The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame released its longlist of nominees for 2025 on Wednesday, with around half of the 14-act list expected to be inducted this fall, reports the BBC.
Just over half of the nominees are being recognised for the first time – Bad Company, Billy Idol, the Black Crowes, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Maná, OutKast and Phish. Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, Oasis, the White Stripes and Joy Division/New Order all made the list for the second time, while American grunge rock band Soundgarden received its third nod.
Performers become eligible for nomination 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording and nominees are voted on by an international panel composed of over 1,200 artists, historians, and music industry professionals. Fans can vote online, with their top five choices receiving one vote each. The inductees will be announced in April with the star-studded induction ceremony held sometime this fall.
The BBC described Mariah Carey’s absence from the Rock Hall as “one of the most egregious oversights” in the institution’s history, noting that the songstress was first nominated nearly a decade after becoming eligible despite having 19 US number one singles (18 of which she wrote), making her the top soloist in US chart success and second only to the Beatles overall.
Bad Company, Joy Division/New Order and Billy Idol are the acts Billboard considers the least likely to make the cut this year. While Idol personifies the rockstar aesthetic, the music industry publication cites his last of “critical respect” as weakening his chances.
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Billboard also sees English rock supergroup Bad Company as an odd inclusion, given its lack of cultural relevance to anyone under 50, but considers the absence of post-punk turned dance-rock pioneers Joy Division/New Order a massive oversight. “In a just world, they’d have been in decades ago,” the magazine laments, noting that Joy Division’s modest commercial success in the US and “overwhelming synthiness” of New Order (as Joy Division was rebranded after the 1980 death of frontman Ian Curtis) make the combo “a tough sell to stateside Rock Hall traditionalists.”
Billboard gave the Britpop legends Oasis the best odds of being inducted this year, citing the announcement of their long-awaited reunion tour and a possible new album (the first in 15 years) as likely reasons for the induction. Mariah Carey was also marked as a likely inductee, Billboard citing her pop and R&B style as possible explanations for why such a celebrated megastar had been overlooked for so long.
Above Carey in the odds are the White Stripes, “one of the most popular and acclaimed rock acts of the 21st century”; hip-hop giants OutKast; and cult favourite jam band Phish – the latter two first-time nominees.
Others have been nominated several times without any success. Chief among them is American disco band Chic, co-founded by legendary guitarist Nile Rodgers, nominated a staggering 11 times between 2003 and 2017.
In 2018, Rodgers received the award for Musical Excellence, a “bittersweet” recognition that separated him from Chic and fell short of making him an official Rock Hall inductee. The 72-year-old musician, songwriter and producer is still an active force in music, featuring on K-pop group Le Serrafim’s 2023 track “Unforgiven” and collaborating with Beyoncé on her megahit albums Renaissance (2022) and Cowboy Carter (2024).
