And Here Are Your 2026 Inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The British are coming. The 2026 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been announced and six of the eight main inductees are from my side of the pond. As recently as 2021, there were no British inductees at all, so this is a big turnaround.

The new arrivals include Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, and Oasis. Joy Division and New Order are being inducted as one unit, while the late great Luther Vandross is holding up the American delegation alongside the Wu-Tang Clan. Collins is already in the hall as a member of Genesis but is now being celebrated for his solo work (and all those Tarzan songs.)

Frankly, I’m surprised some of these names weren’t already in there. Iron Maiden’s been eligible for decades and it took this long? The R&RHOF is notoriously limited in scope when it comes to genre like metal, alas. The same goes for rap, where they often fall by the wayside or drag their feet about longlisting eligible figures. Nominees who missed out this year include Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, INXS, Melissa Etheridge, Jeff Buckley, Pink, New Edition and Shakira.

The 2026 inductees:
Phil Collins
Billy Idol
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
Oasis
Sade
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan

In addition to the performer category, the Hall of Fame is inducting other big names across three special categories: musical excellence, early influence, and the Ahmet Ertegun non-performer award, which typically goes to managers, producers, and so on.

The early influence category this year will honour the legendary Queen Latifah, Cuban singer Celia Cruz, Nigerian icon Fela Kuti, pioneering rapper MC Lyte and country rocker Gram Parsons. The musical excellence category will honour the late songwriter Linda Creed (who wrote “The Greatest Love of All”, famously covered by Whitney Houston), and producers Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller and shoeless Rick Rubin. The Ahmet Ertegun Award will go to Ed Sullivan, the legendary TV host whose show was a crucial launchpad for musicians in the ’50s and ’60s, like The Beatles.

Acts become eligible for inclusion 25 years after their first commercial release. The nominees are chosen by a group of industry professionals, which are then narrowed down to the final choices via a ballot. All living inductees are able to vote on who should be included.

For anyone who is interested, artists who will be eligible for the hall in 2027 include Beyonce, Audioslave, The Black Eyes, LCD Soundsystem, and, uh, Kanye West.