Italian music is an important part of Italy's global cultural and linguistic promotion. On the eve of Sanremo 2025, the Dante Alighieri Society has completed the first phase of an online survey project to identify the most loved and listened to Italian songs and the most popular Italian singers in the world. The project was curated by Fabio Caon, a professor at Ca' Foscari University who directs the LABCOM intercultural communication and educational laboratory and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Dante Alighieri Society. The project, titled "Canzoni ambasciatrici d’Italia" (Songs as Ambassadors of Italy), is in its second edition after that of 2018: a questionnaire aimed at teachers and students of Italian around the world aims to understand which songs are the most listened to, both in school or in Italian classes, and outside of the educational environment. Initial findings, based on responses from 190 teachers across 42 countries, were released on February 10. However, the number of requests remains high, and the investigation's deadline has been extended to March 15, 2025. A few confirmations and a few anomalies can already be observed in the data. After the project is completed, in March, the most popular, most appreciated, and most interesting songs from a linguistic standpoint among those nominated by the teachers will be made available to the teachers in a didactic format. Cameroon, Bulgaria, China, the United Arab Emirates, India, and Peru have all joined the initiative.
Countries participating in the survey include Cameroon, Bulgaria, China, the United Arab Emirates, India, and Peru. Beyond academic settings, many of the most beloved Italian songs remain unchanged from the 2018 edition:

    Con te partirò (Time to Say Goodbye)
    Nel blu dipinto di blu (Domenico Modugno)
    Azzurro (Adriano Celentano)
    L’italiano (Toto Cutugno)
    Con te partirò (Italian version – Luciano Pavarotti)
    Felicità (Romina e Albano)
    Un’estate italiana (Notti magiche – Gianna Nannini)
    La solitudine (Laura Pausini)
    O sole mio
    Sarà perché ti amo (Ricchi e Poveri)

Sanremo plays a crucial role in spreading Italian music globally. Examples include:

    Grande amore (Il Volo)
    Soldi and Tuta Gold (Mahmood)
    Zitti e buoni (Måneskin)

Some artists have multiple internationally famous songs:

    Eros Ramazzotti (Cose della vita, Più bella cosa, Adesso tu)
    Jovanotti (Fuorionda, Un mondo a parte)

New entries include:

    Annalisa (Sinceramente, Storie brevi with Tananai, Mon amour)
    The Kolors (Italodisco)

Social media, TV series, and remixes have also played a role in popularizing certain songs:

    Pedro (Raffaella Carrà, Jaxomy & Agatino Romero Remix)
    Con te partirò (featured in Squid Game 2)
    Bella ciao (La Casa de Papel)
    La mia storia tra le dita (theme song of a Brazilian telenovela)

Notably, singer-songwriters remain underrepresented in the rankings.