The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced this year’s inductees: Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross, and Wu-Tang Clan will join the class of 2026 in the Performer category.
Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Gram Parsons will be presented with the Early Influence Award; Philly Soul songwriter Linda Creed, producer Arif Mardin, producer Jimmy Miller, and Rick Rubin will be honored with the Musical Excellence Award; and Ed Sullivan will be given the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
“Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is music’s highest honor,” John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, says in a statement. “We look forward to celebrating these remarkable artists at this year’s ceremony – it’s going to be an unforgettable night.”
The ceremony will take place on November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will air on ABC and Disney+ the following month.
(There were some notable snubs this year, including New Edition, who won the largely symbolic fan vote. Pink and Shakira placed third and fourth, and also didn’t make it in.)
Phil Collins was inducted as a member of Genesis in 2010, but this was his first time appearing on the ballot as a solo artist. He’s kept a low profile since wrapping up the Genesis Last Domino? farewell tour in March 2022. But he reemerged earlier this year for a BBC interview where he said that he’s “totally mobile and healthy” following a difficult period of health setbacks.
Billy Idol was overjoyed when he learned the news. “We’re been building towards this, and it’s a perfect payoff,” he tells Rolling Stone. “You couldn’t have dreamed it better, really. It’s absolutely perfect…To be recognized by your peers is incredible. You don’t really know what people think about you, but this gives you an indication.”
Iron Maiden are entering the Hall of Fame after three nominations. “We’d like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for including us (and former members who were all part of our story) in the 2026 roll call of inductees,” Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said in a statement. “Iron Maiden have always been about our relationship with our fans above anything else, including awards and industry accolades. However, having said that, it’s always nice to be recognised and honoured for any achievements within the music industry too!”
The members of the band have yet to comment on the honor, but frontman Bruce Dickinson called the Hall of Fame an “utter and complete load of bollocks,” in 2018. “It’s run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn’t know rock & roll if it hit them in the face,” he said. “They need to stop taking Prozac and start drinking fucking beer.”
Oasis have expressed similar skepticism toward the institution. “As much as I love Mariah Carey and all that, I want to say: Do me a favor and fuck off,” Liam Gallagher told The Sunday Times in 2024. “It’s like putting me in the rap hall of fame, and I don’t want to be part of anything that mentally disturbed. Besides, I’ve done more for rock & roll than half of them clowns on that board, so it’s all a load of bollocks.”
(It’s worth noting that there’s a long history of artists besmirching the Hall of Fame, and then singing a very different tune once they actually get in. “I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars,” Cher said in 2023. “I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves.” The following year, Cher not only showed up for her induction, but she also opened up the entire ceremony.)
It remains to be seen whether Phil Collins, Oasis, and Iron Maiden will attend the ceremony. Similar questions loom around Sade, who rarely grants interviews or performs live, and Joy Division/New Order, who have been estranged from bassist Peter Hook for two decades.
“It will be a difficult awards ceremony if we get there, but as my wife said, we’ve got to rise above these things … and be nice and be courteous and think the best,” Hook told Billboard in 2023. “Maybe this is the olive branch that we may need to end the injustices that were done with New Order in the end. It’s a very strange position to be in, but, y’know, we’re not the first group that’s been ostracized by each other, and we won’t be the last.”
The induction ceremony is taking place in Los Angeles for the second year in a row. This is a break from the three-year rotation between New York City, Cleveland, and Los Angeles that has become customary in recent years. In 2027, it will return to Cleveland.
