The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the seven inductees that its voters selected from the 2025 ballot on Sunday night, along with six more musicians or executives who were directly selected by the hall’s board for induction. The total of 13 inductees represents a gamut that runs from early-’60s star Chubby Checker to turn-of-the-millennium favorites like the White Stripes.
Newly selected by the hall’s voters as members of the class of ’25: Cyndi Lauper, the White Stripes, Chubby Checker, Outkast, Bad Company, Soundgarden and Joe Cocker.
Two more recording artists won induction into the hall despite not appearing on this year’s ballot, by a move of the board in a separate Musical Influence category: Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon.
Three other musicians are getting in via the Musical Excellence Award, as also selected by the board: producer Thom Bell; pianist Nicky Hopkins, a frequent Rolling Stones sideman back in the day; and bassist Carole Kaye, a famous member of the session players’ ensemble the Wrecking Crew.
The lucky 13th inductee for this year is Lenny Waronker, whose stewardship at Warner Bros. Records over a period of decades landed him a reputation as an artist-friendly exec with some of the best ears in the business.
Who didn’t get in? From the official ballot, the six nominees who failed to make the cut this time were Phish, Oasis, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Joy Division + New Order and the Latin rock group Maná.
Checker, Cocker, Bad Company and Outkast were voted in the first time they appeared on the ballot. Soundgarden made it in on the group’s third nomination, while Lauper and the White Stripes prevailed in the voting in their second ballot appearances.
Both Zevon and Salt-N-Pepa were hand-picked by the organization’s board to go in under the umbrella of the Musical Influence Award. In recent years, that has been a way for prestigious acts to get in after having been previously shut out in voting. Zevon in particular is someone who has long been lobbied for; he appeared on the regular ballot just once, in 2023, without getting in, so the board opted to take independent action rather than wait to see if he’d even make the ballot a second time. Seminal rap artists Salt-N-Pepa had never been nominated before.
The election of Checker will also finally tamp down a longstanding grievance among fans of early rock ‘n’ roll about his omission. The artist who popularized “The Twist” got in the first time he was put up for it, hard as it is for many to believe that he wasn’t nominated any earlier, after having been eligible since the very first Hall of Fame class in 1986.
No one should underestimate the capacity of Carey’s lambs to be displeased about the pop superstar being absent from the final selection. But the greater umbrage might come from fans of Phish, whose supporters rallied behind their heroes to win the fan vote, as announced a week earlier. This is only the second time since the fan vote was instituted that its winner did not get go on to immediately get voted in by the Hall’s 1,200-plus music-industry electors. (The previous time it happened was with the Dave Matthews Band, who did get elected on the next try. While the fan vote is a good indicator of populist passion, it counts little toward the final outcome.)
Intriguing questions will immediately emerge about what might happen the night of the ceremony, like: Who will sing lead lead vocals in place of Chris Cornell for Soundgarden’s induction? And will Jack White and Meg White reunite for a White Stripes reunion, after Meg has avoided playing music or appearing in public at all since the Stripes announced they were going separate ways in 2011?
And… can we twist again, like we did last millennium? (Chances for that are good, since Checker, at 83, is still out on the road touring.)
Ryan Seacrest announced the inductees during a live ABC prime-time broadcast of “American Idol.” That show’s entire Sunday episode was Rock Hall of Fame-themed, with James Taylor coming in as a guest mentor.
The Hall has announced a date and place for the 2025 induction ceremony. As previously revealed, this year’s show will take place in Los Angeles, and now it’s been further announced that the induction will take place at the Peacock Theater on Nov. 8. Ticket information will be released at a later date.
As has been the case the last few years, the show will stream live on Disney+, be available on Hulu beginning the following day, and finally be edited down from its multi-multi-hour length to a condensed ABC special (air date yet to be announced).
The full list of 2025 inductees:
Performer Category:
- Bad Company
- Chubby Checker
- Joe Cocker
- Cyndi Lauper
- Outkast
- Soundgarden
- The White Stripes
Musical Influence Award:
Musical Excellence Award:
- Thom Bell
- Nicky Hopkins
- Carol Kaye
Ahmet Ertegun Award:
