Voting on the latest batch of Nominees for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame has been open for a week, and a few things are becoming swiftly clear. One is artists like Phil Collins still capture the imagination of people in 2026
As of the writing of this blog, Phil Collins is leading the pack for potential inductees into the R’n’R Hall of Fame. This is likely the result of 2 major factors a massive catalogue spanning decades that includes but is not limited to 70s, 80s and 90s hits with Genesis, a ton of incredibly memorable solo songs (over the same decades) and contributions to the well remembered millennial Disney classic Tarzan.
Having a fan base as varied in age as Phil’s is, and given his massive contribution to the world of music, coupled with his extreme likeability; it makes him an easy choice amongst people that typically vote for things like the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame inductees. It gets a bit weirder from this point forward; Gen X favourite New Edition clocks in with the 2nd most number of votes.
Even though New Edition will have a lot of fans in the voting block (to be read as 40 plus year olds) they tend to live in the R&B/Pop world; more than say the Rock world but like many bands inducted before, we know we are stretching what falls under the Rock umbrella. Pink comes next (#3 most votes so far) which is not surprising given her rabid fan base, including Jen from the Rewind Morning Show who I suspect is largely responsible for her high placing thus far.
What is extremely surprising is that the band everybody has been talking about not getting in, complaining about not being included, writing massive diatribes on the internet about them not being inducted yet (including one Gene Simmons as recently as 2 weeks ago); IRON MAIDEN, is not in the top 5 or even the Top 10. They come sliding in at a lowly 11 joined by a ton of the more traditional Rock Artists. Looking at the bottom half of the list you find the likes of The Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley and Joy Division.
It seems fair to say that proponents of the band who are currently selling out stadiums all over North America remain too cool to vote in this contest, and it looks like Maiden may miss their shot yet again. Hopefully for one of the biggest metal bands in the world; their fans are just late starters and not totally missers because similar to any other voting activities at a certain point you have to put your money where your mouth is or stop complaining.
