davide Shorty"Regina"25.00%26.82%30.51%27.47% 4Dellai"Io sono Luca"25.22%23.17%19.07%22.45%
Third evening All the twenty-six Big Artists each performed a song that are part of the history of the Italian music. The artists can choose whether or not to be accompanied by Italian or foreign guests.
Big Artists