The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation has announced a whopping 18 inductees for its Class of 2026. The names include artists from the worlds of metal, hip hop, soul, Latin, alt-country and, yes, even rock music. (It is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, after all.) Despite being eligible for decades—artists or bands become eligible for nomination 25 years after releasing their first commercial recording—Phil Collins, who appeared on the ballot as a solo artist for the first time, was finally selected. (He was a shoo-in.) Joining him in the Performer category are Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan. (The latter two were also first-time nominees.)

Five artists will be inducted under the guise of the Early Influencer Award: Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, and Gram Parsons (all deceased), as well as Queen Latifah and MC Lyte. Four behind-the-scenes figures were chosen for the Musical Excellence Award: songwriter and back-up singer Linda Creed, producer-arranger Arif Mardin, producer Jimmy Miller (all deceased), and producer Rick Rubin. Ed Sullivan was chosen to receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Nominated but not selected were such worthy first-timers as Melissa Etheridge and INXS. Such popular acts that were also been nominated for the first time but not selected were Shakira and New Edition. (The latter “won” the gimmicky fan vote which simply gives the winning act one additional vote that’s counted among the 1200+ official voters, proving once again how meaningless that process is.)

Others on this year’s ballot but not selected were the Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, and P!NK.

Let’s face it: the Hall may have been created with rock ‘n’ roll in mind when it began inducting artists in 1986, but over the past decade or so, it has fully morphed into an institution celebrating popular music.

Over the years, the evolving nominating committee —a non-transparent group of several dozen-plus music executives, artists, disc jockeys and journalists that in recent years has included Dave Grohl, Questlove, Steven Van Zandt, David Fricke, Sheryl Crow, Tom Morello and Meg Griffin, deems such recording artists as Miles Davis, Dolly Parton and Missy Elliott, not to mention some of the 2026 inductees—all world class musicians, mind you—as more “rock ‘n’ roll” than such classic rock legends as Jethro Tull, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Meat Loaf, Steppenwolf and the J. Geils Band, just to mention five who have repeatedly been ignored by either the nominating committee or the voters.

And just like the Film Academy, the Rock Hall never reveals its vote totals. In contrast, each year, the National Baseball Hall of Fame reveals the vote totals for its new inductees, whose names must appear on at least 75% of the ballots of the roughly 400 voters, all of whom are baseball writers with at least 10 consecutive years of covering the sport.

Did someone win/get elected into the Rock Hall in a landslide or was it by one vote? We never know. It’s their sandbox, so to speak.

In the April 13 announcement, John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation which selects the nominees, said, “Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is music’s highest honor. We look forward to celebrating these remarkable artists at this year’s ceremony – it’s going to be an unforgettable night”

In a 2024 interview, Sykes—a gifted and highly respected industry executive, whom I’ve met a few times over the years—said of the annual nominating meeting, “It goes on for hours. The committee is very passionate about who they want. This is not something they just think about in the taxi ride over to the meeting. They really come prepared with their artists and why they deserve it. It’s not about just record sales or the amount of hits.”

As for the topic of the Hall’s name, Sykes said, “I think it’s because some people don’t understand the meaning of rock and roll.” He shared a story of a conversation he had with Jay-Z, himself a 2021 inductee. “We’ve got to do a better job explaining it,” he said he told the star. “Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.”

In recent years, many core “arena rock” artists were finally selected, many of which weren’t so-called “critical darlings,” including Bad Company (2025), Peter Frampton and Foreigner (2024), the Doobie Brothers (2020), Def Leppard (2019), the Moody Blues, Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, and the Cars (all in 2018), YES, Journey and ELO (2017), and so on. But each of these acts had been eligible for decades.

And if you think that star acts from the ’60s and ’70s like Three Dog Night, the Guess Who, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Blue Öyster Cult and Grand Funk Railroad, to name just a few, will get in, it’s highly unlikely and becomes less likely with each passing year.

Related: A Rock Hall cynic visits the Rock Hall

Nominee ballots for the Class of 2026 were distributed to an international voting panel composed of over 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals. The Hall’s selection criteria includes an artist’s impact on music culture, influence on other musicians that have followed, as well as the scope and longevity of their career and body of work.

This year’s Induction Ceremony will take place on November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will then debut in December on ABC and Disney+. Ticket sale details will be announced at a later date.

Related: The Rock Hall’s 100 crucial omissions