# Sanremo Music Festival 2019

The Sanremo Music Festival 2019 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2019), officially the 69th Italian Song Festival (69º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 69th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by RAI. The show was held between 5 February 2019 and 9 February 2019. Claudio Baglioni was the artistic director of the contest, and co-hosted it with Virginia Raffaele and Claudio Bisio.
24 entries competed in one section only, contrarily to previous editions which featured at least two sections. Mahmood emerged as the winner of the festival with his song "Soldi", earning the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

## Format
### Presenters

Singer-songwriter and musician, Claudio Baglioni, who was also the competition's artistic director, hosted the Sanremo Music Festival for the second consecutive year, alongside co-hosts Claudio Bisio and Virginia Raffaele.

### 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 was composed by Mauro Pagani (president), Ferzan Özpetek, Camila Raznovich, Claudia Pandolfi, Elena Sofia Ricci, Beppe Severgnini, Serena Dandini and Joe Bastianich.
The three voting systems were distributed in the following percentages:
* 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
### Ecco Sanremo Giovani

Unlike previous editions, the Newcomers' section was not included in the Festival, but a similar selection was held to decree the two places reserved in the Big Artist section. The artists competing in the new format were selected through two separate contests: Standard section and Area Sanremo. The selection was preceded by four afternoon shows, conducted by Luca Barbarossa and Andrea Perroni, where the artists and their entries were presented.

#### Standard selection

On October 19, 2018, Rai Commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2019 announced a list of 677 acts, but only 69 artists coming from all Italian regions -excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta- and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On November 27, 2018, Rai Commission announced the eighteen finalists.

#### Area Sanremo

After the auditions, RAI Commission - composed by Claudio Baglioni, Claudio Fasulo, Duccio Forzano, Massimo Giuliano, Massimo Martelli and Geoff Westley- identified 6 finalists for the competition among the 225 acts:

### Sanremo Giovani 2018

On December 20 and 21, 2018, the twenty four finalists performed their songs at Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, with the show Sanremo Giovani 2018 broadcast on Rai 1 presented by Pippo Baudo and Fabio Rovazzi. The two winners of the nights participated in Sanremo 2019 with a new entry. Einar and Mahmood were selected as the winners.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Televote results | Televote results |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Percentage | Place |
| 1 | Fosco17 | "Dicembre" | 8 | 4.65% | 9 |
| 2 | Einar | "Centomila volte" | 1 | 24.32% | 1 |
| 3 | Andrea Biagioni | "Alba piena" | 4 | 7.75% | 6 |
| 4 | Symo | "Paura di amare" | 12 | 3.02% | 11 |
| 5 | Fedrix & Flaw | "L'impresa" | 10 | 4.67% | 8 |
| 6 | Ros | "Incendio" | 6 | 7.88% | 4 |
| 7 | Marte Marasco | "Nella mia testa" | 7 | 6.13% | 7 |
| 8 | Wepro | "Stop/Replay" | 9 | 3.36% | 10 |
| 9 | Giulia Mutti | "Almeno tre" | 5 | 9.67% | 3 |
| 10 | Federica Abbate | "Finalmente" | 2 | 7.88% | 4 |
| 11 | Diego Conti | "3 gradi" | 11 | 2.81% | 12 |
| 12 | Deschema | "Cristallo" | 3 | 17.85% | 2 |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Televote results | Televote results |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Percentage | Place |
| 1 | Le Ore | "La mia felpa è come me" | 11 | 4.68% | 8 |
| 2 | Francesca Miola | "Amarsi non serve" | 9 | 5.32% | 6 |
| 3 | Mahmood | "Gioventù bruciata" | 1 | 5.03% | 7 |
| 4 | Angelucci | "L'uomo che verrà" | 7 | 7.10% | 4 |
| 5 | Sisma | "Slow motion" | 5 | 6.16% | 5 |
| 6 | La Rua | "Alla mia età si vola" | 2 | 35.08% | 1 |
| 7 | Nyvinne | "Io ti penso" | 3 | 4.40% | 9 |
| 8 | Cordio | "La nostra vita" | 4 | 14.76% | 2 |
| 9 | La Zero | "Nina è brava" | 8 | 3.83% | 10 |
| 10 | Cannella | "Nei miei ricordi" | 10 | 2.93% | 11 |
| 11 | Saita | "Niwrad" | 12 | 1.08% | 12 |
| 12 | Mescalina | "Chiamami amore adesso" | 6 | 9.65% | 3 |

### Big Artists section

The Big Artists section of the contest reverted to 24 artists, after briefly going up to 22 the previous year. Like the previous year, there were no eliminations during the four weeknight shows. All the artists performed several times and were scored during the week, but every competing artist advanced to the final night.

## Shows
### First evening

The 24 Big Artists each performed their song for the first time.
* High ranking
* Middle ranking
* Low ranking
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Francesco Renga | 1 | "Aspetto che torni" | 3.74% | 8 | 20 | 3.47% | 11 |
| Nino D'Angelo & Livio Cori | 2 | "Un'altra luce" | 2.51% | 20 | 21 | 1.94% | 22 |
| Nek | 3 | "Mi farò trovare pronto" | 4.04% | 5 | 16 | 4.11% | 10 |
| The Zen Circus | 4 | "L'amore è una dittatura" | 2.28% | 17 | 11 | 2.98% | 16 |
| Il Volo | 5 | "Musica che resta" | 17.21% | 1 | 13 | 10.72% | 2 |
| Loredana Bertè | 6 | "Cosa ti aspetti da me" | 3.92% | 3 | 5 | 5.85% | 4 |
| Daniele Silvestri | 7 | "Argentovivo" | 2.90% | 6 | 3 | 5.30% | 5 |
| Federica Carta & Shade | 8 | "Senza farlo apposta" | 5.27% | 12 | 24 | 3.45% | 12 |
| Ultimo | 9 | "I tuoi particolari" | 17.99% | 2 | 6 | 11.53% | 1 |
| Paola Turci | 10 | "L'ultimo ostacolo" | 2.57% | 11 | 14 | 3.15% | 14 |
| Motta | 11 | "Dov'è l'Italia" | 1.57% | 22 | 9 | 2.63% | 19 |
| Boomdabash | 12 | "Per un milione" | 4.80% | 10 | 12 | 4.55% | 9 |
| Patty Pravo feat. Briga | 13 | "Un po' come la vita" | 3.31% | 16 | 19 | 2.69% | 18 |
| Simone Cristicchi | 14 | "Abbi cura di me" | 4.06% | 4 | 2 | 6.43% | 3 |
| Achille Lauro | 15 | "Rolls Royce" | 2.74% | 24 | 7 | 3.14% | 15 |
| Arisa | 16 | "Mi sento bene" | 2.07% | 9 | 4 | 4.69% | 7 |
| Negrita | 17 | "I ragazzi stanno bene" | 2.09% | 14 | 15 | 2.58% | 20 |
| Ghemon | 18 | "Rose viola" | 1.81% | 23 | 18 | 1.75% | 23 |
| Einar | 19 | "Parole nuove" | 2.49% | 18 | 23 | 1.96% | 21 |
| Ex-Otago | 20 | "Solo una canzone" | 3.95% | 21 | 16 | 2.82% | 17 |
| Anna Tatangelo | 21 | "Le nostre anime di notte" | 1.20% | 15 | 22 | 1.57% | 24 |
| Irama | 22 | "La ragazza con il cuore di latta" | 4.52% | 7 | 9 | 4.91% | 6 |
| Enrico Nigiotti | 23 | "Nonno Hollywood" | 1.22% | 13 | 8 | 3.22% | 13 |
| Mahmood | 24 | "Soldi" | 1.74% | 19 | 1 | 4.55% | 8 |

### Second evening

The first twelve Big Artists each performed their song again.
* High ranking
* Middle ranking
* Low ranking
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Achille Lauro | 1 | "Rolls Royce" | 7.13% | 12 | 4 | 7.55% | 5 |
| Einar | 2 | "Parole nuove" | 6.57% | 8 | 11 | 4.96% | 10 |
| Il Volo | 3 | "Musica che resta" | 38.32% | 1 | 8 | 21.51% | 1 |
| Arisa | 4 | "Mi sento bene" | 5.83% | 5 | 1 | 12.78% | 2 |
| Nek | 5 | "Mi farò trovare pronto" | 5.88% | 4 | 9 | 6.56% | 6 |
| Daniele Silvestri | 6 | "Argentovivo" | 5.40% | 3 | 2 | 10.95% | 4 |
| Ex-Otago | 7 | "Solo una canzone" | 5.78% | 10 | 6 | 5.00% | 9 |
| Ghemon | 8 | "Rose viola" | 3.42% | 11 | 5 | 3.92% | 11 |
| Loredana Bertè | 9 | "Cosa ti aspetti da me" | 8.12% | 2 | 3 | 12.35% | 3 |
| Paola Turci | 10 | "L'ultimo ostacolo" | 3.21% | 6 | 7 | 5.04% | 8 |
| Negrita | 11 | "I ragazzi stanno bene" | 3.06% | 9 | 10 | 3.79% | 12 |
| Federica Carta & Shade | 12 | "Senza farlo apposta" | 7.29% | 7 | 12 | 5.58% | 7 |

### Third evening

The other twelve Big Artists each performed their song for the second time.
* High ranking
* Middle ranking
* Low ranking
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 40%) | Demoscopic Jury (weight 30%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Mahmood | 1 | "Soldi" | 4.32% | 8 | 2 | 8.94% | 4 |
| Enrico Nigiotti | 2 | "Nonno Hollywood" | 8.02% | 5 | 6 | 8.65% | 5 |
| Anna Tatangelo | 3 | "Le nostre anime di notte" | 2.85% | 7 | 9 | 4.15% | 10 |
| Ultimo | 4 | "I tuoi particolari" | 27.92% | 2 | 3 | 19.90% | 1 |
| Francesco Renga | 5 | "Aspetto che torni" | 6.83% | 4 | 8 | 7.29% | 7 |
| Irama | 6 | "La ragazza con il cuore di latta" | 14.62% | 3 | 4 | 12.32% | 3 |
| Patty Pravo feat. Briga | 7 | "Un po' come la vita" | 3.77% | 10 | 11 | 3.58% | 11 |
| Simone Cristicchi | 8 | "Abbi cura di me" | 9.69% | 1 | 1 | 13.99% | 2 |
| Boomdabash | 9 | "Per un milione" | 11.42% | 6 | 10 | 8.29% | 6 |
| Motta | 10 | "Dov'è l'Italia" | 2.64% | 12 | 5 | 4.66% | 9 |
| The Zen Circus | 11 | "L'amore è un dittatura" | 3.73% | 9 | 7 | 5.11% | 8 |
| Nino D'Angelo & Livio Cori | 12 | "Un'altra luce" | 4.20% | 11 | 12 | 3.13% | 12 |

### Fourth evening

The 24 Big Artists performed their songs in a duet with a guest artist.
| Artist - Guest | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist - Guest | Draw | Song | Public (weight 50%) | Experts Jury (weight 20%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Federica Carta & Shade - Cristina D'Avena | 1 | "Senza farlo apposta" | 7 | 21 | 20 | 2,40 | 16 |
| Motta - Nada | 2 | "Dov'è l'Italia" | 23 | 3 | 13 | 3,89 | 9 |
| Irama - Noemi | 3 | "La ragazza con il cuore di latta" | 4 | 13 | 11 | 5,61 | 7 |
| Patty Pravo feat. Briga - Giovanni Caccamo | 4 | "Un po' come la vita" | 15 | 15 | 23 | 1,42 | 21 |
| Negrita - Enrico Ruggeri and Roy Paci | 5 | "I ragazzi stanno bene" | 20 | 11 | 19 | 1,86 | 19 |
| Il Volo - Alessandro Quarta | 6 | "Musica che resta" | 1 | 21 | 9 | 12,47 | 1 |
| Arisa - Tony Hadley and Kataklò | 7 | "Mi sento bene" | 9 | 8 | 1 | 5,41 | 8 |
| Mahmood - Gué Pequeno | 7 | "Soldi" | 13 | 1 | 3 | 8,30 | 3 |
| Ghemon - Diodato and Calibro 35 | 9 | "Rose viola" | 19 | 5 | 8 | 3,82 | 10 |
| Francesco Renga - Bungaro, Eleonora Abbagnato and Friedemann Vogel | 10 | "Aspetto che torni" | 8 | 18 | 18 | 2,10 | 17 |
| Ultimo - Fabrizio Moro | 11 | "I tuoi particolari" | 3 | 6 | 7 | 10,29 | 2 |
| Nek - Neri Marcorè | 12 | "Mi farò trovare pronto" | 13 | 15 | 20 | 1,60 | 20 |
| Boomdabash - Rocco Hunt and Musici Cantori di Milano | 13 | "Per un milione" | 6 | 9 | 16 | 3,76 | 11 |
| The Zen Circus - Brunori Sas | 14 | "L'amore è una dittatura" | 14 | 10 | 14 | 2,61 | 14 |
| Paola Turci - Giuseppe Fiorello | 15 | "L'ultimo ostacolo" | 22 | 12 | 17 | 1,87 | 18 |
| Anna Tatangelo - Syria | 16 | "Le nostre anime di notte" | 24 | 18 | 15 | 1,29 | 22 |
| Ex-Otago - Jack Savoretti | 17 | "Solo una canzone" | 17 | 6 | 12 | 3,05 | 13 |
| Enrico Nigiotti - Paolo Jannacci and Massimo Ottoni | 18 | "Nonno Hollywood" | 10 | 18 | 10 | 2,49 | 15 |
| Loredana Bertè - Irene Grandi | 19 | "Cosa ti aspetti da me" | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7,08 | 4 |
| Daniele Silvestri - Manuel Agnelli | 20 | "Argentovivo" | 21 | 2 | 2 | 6,35 | 6 |
| Einar - Biondo and Sergio Sylvestre | 21 | "Parole nuove" | 16 | 21 | 23 | 1,19 | 23 |
| Simone Cristicchi - Ermal Meta | 22 | "Abbi cura di me" | 5 | 13 | 4 | 6,55 | 5 |
| Nino D'Angelo & Livio Cori - Sottotono | 23 | "Un'altra luce" | 18 | 21 | 22 | 1,18 | 24 |
| Achille Lauro - Morgan | 24 | "Rolls Royce" | 11 | 15 | 6 | 3,41 | 12 |

### Fifth evening

The 24 Big Artists each performed their entry again for a final time. The top three faced a superfinal vote, then the winner of Sanremo 2019 was decided.
* Advanced to second round
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Public (weight 50%) | Experts Jury (weight 20%) | Press Jury (weight 30%) | Average | Place |
| Daniele Silvestri | 1 | "Argentovivo" | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5,87 | 6 |
| Anna Tatangelo | 2 | "Le nostre anime di notte" | 18 | 18 | 18 | 1,08 | 22 |
| Ghemon | 3 | "Rose viola" | 17 | 5 | 9 | 3,16 | 12 |
| Negrita | 4 | "I ragazzi stanno bene" | 21 | 10 | 18 | 1,55 | 20 |
| Ultimo | 5 | "I tuoi particolari" | 1 | 7 | 6 | 12,92 | 2 |
| Nek | 6 | "Mi farò trovare pronto" | 14 | 17 | 20 | 1,49 | 19 |
| Loredana Bertè | 7 | "Cosa ti aspetti da me" | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10,35 | 4 |
| Francesco Renga | 8 | "Aspetto che torni" | 13 | 18 | 17 | 1,65 | 15 |
| Mahmood | 9 | "Soldi" | 7 | 1 | 2 | 13,30 | 1 |
| Ex-Otago | 10 | "Sola una canzone" | 16 | 8 | 11 | 2,58 | 13 |
| Il Volo | 11 | "Musica che resta" | 2 | 21 | 13 | 9,48 | 3 |
| Paola Turci | 12 | "L'ultimo ostacolo" | 15 | 9 | 16 | 2,11 | 16 |
| The Zen Circus | 13 | "L'amore è una dittatura" | 19 | 12 | 12 | 1,75 | 17 |
| Patty Pravo ft. Briga | 14 | "Un po' come la vita" | 22 | 18 | 21 | 0,85 | 21 |
| Arisa | 15 | "Mi sento bene" | 12 | 3 | 4 | 4,95 | 8 |
| Irama | 16 | "La ragazza con il cuore di latta" | 4 | 12 | 10 | 5,60 | 7 |
| Achille Lauro | 17 | "Rolls Royce" | 8 | 12 | 7 | 4,09 | 9 |
| Nino D'Angelo & Livio Cori | 18 | "Un'altra luce" | 20 | 21 | 23 | 0,72 | 24 |
| Federica Carta & Shade | 19 | "Senza farlo apposta" | 11 | 21 | 21 | 1,52 | 18 |
| Simone Cristicchi | 20 | "Abbi cura di me" | 5 | 12 | 4 | 6,01 | 5 |
| Enrico Nigiotti | 21 | "Nonno Hollywood" | 6 | 12 | 8 | 3,53 | 10 |
| Boomdabash | 22 | "Per un milione" | 10 | 11 | 15 | 2,55 | 11 |
| Einar | 23 | "Parole nuove" | 23 | 21 | 23 | 0,68 | 23 |
| Motta | 24 | "Dov'è l'Italia" | 24 | 4 | 14 | 2,23 | 14 |

#### Superfinal

* Winner
* Runner-up
* Third place
| Artist | Draw | Song | Votes | Votes | Votes | Place |
| Artist | Draw | Song | Jury (weight 50%) | Public (weight 50%) | Average | Place |
| Ultimo | 1 | "I tuoi particolari" | 24.7% | 48.80% | 35.6% | 2nd |
| Il Volo | 2 | "Musica che resta" | 11.6% | 30.26% | 25.5% | 3rd |
| Mahmood | 3 | "Soldi" | 63.7% | 20.95% | 38.9% | 1st |

## Special guests

The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2019 were:
* Singers / musicians: Alessandra Amoroso, Anastastio, Andrea Bocelli, Antonello Venditti, Elisa Toffoli, Eros Ramazzotti, Fiorella Mannoia, Giorgia, Ligabue, Luis Fonsi, Marco Mengoni, Matteo Bocelli, Raf, Riccardo Cocciante, Tom Walker, Umberto Tozzi.
* Actors / comedians / directors / models: Claudio Santamaria, Laura Chiatti, Mago Forest, Michelle Hunziker, Michele Riondino, Pio e Amedeo, Pierfrancesco Favino, Serena Rossi.
* Other notable figures: Fabio Rovazzi, Pippo Baudo, Simona Ventura.

## Related shows
### Prima Festival

Simone Montedoro and Anna Ferzetti hosted PrimaFestival, a side-show that aired on Rai 1 immediately after TG1. The show featured details, curiosities and news relating to Sanremo Music Festival 2019.

### Dopo Festival

Rocco Papaleo, with the participation of Anna Foglietta and Melissa Greta Marchetto and a group of journalists of Italian press, hosted Dopofestival - The Dark Side of Sanremo a talk show that aired on Rai 1 immediately after Sanremo Music Festival. The show featured comments about the Festival as well as interviews to the singers competing in the song contest.

## Broadcast and ratings
### Local broadcast

Rai 1, Rai Premium 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 2019

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 5 | 12,282,000 | 49.4 | 5,120,000 | 50.1 | 10,086,000 | 49.5 |
| 2nd | 9:00 pm | February 6 | 10,959,000 | 46.3 | 5,260,000 | 52.0 | 9,144,000 | 47.3 |
| 3rd | 9:00 pm | February 7 | 10,851,000 | 46.4 | 5,099,000 | 49.0 | 9,409,000 | 46.7 |
| 4th | 9:00 pm | February 8 | 11,170,000 | 45.5 | 6,215,000 | 48.6 | 9,552,000 | 46.1 |
| 5th | 9:00 pm | February 9 | 12,129,000 | 53.1 | 8,394,000 | 65.2 | 10,622,000 | 56.5 |

#### Ratings Prima Festival 2019

| Episode | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) |
| 1 | 8:30 pm | February 5 | 8,012,000 | 29.9 |
| 2 | 8:30 pm | February 6 | 10,805,000 | 38.8 |
| 3 | 8:30 pm | February 7 | 9,574,000 | 35.2 |
| 4 | 8:30 pm | February 8 | 9,941,000 | 37.0 |
| 5 | 8:30 pm | February 9 | 10,691,000 | 43.5 |

#### Ratings Dopo Festival 2019

| Episode | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) |
| 1 | 1:00 am | February 6 | 1,663,000 | 36.0 |
| 2 | 1:00 am | February 7 | 1,802,000 | 37.4 |
| 3 | 1:00 am | February 8 | 1,650,000 | 32.5 |
| 4 | 1:00 am | February 9 | 2,025,000 | 35.0 |
| 5 | 1:00 am | February 10 | 3,305,000 | 51.0 |

### International broadcast

The international television service Rai Italia broadcast the competition in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. The contest was also streamed via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.