The first edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, held between 29 and 31 January 1951, was broadcast by RAI's radio station Rete Rossa, and its only three participants were Nilla Pizzi, Achille Togliani, and Duo Fasano.

[13][14] It has launched the careers of some of Italy's most successful musical acts, including Toto Cutugno,[15] Gigliola Cinquetti,[16] Laura Pausini,[17] Eros Ramazzotti,[18] Andrea Bocelli,[19] Giorgia,[20] Il Volo,[21][22] and Måneskin.

[27] This became a way for many international artists to debut their songs on the Italian market, including Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Gloria Gaynor, Dionne Warwick, Jose Feliciano, Roberto Carlos, Paul Anka, Miriam Makeba, Bonnie Tyler, Shirley Bassey, Mungo Jerry, Kiss, Laura Branigan, Alla Pugacheva,[28][29] and many others.

In the aftermath of World War II, one of the proposals to revitalize the economy and the reputation of Sanremo was to create an annual music festival to be held in the city.

[31][32] During the summer of 1950, the administrator of the Sanremo Casino, Piero Bussetti, and the conductor of the RAI orchestra, Giulio Razzi, rediscussed the idea, deciding to launch a competition among previously unreleased songs.

[35] Two years later, in 1955, the festival made its first appearance on television, since part of the final night was also broadcast by RAI's channel Programma Nazionale.

[40] The theater later became the usual location for the annual contest,[41] hosting it every year except in 1990, when the show was held at the Nuovo Mercato dei Fiori, also known as Palafiori.

[48] The category Classic was abolished in 2006,[49] while starting from 2007, the festival came back to the rules used in the 1990s, with two completely separate competitions for established artists and newcomers.

A petition was launched by the founder of Mia Martini's official club, Chez Mimi, alongside Alba Calia and Dori Ghezzi and supported by numerous Italian artists, including Mina, Luciano Pavarotti, Fabrizio De André, Lucio Dalla, and Franco Battiato.

[177] The song "Io che non vivo (senza te)", sung at the fifteenth edition of the Sanremo Festival by Pino Donaggio, was recorded in English by Dusty Springfield under the title "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me".

[186] The winning song of the 1982 Sanremo Festival, "Storie di tutti i giorni" by Riccardo Fogli, was sung by Dutch singer Marco Borsato, with the title "Dromen zijn deception"; his version became one of the most successful Dutch-language singles of all time.

[190] The song "Con te partirò" was first performed by Andrea Bocelli at the 1995 Sanremo Festival, topping the charts in several European countries.

[192] "Non ho l'età" by Gigliola Cinquetti (1964), "Sarà perché ti amo" by Ricchi e Poveri (1981), "Maledetta primavera" by Loretta Goggi (1981), "Felicità" by Al Bano and Romina Power (1982), "L'Italiano" by Toto Cutugno (1983), "Adesso tu" by Eros Ramazzotti (1986), "La solitudine" by Laura Pausini (1993), and "Il mare calmo della sera" by Andrea Bocelli (1994) also became international hits.

[193][194] In 1994, the song "La mia storia tra le dita", which Gianluca Grignani sang at Sanremo, became a hit in South America, selling two million copies.

[197] "Zitti e buoni" by Måneskin won both the Sanremo Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021, topping the charts in several European countries.

American singer Verdelle Smith sang an English version of the song, titled "Tar and Cement", which made it to number one in Australia and became one of the year's biggest sellers.

[201] In Sweden, Anna-Lena Löfgren sang it with Swedish lyrics as "Lyckliga gatan", making the biggest hit of her career.

[202] The song became successful in France when it was covered by Françoise Hardy, under the title "La maison où j'ai grandi".

The first women ever to host the event alone were Lilly Lembo and Giuliana Calandra in 1961, followed by Maria Giovanna Elmi in 1978, Loretta Goggi in 1986, Raffaella Carrà in 2001, Simona Ventura in 2004, and Antonella Clerici in 2010.