[3][4] The nickname comes from the surname of his close childhood friend, who jokingly suggested he celebrates his goals by mimicking a rooster's comb with an open hand to his forehead.

[11] The following season, he was fully promoted to the first team, and made 31 appearances in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, scoring 12 goals.

[14] He made his debut with the Sicilians on 24 September 2013, as a substitute for Davide Di Gennaro in a game against Bari, and provided an assist to Kyle Lafferty in a 2–1 loss.

He began the 2016–17 season scoring a header against AC Milan at the San Siro, but had a penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma in a 3–2 defeat.

[25] On 5 March 2017, he wore the captain's armband for the first time against Palermo,[26] in which he scored the fastest hat-trick in Serie A since 30 January 2000 (seven minutes and 15 seconds), surpassing the previous record belonging to the Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko.

[30] He ended the season with 26 goals in 35 appearances, and as the third top-scorer in the league behind Edin Džeko of Roma (29) and Dries Mertens of Napoli (28).

[36] Belotti concluded the season with 15 goals in Serie A - contributing to Torino's qualification to the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, after the exclusion of Milan.

On 25 July 2019, Belotti made his debut in UEFA competitions, in the first qualifying round of the Europa League against Debrecen, scoring the opening goal on a penalty kick.

[39] On 12 December 2020, in a league match lost 3–2 at home against Udinese, he scored his 100th goal for Torino in all competitions, equalling Adolfo Baloncieri in the club's all-time scorer list.

[47] On 25 June 2024, Belotti signed a two-year contract with newly promoted Serie A club Como,[48] for a reported fee of €4m plus an additional €1m in add-ons.

[51][52] In the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification round he featured as Italy's centre-forward in the team's 4–2–3–1 formation,[53] scoring once in three appearances.

On 5 September he featured in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification 3–1 loss at home to Belgium, later scoring his first goal in the group on 14 November, in a 3–0 win against Northern Ireland.

Under manager Luigi Di Biagio, Belotti took part in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic, scoring the opening goal in a 3–1 defeat of England in Italy's final group match, although the result was not enough to see the Italian under-21 side progress to the semi-finals, as the azzurrini finished third in their group, behind the two eventual finalists Portugal and Sweden.

[60] On 11 July, Belotti won the European Championship with Italy following a 3–2 penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley Stadium in the final, after a 1–1 draw in extra-time; Belotti came on as a substitute late in the second half of regulation time for Lorenzo Insigne, and in the shoot-out, he took Italy's second penalty, which was saved by Jordan Pickford.

Belotti began his career as a midfielder and winger,[63] but under the guidance of AlbinoLeffe's youth coach Alessio Pala, was converted to a forward.

[64] Compared to Gianluca Vialli for his athleticism and style of play,[65][66][67] Belotti is a quick,[68] physical,[69] and prolific striker,[70][71] who has a strong and powerful shot with either foot.

[72][73][74] He is strong in aerial duels,[75][76][77] and stands out for his acceleration,[78] tactical intelligence,[66] positioning,[68] work-rate,[79] and eye for goal,[80][81][82] which, along with his speed, allows him to lose his markers by making attacking runs into the penalty area.