Taylor Swift has become the youngest-ever woman to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She enters the class of 2026 alongside Alanis Morissette, Kiss songwriters Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and Kenny Loggins, who follows his fellow yacht-rockers the Doobie Brothers after their selection last year. Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, the writer of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” who went on to sign Frank Ocean to Def Jam, also makes the cut, alongside Mariah Carey collaborator Walter Afanasieff and a duo best known for their work with Tina Turner: Terry Britten and Graham Lyle.
Among the unlucky 2026 nominees are David Byrne, LL Cool J, Pink, and Sarah McLachlan, and the Go-Go’s. Artists become eligible 20 years after their debut commercial single, meaning Swift, whose released “Tim McGraw” in 2006, just sneaked in. Prospective inductees have to choose five songs for consideration; hers, USA Today notes, were “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” “Blank Space,” “Anti-Hero,” “Love Story,” and “The Last Great American Dynasty.” An induction gala will take place on June 11 in New York City.
Last month, Donna Summer was posthumously inducted; earlier that year, George Clinton and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins were among the Doobie Brothers’ fellow inductees.
