A look at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2026 inductees and how they were honored

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has inducted its 2026 class of 18 musical luminaries at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Artists become eligible for the hall 25 years after their first music release.

Here’s a look at this year's Rock Hall class, a few of their defining songs and who inducted them.

Vandross was an R&B singer whose velvet-voiced love songs made him one of the definitive voices of the 1980s and ’90s. Vandross died in 2005. Key songs: “Never Too Much,” “Dance With My Father,” “I’d Rather.”

Inducted by Oprah Winfrey. Usher sang a medley of his songs, including “Here and Now” and “So Amazing."

A trailblazing Brooklyn rapper in the late 1980s, MC Lyte became the first female rapper to release a full solo album, “Lyte as a Rock.” Her hard-edged rhymes brought a political consciousness that was growing in hip-hop at the time. Key songs: “Keep on Keepin’ On,” “Cold Rock a Party,” “Ruffneck.”

She enters the hall as a recipient of the Early Influence Award.

Inducted by rapper Remy Ma. She accepted the honor in person.

Sade is a British band most prominent in the 1980s that blended jazz, smooth-and-sultry R&B and sophisti-pop, led by a Nigerian-born singer of the same name. Key songs: “Smooth Operator,” “No Ordinary Love,” “Like a Tattoo,” “Kiss of Life.” She did not appear.

Inducted by singer Andra Day. Singer Sienna Spiro sang their biggest hit, “Smooth Operator.”

He was honored for bringing the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, James Brown and the Doors to American living rooms, and for consistently featuring Black artists despite network pressure to keep television segregated. He died in 1974.

Gets into the hall as a recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers who shaped rock and roll and youth culture.

Inducted via video montage.

These artists will be inducted later in the evening:

The 75-year-old English singer, songwriter and drummer is already in the hall as a member of Genesis and now gets in again for a solo career that brought some of the biggest hits of the 1980s. Key songs: “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds,” “One More Night.”

The 70-year-old punk-coded English rock singer had major hits through the 1980s. Inducted along with his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens. Key songs: “Dancing With Myself,” “White Wedding,” “Eyes Without a Face.”

Wu-Tang Clan is an epic hip-hop coalition from Staten Island — made up of RZA , GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and previously, the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. They’ve been hip-hop innovators since their 1993 debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang.” Key songs: “C.R.E.A.M.,” “Protect Ya Neck,” “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit.”

The Brit-pop lords of the 1990s are led by famously feuding brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher . Key Songs: “Wonderwall,” “Live Forever,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger.”

The two British rock bands will get a rare joint induction that makes sense given their members and circumstances. Joy Division was a dark and seminal post-punk band formed in 1976. When their charismatic lead singer, Ian Curtis, died in 1980, the remaining members formed New Order. Key songs: “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” “Blue Monday,” “Bizarre Love Triangle.”

The scorching rock band led the new wave of British heavy metal and became the quintessential metal band of the 1980s. Key songs: “The Trooper,” “Fear of the Dark,” “Run to the Hills.”

The 56-year-old New Jersey-born Queen Latifah achieved unprecedented success for a female rapper, becoming a star at 19 with the release of her 1989 album “All Hail the Queen” and the single “Ladies First." Key songs: “U.N.I.T.Y.,” “Ladies First,” “When You’re Good to Mama.”

She enters the hall as a recipient of the Early Influence Award.

The queen of salsa and innovator and spreader of Afro-Cuban sounds and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century, the Havana-born singer Cruz is the first member of the Hall of Fame who sang primarily in Spanish. She died in 2003. Key songs: “Vasos Vacíos,” “La Vida Es Un Carnaval,” “El Último Adiós.”

She enters the hall as a recipient of the Early Influence Award.

The Nigerian saxophonist, bandleader, progenitor and activist was born in 1938 in colonial Nigeria. His music career, which spanned the late 1950s up to the 1990s, was a signature blend of high-octane horn, jazz, and funk with Yoruba rhythms. Kútì, who died in 1997, is the first African-born solo artist to enter the Rock Hall. He gets in as a recipient of the Early Influence Award.

Key songs: “Water No Get Enemy,” “Zombie,” “Let’s Start.”

Parsons was arguably the most important figure in rock’s turn toward country in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Parsons was a member of the Byrds, co-founded the Flying Burrito Brothers and became a solo artist with Emmylou Harris as his duet partner and backup singer. He died in 1973. He enters the hall as a recipient of the Early Influence Award. Key songs: “Hickory Wind,” “Love Hurts,” “Return of the Grievous Angel.”

The 63-year-old producer was instrumental to the popularization of hip-hop in the 1980s through his work with the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC and his Def Jam Recordings label. Rubin went on to work in rock and country, producing Johnny Cash’s haunting final recordings in the 1990s.

He gets into the hall as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.

The late songwriter and producer will enter the hall for helping to define the Philadelphia soul sound of the 1970s, penning hits for the Stylistics, Teddy Pendergrass and the Spinners. Creed died in 1986 at 37.

She gets into the hall as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.

Mardin gets the honor for his decades of work as a producer for Atlantic Records for his work in helping create the soul sound of Aretha Franklin and his production of Rock Hall of Famers including Hall & Oates, the Bee Gees, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross and Cher. Mardin died in 2006.

He gets into the hall as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.

Miller was known for producing rock acts of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Rolling Stones albums considered to represent their artistic peak: “Beggars Banquet,” “Let It Bleed,” “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main St.” He died in 1994.

He gets into the hall as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.