The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame voting ended on March 25th and they will officially announce the class of 2026 on American Idol on April 13th. Future Rock Legends predicts the inductees in the Performer category will be:

1. Wu-Tang Clan: The surprise leader among public ballots (see below) clearly benefit from a clear hip hop lane and the additional credentials from the solo careers of all of their members. Makes you wonder if they could have been inducted years ago (eligible since 2018).
2. Phil Collins: His résumé appeals to a lot of different factions of voters so he should be able to coast his way in. The induction segment will be an emotional highlight of the ceremony.
3. Oasis: The tidal wave of goodwill they earned with last year's tour should easily carry them into the Hall of Fame. Against all odds, we're guessing they will be willing participants in the ceremony.
4. Iron Maiden: When the ballot was first released, we sensed this was the best shot they've ever had. The shortage of guitar bands to compete with and the increased number of votes only helps their case. There's widespread acknowledgement that the Rock Hall underrepresents metal and voters feel inclined to correct that. Then the Blaze Bayley thing made it a certainty. Too bad they won't be able to come to the ceremony due to their tour.
5. Luther Vandross: In our early reaction post we called him "this year's Joe Cocker. An iconic voice that voters will immediately gravitate towards now that they have the chance." Still sounds exactly correct.
6. Mariah Carey: This year Mariah decided to finally acknowledge her nomination by doing an interview with Variety (albeit doing the interview two weeks after the e-ballots come out isn't ideal). We take that as a positive sign that she and the Rock Hall are finally ready to get hitched.
7. Billy Idol: The rumor is that Idol's management team has been actively calling voters to lobby for him this year. With the release of his documentary and the announcement of a summer tour (mysteriously having a "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Presale" for Cleveland), the stars are aligned for Idol to announce 2026 inductee Idol.

Additional Notes:

• John Sykes has been open about using the side categories to help balance out the induction class. Based on the lack of pre-late 70's artists on the ballot, look for at least a few Musical Influence/Excellence inductees to represent those eras (i.e. no Salt-N-Pepa types this year).
• The new Nominating Committee made some interesting choices this year in selecting "one album" artists Jeff Buckley and Lauryn Hill. Both have some Hall credentials, but there are still so many better candidates from the 90s that are still waiting. It's baffling how these things happen until you play the Simulator!
• Here are the public ballot standings that we tracked this year. The lack of enthusiasm for INXS and Shakira surprised us.





• New Edition won the Fan Poll and impressively received over 1 million votes in a short 38 days. Supposedly, in addition to social media, they used the Peter Frampton technique of posting a QR code at their concerts to encourage their fans to vote for them. The rest of the top 7 were Phil Collins, Pink, Shakira, Luther Vandross, INXS, and Sade. The last few weeks of voting were dominated by Shakira fans who took her from the bottom all the way up to fourth place. If the poll had stayed open as long as previous years, she may have given New Edition a run for the money.






• What do our readers think is going to happen? The results from our own prediction poll (usually gets about 66% correct):

Who do you think will be inducted? Leave your thoughts below.

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Since many have asked, if there's an 8th performer inductee, we'll predict it will be Joy Division/New Order.