I’m going to warn you right up front. What I am about to write will piss some people off. I am going to try to capture 17 beloved musical artists in a few lines and then pass judgment on whether they will or will not be entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year. And though I will try to remain as unbiased as I can, my opinion will sneak through the cracks.
This particular article invariably earns me more “what an idiot” kind of comments than any other I write. Even when I say that the Carpenters are way better than you think they are or that Aja can’t hold a candle The Royal Scam, I don’t get the same level vitriol. (OK—that Aja take does get me in a fair bit of trouble but only to the most audiophilic of readers.)
With that out of the way, let’s simply say that the RRHOF has just announced 17 new nominees for the class of 2026. About seven will get in – unless they change the rules without telling us, always a possibility. Assorted others will gain entry through other avenues. But these are the seventeen vying for induction as performers.
Let’s start with the ten first-time nominees, and we’ll go in alphabetical order.
Jeff Buckley
Why he’ll get in: Buckley is this year’s obscure niche artist. He is beloved to his fans and no one doubts his influence. Uncommon Ground in Chicago has hosted a Jeff Buckley tribute for 28 straight years since his tragic drowning in 1997, at the age of 30. Sometimes, an incredibly loyal core can push a performer past bigger names.
Why he won’t get in: He produced one album in his lifetime. True, many people consider Grace a landmark, but his output simply doesn’t stand up to many other artists in contention.
Chances: Highly unlikely. It seems to me that his essential cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” will one day be recognized in the Hall’s “song” collection, but I don’t know that Buckley ever enters as a performer.
Phil Collins
Why he’ll get in: He was a dominant solo artist through the 1980s who crossed over into films. Seven Billboard number one songs is a pretty damn impressive resume.
Why he won’t get in: Because those seven number ones represent some of the worst of American pop music in the ‘80s. I warned you there would be opinion, didn’t I? I think there are a fair number of people in the music establishment who share that point of view.
Chances: Medium. Look, Collins is already in the Hall as a member of Genesis. He was a very good drummer and a serviceable singer after Peter Gabriel left. That’s appropriate recognition. He does not need more.
Melissa Etheridge
Why she’ll get in: Etheridge is a killer blues rocker who was highly influential throughout the 1990s. and she has continued to put out quality music to this day.
Why she won’t get in: She has had modest commercial success. Only three of her albums have made it into the top ten.
Chances: Fair. There has been a bit of common wisdom amongst RRHOF devotees that Etheridge would get in at some point after Sheryl Crow. Crow made it three years ago. I tend to think this is not her year, but I’d be pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. And I hope that if she does make it, Bonnie Raitt does the induction. Etheridge presented Raitt when she was inducted in 2000.
Lauryn Hill
Why she’ll get in: Hugely respected in the industry. The genre barriers which define who and who isn’t worthy of induction in a “Rock and Roll” Hall of Fame have been largely erased. Neither Hill nor the Fugees were “rockers” but she has spanned enough adjacent genres to make her entirely eligible in the eyes of most voters.
Why she won’t get in: It’s Jeff Buckley, only not quite as austere. She has released one solo album. As a member of the Fugees, she released two. Granted, both The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and The Score are considered among the greatest of the past thirty years, but is it enough?
Chances: Good. Unlike Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill has been with us since her astonishing debut. She has released singles and worked with many other artists. The lack of production has been an act of her own will. Today, she is a figure of reverence in the music world.
INXS
Why they’ll get in: I like INXS a lot… I’m sorry, I thought I had more to say about that. The fact is, they were very good and pretty big for a brief period in the late 1980s, and they have been around for a long time, doing quality work. I’m not sure that get you home.
Why they won’t get in: Two of the other nominees this year come from a similar tradition – though both would slot into different genres. We’ll get to them soon, but suffice to say that for now, INXS has to wait behind several other bands.
Chances: Poor. Until (band-name-coming-soon) is inducted, INXS is out.
New Edition
Why they’ll get in: They were a dominant R&B act throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, with five R&B number ones. Six other singles charted in the top five.
Why they won’t get in: Not to sound like a broken record, but NE is in the exact same position as INXS as described above. There is a more deserving nominee in their field and until that artist gets in, NE has little chance.
Chances: Poor. I’m not sure they really have a chance regardless of other contenders. The question for voters will be whether they were so exceptional in their distantly-rock-adjacent field to earn entry into the RRHOF. That is so difficult to predict, and the standards seem to change each year.
P!NK
Why she’ll get in: How about a 20-year run in which eight of her nine albums went platinum – or multi-platinum. 15 top ten singles in the US and 21 in the UK.
Why she won’t get in: I have noticed a commonly oversimplified mindset that tends to lump all female pop rock acts this century onto the same Britney-esque family tree. I suspect Pink is going to suffer from that for a while.
Chances: Not nearly as good as they should be. Pink may not be old-school Rolling Stones, but she is much more closely-aligned with rock and roll than about half the artists who have been getting in in recent years. This speaks to the limits of “pop rock” as a useful term. She’ll get in one day, but maybe not for a few more years.
Shakira
Why she’ll get in: More than enough big hits to merit induction, plus a massive global impact. Shakira has one of the most iconic voices in modern pop music.
Why she won’t get in: She’ll face the barrier that all non-rock acts face today. The lines are too murky to predict. There really is nothing remotely “rock and roll” about most of Shakira’s major work but her global reach will matter.
Chances: Fair. This is an admitted cop-out. I really have no idea how she will be viewed. So I’ll leave you with this tangential comment. Lauryn Hill and Shakira are linked in a very curious way. If Hill had not rejected Wyclef Jean’s song “Dance Like This” as a potential Fugee’s single, chances are it would have never been reworked as Shakira’s signature number “Hips Don’t Lie.” Therefore, though I do not think this will happen, should Shakira be voted in this year and Hill miss out, “Hips Don’t Lie” will be the reason.
Luther Vandross
Why he’ll get in: Few artists carry the sheer respect that Luther Vandross still maintains, more than 20 years after his death. Seven consecutive number one albums on the R&B chart, many of which crossed over into the top ten on the mainstream chart. And just look at his collaborators as a sign of his rep. Hit singles with the likes of Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, and Beyonce.
Why he won’t get in: I really don’t know, but then I also don’t know why he has never made it this far before. The only rationale for keeping him out is if you argue his work falls too far outside the broadly defined parameters of “rock and roll.”
Chances: With that outside-rock caveat, I think his chances a very good. Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther” – a tribute to Vandross – just won Record of the Year. And was the biggest song in the USA for 13 consecutive weeks in early 2025. I think it’s finally Luther Vandross time.
Wu Tang Clan
Why they’ll get in: The greatest collective of hip hop artists ever assembled, WTC has been immensely influential on the development of rap over the past thirty years.
Why they won’t get in: It can be hard to tease out what WTC should be recognized for. They have eight formal releases, with a lot of side or affiliate projects. If you are only considering the music released by the Wu-Tang Clan, you can make the case that they never really surpassed their first album and fell off quite a bit after the death of ODB.
Chances: I don’t think they get in this year. Although a hip hop act has been inducted in five of the last six classes (the exception being 2023), Lauryn Hill could check that box this year. Or perhaps this will simply be a year in which rap is skipped. At some point down the road, I suspect a wave of support will build behind the Clan to recognize them for the entirety of their solo, group and collaborative work. But that’s a few years off.
Now onto the repeat nominees.
For the record, five of the seven artists in this category were nominated last year but did not gain entrance. The only two nominees from 2025 that did not get enshrined or else get a callback this year were the two most-niche groups – Phish and Mana.
Black Crowes
Why they’ll get in: I didn’t think the Black Crowes had much of a chance last year and it turns out, they didn’t. The fact that they made a very strong comeback album – Happiness Bastards – in 2024, is a very positive sign.
Why they won’t get in: I very much enjoy listening the Black Crowes, but I can’t really make the case that they are more than a Hall of Very Good-caliber band. There are so many other bands who have been waiting longer that I would put in ahead of them. The fact that I say that means absolutely nothing. But the fact that I think a lot of voters feel the same way – about their own pet favs which may not be the same as mine – means that the Crowes may be shunted aside out of protest.
Chances: All five of the consecutively-nominated artists have at least an average shot. I think that’s what it is for the Crowes. Average.
Mariah Carey
Why she’ll get in: It’s all in the numbers. 19 number ones on the Billboard chart. Another six number one albums. She has never released an official studio album that did not score in the top ten. She is one of the biggest-selling musical artists of all-time and an influence on almost every female pop singer who came after her.
Why she won’t get in: Carey may end up being the Maginot Line for Hall voters. (Look it up under WWII history if you need a reminder.) If the RRHOF is expanding into wider ranges of pop music, Mariah Carey is a no-brainer. But if the voters want to establish some outer edge, this is where it may be.
Chances: I thought Carey was a surefire bet last year. Didn’t happen. I again think she has a very good chance of induction but it is hard to know where that line is.
Billy Idol
Why he’ll get in: I really like Billy Idol. Is that enough of a reason? If not, he was very popular as a solo artist in the ‘80s and he has kept himself in the public eye by acting in movies and commercials.
Why he won’t get in: He tapped a particular vein at a particular time. His run at the top didn’t last all that long and he feels almost quaint today. He may be in the Hall of Very Fun.
Chances: Iffy. I would have thought he had a pretty good shot and as mentioned above, the fact that he is returning to the ballot is a good sign. But I keep running into people who consider him almost a parody of a rock star and I wonder if that will infect enough voters.
Iron Maiden
Why they’ll get in: One of two bands in this category that were not nominated last year. But they have been nominated on two other occasions. Their resume is very strong. They have been an enormously popular act in one of rock and roll’s most enduring genres for decades.
Why they won’t get in: Metal is generally looked down upon by the RRHOF voters, and in the world of metal, Iron Maiden is sometimes looked down upon as being artistically inferior to a group of other bands that have yet to get recognition.
Chances: I don’t think they get in this year. They would need a very concerted and unified push from the metal world because no one outside of metal will be calling for them. And I think the metal world is too divided. To date, there are only four proper metal bands in the Hall. (“Proper” is a loaded word in this context.)
Joy Division/New Order
Why they’ll get in: Let me keep this simple. I don’t really like either incarnation, but Joy Division and/or New Order deserve to be in the RRHOF. With or without Ian Curtis, they were among the most influential rock bands of the post-invasion era and they have been more than popular enough to escape the “niche” label.
Why they won’t get in: I really don’t know. But then again, I'm not sure why they didn’t get in last year. I suppose there could be a bunch of voters like me who don’t especially like them – but are less enlightened than me and allow that personal preference to outweigh their resume. Moral of the story – be enlightened like me.
Chances: Pretty good, I would think. By the way, remember back to that INXS write-up. There is no way INXS gets in until JD/NO makes it.
Oasis
Why they’ll get in: Over about a ten-year period, Oasis put more than 20 singles into the top ten in the UK. They were as big a worldwide rock outfit as there was in the 1990s. That should mean automatic inclusion.
Why they won’t get in: Well, it hasn’t gotten them in yet, so several things may be in play. First, they didn’t have anywhere near the same success in the USA, and that obviously matters. Second, people who don’t even know more than a song or two by Oasis genuinely hate them. The Gallagher brothers’ boorishness often outstrips whatever musical accomplishments they have made. That shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Chances: JD/NO may steal some votes even though they represent two very different aspects of late-century British rock.
Sade
Why they’ll get in: First things first. Sade is both a singer and a band. Kind of in the way we all used to think Blondie was just Debbie Harry. Sade was nominated in 2024 but not last year. They check the right boxes – artistic merit, popular success, influence.
Why they won’t get in: But they are not rock and roll and despite obvious popularity, can you say they were so dominant in the R&B and soul fields that they knock down the walls that seek to preserve rock and roll?
Chances: Unlikely. If you’re coming from an adjacent genre, you need to be a bulldozer. Sade is a smooth operator.
That’s it. We have more detailed looks at several individual artists that you can check out. And I’ll probably have something closer to the announcement date (traditionally in late April) with predictions. But for now I will just leave you with what I always leave with.
Motorhead and Little Feat are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The world will never be put right until those injustices are corrected.