# Sanremo Music Festival 2018

The Sanremo Music Festival 2018 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2018), officially the 68th Italian Song Festival (68º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 68th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo and organised and broadcast by RAI. It was presented by Claudio Baglioni, who also served as the artistic director, with Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino.
The competition was divided in two sections. The winners of the Big Artists section were Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro with "Non mi avete fatto niente", who thus earned the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Newcomers' sections was won by Ultimo with the song "Il ballo delle incertezze".

## Format
### Presenters

Singer-songwriter and musician, Claudio Baglioni, was the main host and artistic director of Sanremo Music Festival 2018, alongside co-hosts Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino.

### Voting

Voting during the five evenings occurred through different combinations of four methods:
* Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting.
* Press jury voting, expressed by accredited journalists that followed the competition from the Roof Hall at the Teatro Ariston.
* A demoscopic poll, composed of a sample of 300 music fans, which voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos.
* Expert jury voting, resulting from points assigned by personalities from the world of music, entertainment and culture. The jury is composed by Pino Donaggio (president), Giovanni Allevi, Serena Autieri, Milly Carlucci, Gabriele Muccino, Rocco Papaleo, Mirca Rosciani and Andrea Scanzi.
The three voting systems had a percentage weight so distributed:
* First, Second and Third Evening: 40% Public televoting; 30% Demoscopic poll; 30% Press jury voting
* Fourth and Fifth Evening: 50% Public televoting; 30% Press jury voting; 20% Expert jury voting
In the final part of the fifth evening, a new rank indicating the first three acts -determined by the percentage of votes obtained in this evening's vote and those obtained in previous evenings- was drawn up.

## Selections
### Newcomers' section

The artists competing in the Newcomers' section were selected through two separate contests: Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo.

#### Sanremo Giovani

On October 31, 2017, Rai Commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2018 announced a list of 650 acts, but only 68 artists coming from all Italian regions – excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta – and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On November 10, 2017, Rai Commission announced the sixteen finalists.
On December 15, 2017, the sixteen finalists performed their songs at Villa Ormond in Sanremo, with the show Sarà Sanremo broadcast on Rai 1 presented by Claudia Gerini and Federico Russo. The six selected by the jury 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 2018. Lorenzo Baglioni, Mudimbi, Eva, Mirkoeilcane, Giulia Casieri and Ultimo were chosen as contestants of the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2018.

#### Area Sanremo

After the auditions, RAI Commission -composed by Massimo Cotto, Stefano Senardi, Antonio Vandoni, Maurizio Caridi and Maurilio Giordana; plus the participation of Franco Zanetti and Amara- identified 8 finalists for the competition among the 145 acts:
* Martina Attili
* Alice Caioli
* Diego Esposito
* Manuel Foresta
* Andrea Maestrelli
* Leonardo Monteiro
* Giorgia Pino
* Daniele Ronda

#### Newcomers' Finalists

* Lorenzo Baglioni - "Il congiuntivo"
* Mirkoeilcane - "Stiamo tutti bene"
* Eva - "Cosa ti salverà"
* Giulia Casieri - "Come stai"
* Mudimbi - "Il mago"
* Ultimo - "Il ballo delle incertezze"
* Leonardo Monteiro - "Bianca"
* Alice Caioli - "Specchi rotti"

### Big Artists section

The Big Artists section of the contest will revert to 20 artists, after briefly going up to 22 last year. Unlike in previous years, there will be no eliminations during the four weeknight shows. All the artists will perform several times and will be scored during the week, but they will all advance to the final night.

## Shows
### First evening

The 20 Big Artists each performed their song for the first time.
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Annalisa | 1 | "Il mondo prima di te" | 11th (3.83%) | 3rd | 9th | 4.66% | 3rd |
| Ron | 2 | "Almeno pensami" | 4th (6.58%) | 6th | 6th | 6.27% | 4th |
| The Kolors | 3 | "Frida (mai, mai, mai)" | 2nd (10.60%) | 9th | 10th | 6.54% | 8th |
| Max Gazzè | 4 | "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" | 6th (4.61%) | 5th | 5th | 6.26% | 6th |
| Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro & Pacifico | 5 | "Imparare ad amarsi" | 7th (4.39%) | 8th | 4th | 6.26% | 5th |
| Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | 6 | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | 1st (21.98%) | 1st | 2nd | 16.12% | 1st |
| Mario Biondi | 7 | "Rivederti" | 13th (3.45%) | 11th | 17th | 3.19% | 15th |
| Roby Facchinetti & Riccardo Fogli | 8 | "Il segreto del tempo" | 3rd (6.77%) | 18th | 19th | 3.81% | 11th |
| Lo Stato Sociale | 9 | "Una vita in vacanza" | 8th (4.27%) | 2nd | 1st | 9.53% | 2nd |
| Noemi | 10 | "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" | 14th (3.09%) | 4th | 16th | 3.86% | 10th |
| Decibel | 11 | "Fuori dal tempo" | 15th (2.81%) | 15th | 10th | 3.10% | 16th |
| Elio e le Storie Tese | 12 | "Arrivedorci" | 20th (1.72%) | 12th | 18th | 2.41% | 20th |
| Giovanni Caccamo | 13 | "Eterno" | 10th (3.97%) | 13th | 12th | 3.71% | 12th |
| Red Canzian | 14 | "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" | 12th (3.53%) | 20th | 13th | 2.83% | 17th |
| Luca Barbarossa | 15 | "Passame er sale" | 5th (4.93%) | 10th | 15th | 3.91% | 9th |
| Diodato & Roy Paci | 16 | "Adesso" | 17th (2.60%) | 16th | 3rd | 5.08% | 7th |
| Nina Zilli | 17 | "Senza appartenere" | 19th (1.83%) | 7th | 19th | 2.61% | 18th |
| Renzo Rubino | 18 | "Custodire" | 16th (2.78%) | 19th | 13th | 2.56% | 19th |
| Enzo Avitabile feat. Peppe Servillo | 19 | "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" | 9th (4.16%) | 17th | 8th | 3.67% | 13th |
| Le Vibrazioni | 20 | "Così sbagliato" | 18th (2.10%) | 14th | 7th | 3.61% | 14th |

### Second evening

The first ten Big Artists each performed their song again and the first four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time.

#### Big Artists

| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Le Vibrazioni | 1 | "Così sbagliato" | 8th (7.71%) | 6th | 5th | 8.44% | 6th |
| Nina Zilli | 2 | "Senza appartenere" | 7th (8.88%) | 2nd | 8th | 8.95% | 5th |
| Diodato & Roy Paci | 3 | "Adesso" | 5th (9.32%) | 5th | 1st | 13.26% | 4th |
| Elio e le Storie Tese | 4 | "Arrivedorci" | 10th (3.66%) | 8th | 10th | 4.30% | 10th |
| Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro & Pacifico | 5 | "Imparare ad amarsi" | 3rd (12.35%) | 4th | 2nd | 13.94% | 2nd |
| Red Canzian | 6 | "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" | 4th (9.59%) | 10th | 8th | 6.49% | 9th |
| Ron | 7 | "Almeno pensami" | 2nd (14.96%) | 3rd | 3rd | 13.87% | 3rd |
| Renzo Rubino | 8 | "Custodire" | 6th (9.09%) | 9th | 7th | 7.29% | 8th |
| Annalisa | 9 | "Il mondo prima di te" | 1st (17.54%) | 1st | 3rd | 16.10% | 1st |
| Decibel | 10 | "Lettera del Duca" | 9th (6.90%) | 7th | 6th | 7.36% | 7th |

#### Newcomers

| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Lorenzo Baglioni | 1 | "Il congiuntivo" | 1st (49.91%) | 2nd | 2nd | 35.32% | 1st |
| Giulia Casieri | 2 | "Come stai" | 4th (8.17%) | 3rd | 3rd | 17.18% | 4th |
| Mirkoeilcane | 3 | "Stiamo tutti bene" | 2nd (25.18%) | 4th | 1st | 28.87% | 2nd |
| Alice Caioli | 4 | "Specchi rotti" | 3rd (16.74%) | 1st | 4th | 18.63% | 3rd |

### Third evening

The other ten Big Artists each performed their song for the second time and the other four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time.

#### Big Artists

| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Giovanni Caccamo | 1 | "Eterno" | 8th (4.86%) | 7th | 7th | 6.31% | 8th |
| Lo Stato Sociale | 2 | "Una vita in vacanza" | 4th (7.94%) | 1st | 1st | 15.63% | 2nd |
| Luca Barbarossa | 3 | "Passame er sale" | 2nd (12.43%) | 5th | 6th | 10.21% | 4th |
| Enzo Avitabile feat. Peppe Servillo | 4 | "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" | 6th (6.86%) | 9th | 5th | 7.00% | 7th |
| Max Gazzè | 5 | "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" | 5th (7.34%) | 4th | 2nd | 12.08% | 3rd |
| Roby Facchinetti & Riccardo Fogli | 6 | "Il segreto del tempo" | 7th (5.49%) | 10th | 10th | 3.28% | 10th |
| Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | 7 | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | 1st (41.18%) | 2nd | 3rd | 25.38% | 1st |
| Noemi | 8 | "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" | 9th (2.98%) | 3rd | 8th | 7.34% | 6th |
| The Kolors | 9 | "Frida (mai, mai, mai)" | 3rd (8.71%) | 6th | 4th | 9.12% | 5th |
| Mario Biondi | 10 | "Rivederti" | 10th (2.21%) | 8th | 9th | 3.65% | 9th |

#### Newcomers

| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Total | Place |
| Mudimbi | 1 | "Il mago" | 2nd (32.69%) | 1st | 2nd | 31.77% | 2nd |
| Eva | 2 | "Cosa ti salverà" | 3rd (11.40%) | 2nd | 3rd | 18.75% | 3rd |
| Ultimo | 3 | "Il ballo delle incertezze" | 1st (48.18%) | 2nd | 1st | 38.42% | 1st |
| Leonardo Monteiro | 4 | "Bianca" | 4th (7.73%) | 4th | 4th | 11.06% | 4th |

### Fourth evening

The 20 Big Artists performed their songs as duets and the eight Newcomers also performed their songs again.
| Artist - Guest | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist - Guest | Draw | Song | Public (weight 50%) | Expert Jury (weight 20%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Renzo Rubino - Serena Rossi | 1 | "Custodire" | 7th (4.74%) | 15th | 8th | 3.52% | 10th |
| Le Vibrazioni - Skin | 2 | "Così sbagliato" | 15th (2.41%) | 12th | 10th | 3.44% | 13th |
| Noemi - Paola Turci | 3 | "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" | 12th (2.90%) | 20th | 15th | 2.91% | 14th |
| Mario Biondi - Ana Carolina & Daniel Jobim | 4 | "Rivederti" | 18th (1.62%) | 15th | 20th | 1.72% | 19th |
| Annalisa Scarrone - Michele Bravi | 5 | "Il mondo prima di te" | 2nd (11.59%) | 9th | 3rd | 7.87% | 3rd |
| Lo Stato Sociale - Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano & Paolo Rossi | 6 | "Una vita in vacanza" | 3rd (8.77%) | 11th | 1st | 9.01% | 2nd |
| Max Gazzè - Rita Marcotulli & Roberto Gatto | 7 | "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" | 5th (5.86%) | 5th | 7th | 6.32% | 7th |
| Decibel - Midge Ure | 8 | "Lettera dal Duca" | 14th (2.70%) | 15th | 16th | 2.70% | 15th |
| Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro & Pacifico - Alessandro Preziosi | 9 | "Imparare ad amarsi" | 8th (4.12%) | 3rd | 6th | 6.61% | 5th |
| Diodato & Roy Paci - Ghemon | 10 | "Adesso" | 13th (2.74%) | 5th | 2nd | 6.44% | 6th |
| Roby Facchinetti & Riccardo Fogli - Giusy Ferreri | 11 | "Il segreto del tempo" | 11th (3.01%) | 15th | 19th | 2.24% | 18th |
| Enzo Avitabile & Peppe Servillo - Avion Travel & Daby Touré | 12 | "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" | 10th (3.50%) | 10th | 13th | 3.46% | 12th |
| Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro - Simone Cristicchi | 13 | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | 1st (23.71%) | 2nd | 4th | 15.71% | 1st |
| Giovanni Caccamo - Arisa | 14 | "Eterno" | 16th (2.40%) | 7th | 12th | 3.49% | 11th |
| Ron - Alice | 15 | "Almeno pensami" | 9th (3.58%) | 1st | 5th | 7.00% | 4th |
| Red Canzian - Marco Masini | 16 | "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" | 17th (2.22%) | 13th | 14th | 2.53% | 16th |
| The Kolors - Tullio De Piscopo & Enrico Nigiotti | 17 | "Frida" | 4th (6.62%) | 8th | 8th | 5.65% | 8th |
| Luca Barbarossa - Anna Foglietta | 18 | "Passame er sale" | 6th (5.68%) | 3rd | 11th | 5.46% | 9th |
| Nina Zilli - Sergio Cammariere | 19 | "Senza appartenere" | 19th (1.24%) | 14th | 17th | 2.39% | 17th |
| Elio e le storie tese - Neri per Caso | 20 | "Arrivedorci" | 20th (0.59%) | 15th | 17th | 1.53% | 20th |

### Fifth evening

The 20 Big Artists will again each perform their entry for a final time. The top three will face a superfinal vote, then the winner of Sanremo 2018 will be decided.
* Advanced to second round
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 50%) | Expert Jury (weight 20%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Luca Barbarossa | 1 | "Passame er sale" | 4th (9.95%) | 3rd | 11th | 6.83% | 7th |
| Red Canzian | 2 | "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" | 13th (2.07%) | 13th | 16th | 2.06% | 15th |
| The Kolors | 3 | "Frida" | 5th (8.50%) | 10th | 8th | 5.99% | 9th |
| Elio e le Storie Tese | 4 | "Arrivedorci" | 19th (1.03%) | 16th | 19th | 1.14% | 20th |
| Ron | 5 | "Almeno pensami" | 7th (4.75%) | 1st | 7th | 7.13% | 4th |
| Max Gazzè | 6 | "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" | 6th (6.12%) | 5th | 4th | 6.93% | 6th |
| Annalisa | 7 | "Il mondo prima di te" | 3rd (10.02%) | 6th | 6th | 8.31% | 3rd |
| Renzo Rubino | 8 | "Custodire" | 11th (2.38%) | 17th | 12th | 2.69% | 13th |
| Decibel | 9 | "Lettera dal Duca" | 15th (1.74%) | 17th | 15th | 1.99% | 16th |
| Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro & Pacifico | 10 | "Imparare ad amarsi" | 8th (4.08%) | 2nd | 4th | 7.07% | 5th |
| Giovanni Caccamo | 11 | "Eterno" | 10th (2.48%) | 11th | 13th | 2.99% | 10th |
| Lo Stato Sociale | 12 | "Una vita in vacanza" | 2nd (10.15%) | 8th | 1st | 10.50% | 2nd |
| Roby Facchinetti & Riccardo Fogli | 13 | "Il segreto del tempo" | 12th (2.08%) | 17th | 19th | 1.70% | 18th |
| Diodato & Roy Paci | 14 | "Adesso" | 9th (2.80%) | 6th | 2nd | 6.78% | 8th |
| Nina Zilli | 15 | "Senza appartenere" | 18th (1.40%) | 11th | 17th | 1.94% | 17th |
| Noemi | 16 | "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" | 16th (1.60%) | 17th | 14th | 2.09% | 14th |
| Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | 17 | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | 1st (24.58%) | 4th | 3rd | 16.56% | 1st |
| Mario Biondi | 18 | "Rivederti" | 20th (1.00%) | 9th | 17th | 1.69% | 19th |
| Le Vibrazioni | 19 | "Così sbagliato" | 17th (1.52%) | 13th | 8th | 2.82% | 11th |
| Enzo Avitabile feat. Peppe Servillo | 20 | "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" | 14th (1.75%) | 13th | 10th | 2.79% | 12th |

#### Superfinal

* Winner
* Runner-up
* Third place
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Expert Jury (weight 20%) | Public (weight 50%) | Average | Place |
| Annalisa | 1 | "Il mondo prima di te" | 3rd | 1st | 2nd (23,44%) | 26,94% | 3 |
| Lo Stato Sociale | 2 | "Una vita in vacanza" | 1st | 3rd | 3rd (22,10%) | 28,40% | 2 |
| Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | 3 | "Non mi avete fatto niente" | 2nd | 2nd | 1st (54,41%) | 44,66% | 1 |

## Special guests

The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2018 were:
* Singers / musicians: Biagio Antonacci, Gianni Morandi, Gianna Nannini, Nek, Gino Paoli, Laura Pausini, Max Pezzali, Piero Pelù, Danilo Rea, Francesco Renga, Shaggy, Sting, James Taylor.
* Bands / music groups: Il Volo, Negramaro.
* Actors / comedians / directors / models: Stefano Accorsi, Carolina Crescentini, Elena Cucci, Nino Frassica, Rosario Fiorello, Claudia Gerini, Massimo Ghini, Sabrina Impacciatore, Ivano Marescotti, Giulia Michelini, Giampaolo Morelli, Gabriele Muccino, Stefania Sandrelli, Valeria Solarino, Gianmarco Tognazzi.
* Other notable figures: Antonella Clerici, Pippo Baudo, Franca Leosini, Giorgio Panariello.

## Related shows
### Primafestival

Sergio Assisi and Melissa Greta Marchetto present Primafestival, a small show on air on Rai 1 immediately after TG1. The show features details, curiosities and news relating to Sanremo Music Festival 2018.

### Dopofestival

Edoardo Leo and Carolina Di Domenico, with the participation of Sabrina Impacciatore, Rolando Ravello, Paolo Genovese, Rocco Tanica and a group of journalists of Italian press, presents ...tanto siamo tra amici al Dopofestival, a talk show on air on Rai 1 immediately after Sanremo Music Festival. The show features comments about the Festival as well as interviews to the singers competing in the song contest.

## Broadcast and ratings
### Local broadcast

Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 are the official broadcasters of the festival in Italy. The show is also available in streaming via website on Rai Play.

#### Ratings Sanremo Music Festival 2018

The audience is referred to the one of Rai 1.
| Live Show | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | 1st time (9.00pm - 0.00am) | 1st time (9.00pm - 0.00am) | 2nd time (0.00am - 1.00am) | 2nd time (0.00am - 1.00am) | Overall audience | Overall audience |
| Live Show | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) | Viewers | Share (%) | Viewers | Share (%) |
| 1st | 9:00 pm | February 6 | 13,776,000 | 51.4% | 6,624,000 | 55.4% | 11,603,000 | 52.1% |
| 2nd | 9:00 pm | February 7 | 11,458,000 | 46.6% | 5,870,000 | 52.9% | 9,687,000 | 47.7% |
| 3rd | 9:00 pm | February 8 | 12,657,000 | 51.1% | 6,146,000 | 54.4% | 10,825,000 | 51.6% |
| 4th | 9:00 pm | February 9 | 12,246,000 | 49.1% | 6,985,000 | 57.1% | 10,108,000 | 51.1% |
| 5th | 9:00 pm | February 10 | 13,240,000 | 54.0% | 10,404,000 | 69.0% | 12,125,000 | 58.3% |

#### Ratings Prima Festival 2018

| Episode | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) |
| 1 | 8:30 pm | February 6 | 8,251,000 | 29.8% |
| 2 | 8:30 pm | February 7 | 7,346,000 | 28.2% |
| 3 | 8:30 pm | February 8 | 7,232,000 | 27.9% |
| 4 | 8:30 pm | February 9 | 7,021,000 | 27.4% |
| 5 | 8:30 pm | February 10 | 8,123,000 | 34.4% |

#### Ratings Dopo Festival 2018

| Episode | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) |
| 1 | 1:00 am | February 7 | 2,078,000 | 37.1% |
| 2 | 1:00 am | February 8 | 1,979,000 | 37.3% |
| 3 | 1:00 am | February 9 | 2,042,000 | 38.0% |
| 4 | 1:00 am | February 10 | 2,400,000 | 41.7% |
| 5 | 1:00 am | February 11 | 3,518,000 | 48.7% |

### International broadcast

The international television service Rai Italia broadcast the competition in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. The contest will be broadcast in Albania by RTSH and Russia by Vremya. The contest is also visible via website on Eurovision.