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Sanremo 2026: First Night, Top 5
The 30 competing singers were voted on by the press room, TV and web jury. Here are the top five positions in the Sanremo 2026 rankings at the end of the first night.
Sanremo 2026, the minute-by-minute lineup of the first night: Can Yaman as co-host, Max Pezzali from the cruise ship and Tiziano Ferro as guest. The show opens with Olly, scheduled to end at 1:44 a.m. The 76th edition of the festival hosted by Carlo Conti has begun.
The first night of Sanremo 2026 closed with performances from all 30 competing singers. The artists presented their songs and were voted on by the press room, TV and web jury. At the end of the voting, hosts Carlo Conti, Laura Pausini and Can Yaman announced the first five positions — in random order — of the provisional ranking.
Here are the artists in the first Top 5 of Sanremo 2026:
Arisa with “Magica favola”
Fulminacci with “Stupida sfortuna”
Serena Brancale with “Qui con me”
Ditonellapiaga with “Che fastidio!”
Fedez & Masini with “Male necessario”
Laura Pausini co-hosted alongside Carlo Conti throughout the Festival evenings. But Sanremo, as we well know, is not only about music. Also taking the stage was Turkish actor Can Yaman, co-host of the first episode and fresh from the success of “Sandokan” on Rai1. He was joined by Kabir Bedi for a unique one-to-one meeting between the historic 1976 “Sandokan” and the recent remake.
When they approached each other, Can Yaman paid tribute to his predecessor with a gesture rooted in Turkish tradition: he took Kabir Bedi’s hand, gently asked “May I?”, and after receiving the actor’s consent, kissed it and touched it to his forehead. The meeting coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first “Sandokan,” one of the most beloved television dramas in Italian TV history, which aired in 1976. To lighten the emotional tension, Laura Pausini joked about Carlo Conti dressed as Sandokan, while a revised version of the historic theme song — “Carlokan” — played in the theatre.
At the midday press conference, Yaman spoke about his recent arrest in Istanbul during an anti-drug raid, reiterating that “there is no case.” He added: “(…) They were routine checks in Turkey; it’s a period like this, they are checking everyone. I tested negative, and they released me after 24 hours. There is no case. Case closed, but there never was a case. They take you, they check you, and if you’re clean, they release you,” the actor told the many journalists present.
Tribute to Peppe Vessicchio
Peppe Vessicchio has made history at Sanremo. On the first night of the Festival, he could not go unmentioned. Conductor at the Ariston Theatre thirty times, he directed four of the winning songs. “Welcome to the Italian Song Festival, to the Sanremo Festival.” It could only be the voice of Pippo Baudo opening the Festival, the first without the great host who led and “invented” 13 editions on the Ariston stage. “Pippo! Pippo! Pippo!” the entire theatre chanted in unison.
Wonderful Olly…
Carlo Conti: “It’s nice to start from where we left off.” Olly returned to the Ariston stage — the same stage that crowned him Festival winner a year ago, definitively establishing him with the general public. The singer performed at the official opening of the inaugural evening with “Balorda Nostalgia,” the winning song from the previous edition, accompanied by the orchestra conducted by Maestro Giovanni Pallotti. It was here, last February 15, that he achieved victory, marking a decisive milestone in his musical career.
At the end of the performance, the Festival’s host and artistic director, Carlo Conti, congratulated him on the success of “Tutta vita,” the best-selling album of 2025 with over 350,000 copies sold, seven platinum records, 66 weeks on the charts, 12 of which at number one.
Gianna Pratesi Celebrates the Italian Republic
The first night also welcomed, among its guests, a special story. Great — indeed very great — was Mrs Gianna Pratesi from Chiavari, 105 years old and lively and outspoken. She embodies the Republic formed 80 years ago, thanks to the vote of June 2, 1946. She also symbolises women voting for the first time. What did she vote for? “In my house, we were certain — all left-wing, not fascists.” And she chose “Republic.”
The lineup for the second night: guests and competing artists
Tonight, Wednesday, February 25, the Sanremo 2026 Festival moves into full swing with the second night of its 76th edition. Carlo Conti, leading the event for the second consecutive year, hosts this second episode, which features performances by fifteen Big artists in competition, challenges between four Newcomers, and the presence of Achille Lauro, Pilar Fogliati, and Lillo as co-hosts. Voting will be entrusted to the Radio Jury and the Televote, with the addition of the Press Room, TV and Web Jury for the youth section.