The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced 17 nominees for its class of 2026, with one of its most widely genre-spanning lists of contenders ever:
The Black Crowes
Jeff Buckley
Mariah Carey
Phil Collins
Melissa Etheridge
Lauryn Hill
Billy Idol
INXS
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
New Edition
Oasis
Pink
Sade
Shakira
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan
The 10 nominees appearing on the ballot for the first time are Jeff Buckley, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, Pink, Shakira, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
The seven returning to the ballot after previous tries at getting elected are the Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis and Sade.
If that seems like a large crop of nominees, it is. For 2025, the total number of contenders stood at 14, three fewer than this year’s roster.
Of the seven returning to the ballot, five were on it just last year and make an instant return: the Black Crowes, Carey, Idol, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis. The singer for the latter band, Liam Gallagher, disavowed the Rock Hall when his band was previously twice nominated, but the nominating committee did not hold his recalcitrance against him this year.
The third time being nominated could be the charm for four of the artists: Carey, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis. The three second-time nominees, meanwhile, are the Black Crowes, Idol and Sade. The Hall is not going back into its ancient history to find return nominees: All of the prior nominations for all of these artists occurred since 2021.
Pink is the only artist being nominated in her first year of eligibility; her debut album, “Can’t Take Me Home,” came out in 2000.
This year’s list has what some might consider a recency bias, relatively speaking. All of the 10 first-time nominees having debuted on the scene in the 1980s, 1990s or, as with Pink, 2000, despite the annual cries from fans of older rock bands of the ’60s and ’70s that their favorites are still overdue.
Collins is the only 2026 contender who already has a spot in the Rock Hall, having been inducted as a member of Genesis.
Buckley is the rare artist getting a shot at being elected on the basis of releasing only one album in his lifetime. “Grace” came out in 1994; the singer/songwriter died in 1997.
Those who can be counted on to complain every year that the Hall should limit itself to actual rock ‘n’ roll will have plenty to gripe about this year, although others will be grateful for the wide gamut of genres spanned. Only roughly half of the 17 nominees would be considered “rock” per se: the Crowes, Buckley, Etheridge, Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis… with Collins perhaps straddling the line as a recognized superstar of pop, apart from his duties in the rock band Genesis. That leaves plenty of room in this crop for a sizable representation of pop, with Pink, Carey, and Latin-pop crossover favorite Shakira, and R&B and/or hip-hop, with Hill, New Edition, Vandross and Wu Tang in the mix.
(Although the Hall strives to be inclusive of different contemporary genres, one wildly popular genre that is not represented among these nominees, again, is country; Dolly Parton remains the only country figure inducted in the last 23 years.)
The vote will take place over the next two months, with those selected by the Hall’s 1,200 voters revealed in April. At that time, further Inductees will also be named who are entering the Hall under three special committee categories: Musical Influence, Musical Excellence and the Ahmet Ertegun Non Performer Award.
