Billy Idol, Oasis, Wu-Tang Clan, Phil Collins, Sade, Queen Latifah, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order and the late Luther Vandross will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday.
But the list of who will show up and perform is getting shorter daily and looking awfully thin, and it’s difficult to know what the ceremony will look like with so many artists not playing the sets that define the show.
Sade’s representative told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she won’t attend, a day after fans learned that Oasis will be a no-show. Iron Maiden and key members of New Order previously revealed they aren’t coming. And Phil Collins is likely to appear but not play.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame may make a few announcements later this week about who is inducting the new members and who may perform their songs in their place, although organizers like to keep much of the show a surprise.
For the second straight year, the ceremony that moves between Cleveland, New York and Los Angeles will be held at the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A. After two years of streaming it live, the Rock Hall is returning to its previous model, where the public won’t see it until an edited version airs on ABC and Disney+ in December.
The list of 2026 honorees also includes MC Lyte, Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti and Gram Parsons, along with music producers Rick Rubin, Linda Creed, Arif Mardin and Jimmy Miller and variety show host Ed Sullivan.
Here’s a closer look at the nominees and what we know about the show.
Performer inductees
Eight of this year’s inductees came in through the main entrance — the performer category. A nominating committee put them up for a vote from more than 1,200 people, including music industry figures and historians. Artists become eligible for the hall 25 years after their first music release, but it can take much longer for them to be nominated.
Phil Collins
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.
The eight-time Grammy winner got in with his first solo nomination and had been eligible since 2006.
Will he perform? No. Collins has said the health problems that have kept him off the stage since 2022 will keep him from performing Saturday. But he is likely to appear to accept the honor.
Key songs: “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds,” “One More Night,” “You’ll Be in My Heart.”
Sade
First, a head-scratching fact that even big fans may not know. Sade is the name of the band. For real. It is also the first name of its Nigeria-born, England-raised lead singer Sade Adu, making many think she’s a solo act.
But she’ll be inducted along with the members of her band, who entranced audiences with their blend of jazz, smooth-and-sultry R&B and sophisti-pop when they launched in Britain in the mid-1980s.
Will they perform? No. Many fans had hoped they would take the stage together for the first time since 2011, but Adu’s representative says she won’t be attending the ceremony.
Key songs: “Smooth Operator,” “No Ordinary Love,” “Like a Tattoo,” “Kiss of Life”
Billy Idol
The 70-year-old punk-coded English rock singer had also been eligible for the hall since 2006, and voters put him in after his second nomination.
Will he perform? Yes. Idol, who toured the US in summer and had a residency in Las Vegas, plans to play and says he’s going to “bring it” when he does.
Key songs: “Dancing With Myself,” “White Wedding,” “Rebel Yell,” “Eyes Without a Face.”
Wu-Tang Clan
The 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 — got into the hall with their first nomination. They had been eligible since 2017.
They’ve been hip-hop innovators since their 1993 debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang.”
Will they perform? Maybe. They toured together just last year on what was billed as a farewell tour.
Key songs: “C.R.E.A.M.,” “Protect Ya Neck,” “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit,” “Gravel Pit.”
Oasis
The famously feuding brothers of Brit pop, Noel and Liam Gallagher, enter the hall with their second nomination. They’ve been eligible since 2019. At 54, Liam Gallagher is the youngest inductee of the class of 2026. They enter the hall a year after a reunion tour that brought them back together for the first time in 16 years, and they’ve announced they’ll do it again next year.
Will they perform? No. Noel Gallagher has announced a solo set at a London jazz festival on Saturday. And Rolling Stone reports that his little brother, who has sneered at the idea of the hall since becoming eligible for it, won’t be there either.
Key Songs: “Wonderwall,” “Live Forever,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Champagne Supernova.”
Joy Division and New Order
The two British rock bands will get a rare joint nomination 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, which went in the direction of electronic and dance music.
Will they perform? Maybe in some form. Key New Order members Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, who are married, told Vulture in September that neither will make the trip because Gilbert is being treated for cancer. The bassist for both bands, Peter Hook, has been estranged from his mates for many years, and has long performed the two groups’ songs with his own band, Peter Hook and the Light. His representative declined to say whether he’ll attend.
Joy Division had been eligible since 2003 and got in with their third nomination.
Key songs: “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” “Disorder,” “Blue Monday,” “Bizarre Love Triangle.”
Iron Maiden
The scorching rock band who led the new wave of British heavy metal starting in the late 1970s got an induction that many thought was long overdue.
Will they perform? No. Iron Maiden are together and thriving, but so much so that they’re on tour in Australia and won’t be appearing to accept or to play.
Voters installed them on their third nomination. They’d been eligible since 2005.
Key songs: “The Trooper,” “Fear of the Dark,” “Run to the Hills,” “Aces High.”
Luther Vandross
The love songs of Luther Vandross, delivered with a voice of velvet, made him one of the definitive R&B singers of his era.
The solo career of the New Jersey-born Vandross began in the early 1980s, and he went on to win eight Grammys and have 11 consecutive platinum albums.
He was also a songwriter, producer and one of pop music’s great collaborators with artists including Rock Hall members David Bowie and Aretha Franklin.
Vandross was 54 when he died in 2005.
He’s been eligible since the year after his death, but did not get a nomination until this year, and was voted in on the first ballot.
Key songs: “Never Too Much,” “Dance With My Father,” “I’d Rather,” “Here and Now.”
Early influencers
Some inductees are brought in through a sort of side door, getting awards handed out by committees. But they’re still considered full-fledged hall members. Rubin and the other three producer-inductees are all recipients of the Musical Excellence Award. Sullivan is getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-musicians.
And the following five artists are getting in by receiving the Early Influence Award.
Queen Latifah
The 56-year-old New Jersey-born Queen Latifah achieved unprecedented success for a female rapper, becoming a star at age 19 with the release of her 1989 album “All Hail the Queen” and the single “Ladies First.”
She later became known more for her acting in film and television, including a role in “Chicago” that got her an Oscar nomination.
Will she perform? Probably. It hasn’t been made official, but all signs point to yes.
Key songs: “U.N.I.T.Y.,” “Ladies First,” “When You’re Good to Mama.”
MC Lyte
About two years before Latifah in nearby Brooklyn, MC Lyte did her own trailblazing, becoming 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.
Will she perform? Almost certainly. The 56-year-old has been doing a “Road to the Hall” concert tour in the run-up to the ceremony.
Key songs: “Keep on Keepin’ On,” “Cold Rock a Party,” “Ruffneck.”
Celia Cruz
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 becomes the first member of the Hall of Fame who sang primarily in Spanish.
She was 77 when she died in 2003.
Key songs: “Vasos Vacíos,” “La Vida Es Un Carnaval,” “El Último Adiós.”
Fela Kútì
The Nigerian saxophonist, bandleader, progenitor and activist who died in 1997 at age 58 becomes the first African-born artist to enter the Hall of Fame in the same year he became the first African artist to receive the Grammys’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was born in 1938 in colonial Nigeria. His music career, which spanned the late 1950s up to the 1990s, is a signature blend of high-octane horn, jazz, and funk with Yoruba rhythms.
Key songs: “Water No Get Enemy,” “Zombie,” “Let’s Start.”
Gram Parsons
Arguably the most important figure in rock’s turn toward country in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Parsons joined the Byrds for their very country “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” was a founding member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and made a pair of solo records where he duetted with a folk singer he discovered named Emmylou Harris, launching her storied country career.
He was 26 when he died in 1973.
Key songs: “Hickory Wind,” “Love Hurts,” “Return of the Grievous Angel.”
