Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees 2026

inxs, iron maiden, and jd/no are in the "definitely yes, why aren't they in already?" category. some artists i love on here, but seem like weird fits for the rock hall for one reason or another. and some noms that i'm just baffled by.

you need to add an option for "demolish R&RHoF, ban all mention of it forever" next time.

...and deny JD/NO another victory?

Voted this morning. You used to be able to vote for up to seven acts, now you have to vote for seven. Hence Pink.

Mariah Carey
INXS
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
Pink
Sade
Wu-Tang Clan

love sade to death, but she didn't really rock or roll. i guess that ship sailed a long time ago

They're just not going nominate any indie bands or Rock artists who debuted/had their biggest success in this century, are they?

The obvious band to have nominated this year in their first year of eligibility is the Strokes. There was a time in the 2000s when the Strokes and the White Stripes were at a similar level and had a similar reputation as bands that had brought back scrappy, stripped-down rock music. The difference is that Jack White went on to become ubiquitous within the mainstream of the music industry in a way that none of the Strokes guys ever did.

A band that was eligible last year but has not yet been nominated is Linkin Park, which I think you could make a case for.

If you don’t have Iron Maiden yet, then under no circumstances should you be nominating the Strokes.

By the goofy standards of this organization I'm not sure any in this slate stands out as particularly unworthy. Maybe New Edition? They all did better as solo/group spin-offs, imo. Maybe Melissa Etheridge? Though she seems custom made for this kind of industry thing.

A band that was eligible last year but has not yet been nominated is Linkin Park, which I think you could make a case for.

Linkin Park absolutely deserve it. They're a generational band - hugely important to and influential on people much younger than you or me.

XPS

In the Variety article they say that Pink is the only newly eligible nom this year, with her first album coming out in 2000. The Strokes first EP and album were both 2001 releases, so <maybe> they'll get a nod next year.

What I was really thinking of are artists like QoTSA, MUSE, Wilco, Modest Mouse, Blink-182, Deftones etc...who have been eligible but left out of the discussion.

I feel like Blink and Wilco from that list have the best shot

I don't think Pink needs to be in at all

in the old Wenner regime, Etheridge woult be a slam dunk, will be interesting to see how things have changed.

They should just let everyone in and make induction an opt-out.

I'm just going to make my annual Blue Oyster Cult not being is the biggest bullshit post.

yea and where tf is thin lizzy

I don't think Pink needs to be in at all

An understandable opinion, but I'll vote for her a thousand times before voting for fucking Oasis or the fucking Black Crowes.

WU-TANG is my vote, that's rock and roll to me

yea and where tf is thin lizzy

― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Wednesday, February 25, 2026 10:31 AM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

damn yeah that's a terrible omission too

I don't think Pink needs to be in at all

An understandable opinion, but I'll vote for her a thousand times before voting for fucking Oasis or the fucking Black Crowes.

― placeholder username till I think of a better one (unperson), Wednesday, February 25, 2026 10:32 AM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i was not advocating for those, i just feel like pink feels very minor imo i dunno

It’s so fucking funny that they’d rather open this thing up to like Luther Vandross and Pink and Sade before hugely influential arena-level rock bands like Korn and Tool and System of a Down, presumably because they’re “uncool” or for mooks or whatever.

JUSTICE FOR 311

I mean also they’ve run out of tentpole pan-generational rock bands so there’s no actual rock bands left that could get that “We gotta subscribe to HBO Max” push.

Pink is a test run for next year when they have to convince Beyoncé to show up and perform because the only way to make their dumb award show profitable is to turn this into the MTV Video Vanguard award where the entire thing is predicated on who is the most famous person you can get to attend.

Also it’s incredibly funny that the Rock Hall is pinning its continued existence on abandoning rock music but Metallica playing the sphere completely mogged this announcement in the news

They're just not going nominate any indie bands or Rock artists who debuted/had their biggest success in this century, are they?

they're not exactly rushing to nominate indie bands from last century either.

^My bad. Shoulda dropped a comma in there.

ah, yes, that makes sense. and rings v v true.

Voted Luther (not only) because I was just listening to him earlier today.

aren't oasis nominated every year?

i sometimes feel like pink is the biggest worldwide star of the last quarter century who i seldom if ever see much critical interest in, positive or otherwise. maybe it's different now but in the 2010s i remember noticing, seemingly alone about the biggest women in pop, she never got reviewed by pitchfork (not that that necessarily means anything) despite the constant chain of big albums.

alone among*

The Black Crowes are the only band on here I still listen to regularly. Their first few albums have always been amazing. INXS close runner-up.

Mariah, Phil, Maiden, and Wu Tang, I care about to the extent that it'd be nice if they were honored by something, but I don't care if it's the rock hall.

There are a few Pink songs I really like, but seriously, what the fuck are you doing here?

BOC/Thin Lizzy continued absences noted.

why are Joy Division & New Order listed as one band? I don't think they've ever done that before

They did it before with Small Faces/Faces.

My votes:

Maiden
Luther
Wu
Joy D/New Order
Sade
Mariah
Shakira (I was torn between that and Melissa E while Pink was also in there, but the first six were my locks so with one spot left I had to make a call)

Pink’s prime was a bit before Pitchfork began paying attention to pop artists. She’s hit or miss, a bit like a 00s Dua Lipa.

If it was the ROCK MUSIC Hall of fame, then all the complaints from Eddie Trunk, Gene Simmons and others unhappy that Tom Scholz isn't in would have greater merit. For those guys do not care about the black roots of the idiom, that guitars in fact were not as prominent in the original 50s rock and roll flowering as horns or pianos, that Young Thug in the 2010s-2020s has a more pronounced connection to fats Domino than Yes ever did… so Pink, who is a great great artist, as good as Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden, belongs in a rock and roll hall of fame.

"Rock music" emerged as a concern in 1966, with Revolver, Blonde and Blonde, and the likes of Jann Wenner and Paul Nelson, pseuds whose insecurities re: the teen music about fucking they liked, dictated how they could reconcile that teen music with middle class respectability and boooshwah notions of art.

it's pretty simple: does it say "fuck you!" or "I want to fuck you"/"let's fuck!" then it's rock and roll. Rock music, on the other hand, is the G/B/D shit that the trunk/Simmons and Wenner/Nelson/little Steven factions, and for that matter the Cosloy/Albini wing, all lament, due to it having been in decline, purely in terms of mass culture for 2 decades.

why are Joy Division & New Order listed as one band? I don't think they've ever done that before

That's how they were listed too when they were nominated a few years ago.
It sounds right to me.

No, Pink is not as good as Thin Lizzy or Iron Maiden.

Pink has made some of the worst music I've ever heard

Pink has made some music I've heard

I think that Joy Division changing its personnel and then d/b/a as New Order had a not particularly great change in their musical modus operandi; whereas Fleetwood Mac and Genesis did change their personnel as well as the nature of their music, but not the bandnames. So by that metric, I think it's OK to do J.D. and N.O. as one nominee.

Phil Collins is nominated because his manager is on the committee, is shameless in pushing his clients as such, and he apparently shows little interest in any nominee with whom he has no association: others on the committee regard this guy's presence as a big big mistake…

or "I want to fuck you"/"let's fuck!" then it's rock and roll.

Is Mel Tormé in there?

My seven preferences: Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Wu-Tang Clan

But honestly, Joy Division/New Order and Wu-Tang are the only ones that I'd vote for without any reservations.

Love Sade but yeah there has to be some other HoF to induct her, with all the other smooth operators

Didn't Sade's label run a whole marketing campaign at one point with the slogan "Sade Is A Band"? Well, in any case, Sade is a band (with the same lineup since 1983!), and a very good one.

I just checked with Wikipedia to confirm, but I was under the impression that Sade was the name of the band AND the professional name Helen Adu went by, which understandably causes confusion.

Sade was the name of the band AND the professional name Helen Adu went by

didn't pj harvey work the same way, at least for a while?

Wu-Tang, but almost went New Order/Joy Divison

XP Yes, as did Alice Cooper.

still impossible to go past new order but lol rrhof is still the silliest thing

They're just not going nominate any indie bands or Rock artists who debuted/had their biggest success in this century, are they?

white stripes were inducted last year! i don't really expect much else any time soon, the strokes will probably be nominated next year but not actually happen

it's surprising oasis aren't in there yet, they seem like they should have been rrhof catnip? idk their biases get weirder and weirder as time goes on and the classic rock they like dries up

i sometimes feel like pink is the biggest worldwide star of the last quarter century who i seldom if ever see much critical interest in, positive or otherwise. maybe it's different now but in the 2010s i remember noticing, seemingly alone about the biggest women in pop, she never got reviewed by pitchfork (not that that necessarily means anything) despite the constant chain of big albums.

idk she didn't release that much in the 10s and her commercial peak was really the late 00s. she's never been the absolute biggest star anywhere except australia (to a degree that is truly absurd), never made any sort of pivot to even trying to court critical attention, and had been around for long enough that she wasn't some exciting new presence so it's not really surprising she's been pretty critically ignored i guess

My partner tells me New Jack Swing has gotten really big in Korea (and a growing influence on K-pop) and it does feel underrepresented in the HOF. It's basically limited to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Janet (and I guess Michael) Jackson.

Having said that, Tony! Toni! Toné! is sorely missed - I wish they were inducted years ago and now D'Wayne Wiggins is gone.

On another note, I spent the day listening to a good deal of music from acts I strongly believe SHOULD be in the HOF on the basis of quality, but I kind of wonder if they'll even be nominated?

I just put these on because I saw it was their birthdays and I went to see one of them tonight at Rough Trade, but:

Blur (it was actually Albarn's birthday yesterday)
Drive-By Truckers (happy b-day Patterson)
Nick Lowe/Rockpile
De La Soul (happy b-day Maseo)
Courtney Barnett

It was also Carol Kaye's birthday but she's in

i like courtney barnett a lot but lol no, she will never ever be considered for the rock & roll hall of fame

(in any case, hall of fame inductions are absurd -- especially for musicians, who are not in competition!)

i get sorta "revenge of the nerd" vibes from the RRHOF, like there's this persistent jealously of the more objective nature of sports HOFs and that doesn't really translate to music.

and all the pivoting to "no wait, this artist is now rock too", weird rock n roll colonialism

'revenge of jann wenner' isn't a great starting point for anything at all

My partner tells me New Jack Swing has gotten really big in Korea (and a growing influence on K-pop)

it's not a growing influence at all, it's been one of the biggest influences (and a fairly constant one) on kpop since the early 90s origins of the modern industry! teddy riley's career had a whole second wind as a kpop producer last decade, even

I can see that. I have virtually ZERO knowledge of K-pop history so I'm wholly at the mercy of whatever fans tell me, and it's not like my partner's a scholar or anything.

it's kind of surprising to me that Iron Maiden doesn't have a higher total in the fan vote, but their fans are maybe less online.

Drop the voting link in the Blabbermouth comments section and watch the totals rise.

I'm actually kind of surprised Buckley is so low. At least two record stores I follow on social media always post their weekly bestsellers and it seems like Grace is hovering between 8 and 10, every single week, as the new releases come and go.

I'd vote Luther (hey he sang on "Young Americans"!) but honestly if a vote for Jeff would allow his father to get in, I'd put some love there.

I thought Iron Maiden said they didn't care or wish to be included, in which case I could see that dissuading fans.

also i wish what was being nominated was new edition plus all the work everyone in the band did after, which is something i wish the rock hall would do more often.

this should def be the case for wu tang and would make them a no brainer induction

But then Joy Division and New Order would be disqualified on the basis of One True Passion

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Zero votes for Lauryn Hill. I guess she is one of the more disappointing artists of all time.

this should def be the case for wu tang and would make them a no brainer induction

no matter what the hall itself intended, i assume pretty much every wu-tang voter is counting liquid swords, cuban linx, return to the 36 chambers, etc., as wu-tang records

xp I'm not sure if her work with the Fugees would help her case or hurt it...help in the sense that she's got more than ONE great album, hurt in the sense that a potential voter may think "why aren't we inducting the Fugees? why just Hill?"

Also, if the inductees turn out to be the top 7 vote getters here (Joy Division/New Order, Wu-Tang Clan, Iron Maiden, Sade, INXS, Phil Collins and Luther Vandross), that would be a better than expected class.

I think Wu Tang is a little different than New Edition though, those solo albums were all planned and the ability to do them was built into the original record contract, they are all largely produced by RZA, I just think that's way more of a body of work than New Edition breaking up and going their separate ways.

Shakira fans really getting out the vote - after wallowing in the bottom for a while, she’s leapfrogging someone every day and is now virtually locked in for the fan vote.

And the inductees are:

Phil Collins
Billy Idol
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
Oasis
Sade
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan

Celia Cruz (early influence)
Fela Kuti (early influence)
Queen Latifah (early influence)
MC Lyte (early influence)
Gram Parsons (early influence)

Linda Creed (musical excellence)
Arif Mardin (musical excellence)
Jimmy Miller (musical excellence)
Rick Rubin (musical excellence)

Ed Sullivan (non-performer)

Finally we can retire our perennial poll winner!

FINALLY. And eight inductees instead of seven - I wonder if that was due to close votes or if they decided to be a little more generous?

I'm glad Fela's in. He was a nominee before and it felt absurd that he wasn't voted in.

Same with Parsons - long overdue recognition, he should've been added with the Byrds. Not a huge deal when he's been dead all this time, but still overdue.

I was wondering about Queen Latifah and thought she'd get nominated eventually but this is cool.

Jimmy Miller definitely deserves it, glad he's in. (I've grown to love the self-titled Traffic album too, so it's not just the Stones.) Weirdest thing I found out recently was that his sister is Judith Miller, who notoriously reported misinformation about non-existent WMD's in the New York Times.

Up the Irons.

What a momwnt.

Same with Parsons - long overdue recognition, he should've been added with the Byrds

Had to look this up: apparently they only inducted the original line-up (who only appeared together on three of their 12 albums), leaving Parsons Gram & Gene plus Clarence White out in the cold.

Seriously, it's not like they care, but I'm so happy for Maiden.

Bill Wyman discussed this in his Hall of Fame ranking (which was mostly an excuse to write about the history of the place and what goes on behind-the-scenes). In the beginning, the Hall of Fame was really strict about who gets inducted, but that changed with the Grateful Dead who demanded EVERY member they ever had get inducted, otherwise they wouldn't show. The Hall obliged, and that opened the doors to inductees haggling with who gets inducted. It's inconsistent, but besides clout, it helped that everyone in the Dead was on the same page. (I think Chicago had this argument and Cetera wanted every member, but almost everyone else in the "classic" line-up didn't throw their weight behind that push.)

should be an xp there

Up the Irons.

Yeah, long fucking overdue (as was JD/NO). Along with Sade, Luther and Wu that was five of my seven votes so I'll take that. No problem with Billy or Oasis; Phil I'll allow for the drumming in general.

I do wish Billy's included Generation X, but them's the breaks.

that seems like a better than average set of inductees

billy idol feels like an odd one to me though, he obviously had some success but was he really that big? i've never gotten the impression that critics ever cared much about him and it doesn't really feel like he has that big of a legacy either

He had a really solid eighties run in general and arguably was the most successful UK punk performer as such over here. It works.

Meanwhile in terms of core metal forebears in general that are now in, if I have it all correct: Zep and Sabbath obv., Priest and Maiden, Metallica, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Deep Purple as well come to think of it. Think the next one there should be a pressure campaign for who clearly deserve it is Motorhead (nominated once before but not voted in).

I'd have swapped Oasis with INXS, but I think the other inductees are pretty much OTM.

xp Slayer and Megadeth are long overdue too, but Motorhead needs to get in first.

In the beginning, the Hall of Fame was really strict about who gets inducted, but that changed with the Grateful Dead who demanded EVERY member they ever had get inducted, otherwise they wouldn't show. The Hall obliged, and that opened the doors to inductees haggling with who gets inducted.

The fact that Blaze Bayley is getting inducted with Iron Maiden suggests that Steve Harris compiled the list of members all on his own.

Do they still do the jam session thing? Would be hilarious to see who jumps in to sing "Run To The Hills" or "The Number Of The Beast."

Would love it if Sade completely suaved either of those up.

Also Wu doing something with "In The Air Tonight" could be kinda nuts.

Would love it if Sade completely suaved either of those up.

Speaking of this, the acknowledgement that Sade is a band (and all four members are being inducted) is nice too.

Yeah that's exactly how it should be.

(xxxxxp) motorhead one hundred thousand million percent yes and also, as with the dead, every single musician who ever was part of motorhead should go in with them

Meantime for next year I'm guessing Mariah gets nominated again and gets in. Beyond that, dunno, but I rather hope the Black Crowes don't get nominated again (and having wished that the monkey's paw will foist Weezer on me instead).

This just reminds me that Andy Anderson didn’t get inducted with The Cure and that really pisses me off

yes but will Hooky and Barney kiss and make up

hook has said he's "wonderfully please" to be inducted and will show up but i'd still be pretty shocked if they play together

Gram Parsons and Oasis getting in the same year feels very on brand

Not sure I understand that "Early Influence" category. I assumed it was for pre-rock artists like Leadbelly or Hank Williams, but now they're giving it to hip hop artists who debuted a decade or so after "Rapper's Delight"?

It's become a consolation prize for acts beloved of specialists who could never make it on the "fame" criterion.