Ramazzotti first took part in 1981 in a music contest called Voci Nuove di Castrocaro (new voices of Castrocaro Terme) with the song "Rock 80" (written by himself) in front of various record label representatives. Even though, the contest was won by Zucchero and Fiordaliso, Ramazzotti managed to reach the final and received two votes from Roberto Galanti and Baron Lando Lanni who represented the newly born label DDD. Soon Eros received his first contract with DDD and moved to Milan with his brother Marco and his mother Raffaella.

Ramazzotti's first single "Ad un amico" appeared in 1982 which, however, was not successful. Soon after Eros met his mentor Renato Brioschi, who helped the young artist find his first success as in 1984 he took part at highly-regarded Sanremo Festival with his song "Terra promessa", winning the competition for the category "Newcomers". The song was then released Europe-wide. In 1985, once again Ramazzotti took part at the Sanremo Festival with his "Una storia importante", a song from his debut album Cuori agitati, which reached number six place at the festival. The single "Una storia importante" became a huge hit in many European countries including France where it sold a million units alone.

His second album Nuovi eroi was released in 1986. The single "Adesso tu" was performed at Sanremo Festival, where Ramazzotti won the overall competition.

In 1987 Ramazzotti went on a nine-month long tour after releasing his third album In certi momenti, performing in front of more than a million people. In certi momenti sold more than 3 million copies. A year thereafter, in May 1988, he released a seven-track mini-album Musica è.

Ramazzotti released a series of albums in quick succession consisting of ballads with soft instrumentation as well as mid-tempo soft-rock ballads which launched him both domestically and internationally (he records most of his albums in Spanish as well as in Italian).

The fifth album, entitled In ogni senso, released in April 1990, attracted more than two hundred journalists from around the world who attended the press conference of the album's presentation in Venice. In 1993 he released Tutte storie, and he toured in Europe and 15 Latin American countries (where he has been releasing his albums in Spanish). In November of the same year, Ramazzotti performed his "Cose della vita" at MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin. The album Tutte storie which eventually sold 6 million copies world-wide helped Ramazzotti get his contract with BMG International.

In the summer of 1995 Ramazzotti participated in the European summer festival along with Rod Stewart Elton John and Joe Cocker. A year thereafter, on May 13, 1996 his seven million seller-album Dove c'è musica was released, which happened to be the first album completely self-produced by Eros. On December 5 of the same year his ex-wife Michelle Hunziker(Swiss model and television host) gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie.

In October 1997 Ramazzotti's Eros – Greatest Hits CD appeared, containing two unreleased tracks up to now "Quanto amore sei" and "Ancora un minuto di sole" as well as several previous hits in a reworked format including "Musica è" (duet with Andrea Bocelli) and "Cose della vita-Can’t Stop Thinking of You" (duet with Tina Turner. The collection of his hits went on selling well over 7 million units world-wide.

In the October of 2000 he published his eighth album Stilelibero, which contained a duet with the American diva Cher in the song "Più che puoi". The album reached the Top-5 album charts throughout Europe. Ramazzotti has done duets with several well-known artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner Cher, Anastacia Luciano Pavarotti and Laura Pausini

On May 30, 2003 Ramazzotti released his ninth studio album which was also entitled 9. The first single "Un’Emozione Per Sempre" was released on May 9 which quickly climbed all the way to the top and stayed at no. 1 position in Italy's official single chart for nine consecutive weeks.

His success greatly lies beneath his unique voice which could be described as somewhat nasal but yet a bit aggressive at the same time and he always delivers catchy, melodic tunes throughout the refrains of his songs that are passionate autobiographical ballads often rich in soft-rock influence. He is especially popular in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, and most Spanish-speaking countries. During his 25 year career he has sold over 40 million records worldwide.