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

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain) at 10:13 25 Feb 26

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.

The article doesn't say Pink was "newly eligible," only that she is the only one of the first-time nominees who debuted in the 2000s.

"To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released their first commercial recording 25 full years prior to the year of Induction. With the new Induction cycle that began in 2020, the Nominating Committee now meets in the same year the Inductee class is honored. You can now subtract 25 from the Induction year to determine the year of eligibility."

https://rockhall.com/induction-process/

Having seen a lot of Sade live performances, I think they rock pretty damn hard when needed.

Yes - IIRC this video was a perfect example of that:

https://www.discogs.com/master/546634-Sade-Live

Should be easy to find on DVD

OR I suppose you could stream this official playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2u2eqerRks

XPS

Thanks for the clarification re: Pink's eligiblity. It seems a little odd that the Strokes are actually finally eligible and yet still did not earn a nod within <this group>.

Stereogum shared a photo this morning showing a fan vote kiosk at the Hall showing the tally of votes cast by museum visitors for who they felt should be inducted. These artists were in that top 20, but didn't make today's list.

In descending order of votes:

Linkin Park
Alice In Chains
Weird Al
Styx
Weezer
Motley Crüe
Boston
Blink-182
Phish
Snoop Dogg
Tool
Jethro Tull
Coldplay
Meat Loaf
Smashing Pumpkins
Reo Speedwagon

Well, you can't possibly take the opinions of the kind of people who would visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame into account when deciding who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That would be insane.

That list makes 1000x more sense than whatever this is. What a bunch of fucking bozos.

I'm boring and voted Joy Division/New Order but what I know of Iron Maiden and the hits of INXS seem worthy too.

Iron Maiden, JD/NO, Wu-Tang, Shakira all deserving
INXS kinda generic 80s rock band, will get in eventually
disco-era Luther yes, quiet storm Luther no
still a huge lack of artists from outside of north america and the uk. just shakira i think.

Gloria Estefan has sold more records than Shakira

“odd that the Strokes are actually finally eligible and yet still did not earn a nod within”

idk the Strokes don’t really seem like a band the Hall of Fame would be enthusiastic about. Certainly not to usher in in their first year of eligibility.