Here’s a list that, frankly, no one wants to be on – artists who have had the most nominations to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without being inducted. Because, whether they admit or not, most artists wants to be inducted, awarded, feted and celebrated.
Three of this year’s nominees to the Rock Hall are creeping up this list. This is the fifth nomination for Rage Against the Machine and the fourth for Kate Bush and The Spinners. It’s the second for Iron Maiden, Soundgarden and A Tribe Called Quest — but we limited this list to artists who have been nominated three or more times without being inducted.
Sometimes, the Rock Hall gives special awards to artists who have been passed over in the regular voting. Nile Rodgers received an award for musical excellence in 2017, the same year his band Chic was passed over for the 11th time. LL Cool J received the same award in 2021 following several snubs. The Rock Hall stresses that all routes to their honors are valid and should be accorded respect. They don’t want anyone to regard special honors as consolation prizes (even if many fans will see them that way).
LL’s musical excellence award removed him from this list. Chic remains on the list because the other members of the group — Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson, Luci Martin and Norma Jean Wright — have yet to be honored.
Eight of this year’s 14 candidates are first-time nominees, which suggests that time is marching on in the Rock Hall nominating process, as it should. You can also see evidence of that in the “most recent nod” column here. 1950s R&B star Chuck Willis’ most recent nod was in 2011. You have to go back to 2005 for Gram Parsons’ most recent nod, and all the way back to 1988 for Ben E. King’s. Barring some new impetus to induct these artists, their chances appear close to nil. But never say never: Kate Bush had a thoroughly unexpected revival in 2022, which greatly boosted her chances of making it in this year.
Chaka Khan has faced the voters seven times without being inducted – three times on her own and four times fronting Rufus.
To be nominated for the Rock Hall, an artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
Here’s how Billboard‘s Andrew Unterberger pegs this year’s nominees in terms of their likelihood of being inducted this year — from least to most likely. Of the six repeat candidates, he is highest on Bush and Soundgarden making it in this year, with the other four deemed less likely to get the job done this year.
Here’s a list of the artists who have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three or more times but haven’t been inducted yet.
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Devo, 3 nods
Image Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage Most recent nod: 2022
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Freedom of Choice (No. 22 in 1980)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Whip It” (No. 14 in 1980)
Notes: The Cleveland-based Rock Hall can’t be accused of regional favoritism here. Devo hails from Akron, Ohio.
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Ben E. King, 3 nods
Most recent nod: 1988
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Benny and Us (collab with Average White Band, No. 33 in 1977)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Stand By Me” (No. 4 in 1961)
Notes: King was inducted into the Hall in 1988 as a member of The Drifters. To date, 12 musicians have inducted both as part of a group and as a solo artist, including Clyde McPhatter, who is the only member of The Drifters who has been inducted as a solo artist. King’s sublime recording of “Stand By Me” returned to the top 10 on the Hot 100 in 1986 after it was featured in the Rob Reiner film of the same name. King died in 2015 at age 76.
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Chaka Khan, 3 nods
Image Credit: Paul Natkin/GI Most recent nod: 2021
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Chaka (No. 12 in 1978)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “I Feel for U” (No. 3 in 1984)
Notes: Prince (who was inducted in 2004) wrote “I Feel for U.” Khan’s most recent top 20 hit on the Hot 100 (in January 1990) was as a featured artist (along with Ray Charles) on Quincy Jones’ “I’ll Be Good to You.” Charles was one of the original inductees into the Rock Hall in 1986. Jones received the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers in 2013. Khan is 69.
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New York Dolls, 3 nods
Most recent nod: 2022
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: New York Dolls (No. 116 in 1973)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: N/A
Notes: Lead singer David Johansen had a higher-charting album (No. 90) in 1988, Buster Poindexter, credited to Buster Poindexter and His Banshees of Blue.
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Gram Parsons, 3 nods
Most recent nod: 2005
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Grievous Angel (No. 195 in 1974)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: N/A
Notes: Parsons was a member of The Byrds in 1968, but he was not part of the lineup that was inducted in 1991. Parsons was just 26 when he died of a drug overdose in 1973. His Grievous Angel album charted posthumously.
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War, 3 nods
Most recent nod: 2015
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: The World Is a Ghetto (No. 1 in 1973)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “The Low Rider” (No. 2 in 1973)
Notes: Eric Burdon, with whom War teamed on their 1970 breakthrough hit “Spill the Wine,” was inducted in 1994 as a member of The Animals. War’s music, which blended elements of pop, rock, Latin and R&B, was ground-breaking in the 1970s. Don’t count them out.
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Kate Bush, 4 nods
Image Credit: Dave Hogan/GI Most recent nod: 2023
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Hounds of Love (No. 12 in 2022)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” (No. 3 in 2022)
Notes: Peter Gabriel, with whom Bush teamed on the 1986 Hot 100 single “Don’t Give Up,” has been inducted twice – as a member of Genesis in 2010 and as a solo artist in 2014. Both “Running Up That Hill” and the album that included it, Hounds of Love, reached new peaks on Billboard’s flagship charts in 2022. Both originally peaked at No. 30 in 1985. Bush is 64.
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The Meters, 4 nods
Most recent nod: 2018
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: The Meters (No. 108 in 1969)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Cissy Strut” (No. 23 in 1969)
Notes: The Meters received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2018. The group disbanded in 1977 when member Arthur Neville left to form The Neville Brothers.
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Rufus With Chaka Khan, 4 nods
Most recent nod: 2020
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Rags to Rufus (No. 4 in 1974)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Tell Me Something Good” (No. 3 in 1974)
Notes: Stevie Wonder, who wrote “Tell Me Something Good,” the group’s first and biggest Hot 100 hit, was inducted in 1989.
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The Spinners, 4 nods
Most recent nod: 2023
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Pick of the Litter (No. 8 in 1975)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Then Came You” (collab with Dionne Warwick, No. 1 in 1974)
Notes: Thom Bell, who co-wrote and produced a long string of stylish hits for the group, was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 and received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2017. The Spinners’ last two top 10 hits on the Hot 100 were remakes of hits by Rock Hall inductees The Four Seasons (“Working My Way Back to You”) and Sam Cooke (“Cupid”).
Henry Fambrough, the sole remaining founding member, shared his thoughts on this year’s nomination here.
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J. Geils Band, 5 nods
Most recent nod: 2018
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Freeze-Frame (No. 1 in 1982)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Centerfold” (No. 1 in 1982)
Notes: Lead singer Peter Wolf left the band in the fall of 1983 and landed his biggest solo hit, “Lights Out,” the following year.
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Rage Against the Machine, 5 nods
Image Credit: Niels van Iperen/GI Most recent nod: 2023
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Evil Empire (No. 1 in 1996); The Battle of Los Angeles (No. 1 in 1999)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Bulls on Parade” (No. 62 in 1996)
Notes: Those two highest-charting albums were back-to-back studio sets that both entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1.
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Joe Tex, 5 nods
Most recent nod: 2017
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: I Gotcha (No. 17 in 1972)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “I Gotcha” (No. 2 in 1972)
Notes: Tex landed his first top five hit on the Hot 100 in January 1965 with “Hold What You’ve Got.” He died in 1982 at age 47.
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MC5, 6 nods
Most recent nod: 2022
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: Kick Out the Jams (No. 82 in 1969)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Kick Out the Jams” (No. 30 in 1969)
Notes: The group’s guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith married Patti Smith in 1980. He died in 1994 at age 46. Patti Smith was inducted in 2007. MC5 is short for Motor City Five.
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Chuck Willis, 6 nods
Most recent nod: 2011
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: N/A
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “What Am I Living For” (No. 25 in 1958)
Notes: “C.C. Rider” and“What Am I Living For” were major hits in 1957-58 prior to the introduction of the Hot 100 in August 1958. The latter song was at No. 25 and on its way down the week the Hot 100 launched. Willis was alive when the latter song was released in March 1958, but died the following month of peritonitis. He was just 32.
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Chic, 11 nods
Image Credit: Eric Harlow/Mirrorpix/GI Most recent nod: 2017
Highest-charting Billboard 200 album: C’Est Chic (No. 4 in 1978)
Highest-charting Hot 100 song: “Le Freak” (No. 1 in 1978); “Good Times” (No. 1 in 1979)
Notes: Group member Nile Rodgers received an award for musical excellence in 2017 and is slated to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy on Saturday (Feb. 4). Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, his former partner in Chic, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016.