Rock Hall Class 2026

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2026 class includes Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, Oasis, Wu-Tang Clan and eight other acts announced April 13. (rockhall.com) The performer inductees are Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan. Musical Influence Award honorees are Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti and Queen Latifah. (rockhall.com) The hall also named MC Lyte, Gram Parsons and Linda Creed for the Musical Excellence Award, and Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller, Rick Rubin and Ed Sullivan for the Ahmet Ertegun Award. The class was revealed on the April 13 episode of “American Idol.” (rockhall.com) (billboard.com) Artists become eligible 25 years after their first commercial recording, and more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals vote on the ballot. The 2026 nominee list had 17 names. (rockhall.com) (nbcphiladelphia.com) Ten of those 17 nominees were first-time nominees, including Phil Collins, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan. The final class leaves out Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Shakira, P!NK, INXS, New Edition, Melissa Etheridge, Jeff Buckley and the Black Crowes. (rockhall.com 1) (rockhall.com 2) The 2026 list continues the hall’s broad definition of “rock and roll,” mixing progressive pop, heavy metal, British post-punk, hip-hop, soul, Afrobeat and salsa. That approach also showed up in the special awards for Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah and Rick Rubin. (rockhall.com) Iron Maiden’s induction ends one of the hall’s longest-running omissions for a major metal band, while Oasis enters as the Gallagher brothers’ reunion tour has put the group back in arenas and headlines. Billboard said the class was unveiled as Oasis rode renewed visibility from its 2025 live return. (billboard.com) (rockhall.com) Wu-Tang Clan and Queen Latifah give hip-hop two prominent places in this year’s honors, while Luther Vandross and Sade bring in two acts whose commercial peaks came outside the guitar-band lane that once dominated the hall. NBC Philadelphia noted that Wu-Tang Clan was a first-time nominee this year. (nbcphiladelphia.com) (rockhall.com) Last year’s class included Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, the White Stripes, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker and Bad Company, showing the hall has kept widening its ballot across genre and era. The 2026 ceremony is scheduled for this fall. (nbcphiladelphia.com) (rockhall.com) For now, the headline is simple: a class built around long-debated holdouts, first-ballot breakthroughs and a wider map of popular music than the hall once recognized. (billboard.com) (rockhall.com)