The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced the nominees for next year's class.
In alphabetical order, they are:
- Pat Benatar
- Dave Matthews Band
- Depeche Mode
- Doobie Brothers
- Whitney Houston
- Judas Priest
- Kraftwerk
- MC5
- Motörhead
- Nine Inch Nails
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
- Todd Rundgren
- Soundgarden
- T.Rex
- Thin Lizzy
To be eligible for nomination, the artist must have released a commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
Nine of the 16 nominees are on the ballot for the first time -- Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Doobie Brothers, Motörhead, The Notorious B.I.G., Soundgarden, T.Rex, Thin Lizzy and Houston.
The seven other acts have now been nominated
- Kraftwerk - 6 times
- MC5 - 5 times
- Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - 4 times
- Nine Inch Nails - 3 times
- Depeche Mode - 3 times
- Judas Priest - twice
- Todd Rundgren - twice
Ballots are sent to an international voting body of more than a thousand artists, journalists and music industry figures.
Fan voting will be open through January 10th at RockHall.com. The top five artists selected by the public will count as one vote, tallied along with all the other ballots.
The inductees will be announced in January with the induction ceremony set for May 2nd in Cleveland.
Source: Billboard and Premiere