Rock Hall unveils 2026 class with Sade, Phil Collins, Oasis, more

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2026 class tilts hard across the Atlantic, with a record six British acts among its Performer inductees and a lineup that stretches from Sade and Phil Collins to Iron Maiden and Oasis. The ceremony is set for Saturday, November 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and the show will debut on ABC and Disney+ in December.

The Performer class also includes Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan, while the Hall’s other honors go to Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Gram Parsons for Early Influence, Linda Creed, Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller and Rick Rubin for Musical Excellence, and Ed Sullivan for the Ahmet Ertegun Award. The Hall said the 17 Performer nominees were selected by an international voting panel of more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals, with eligibility beginning 25 years after an artist’s first commercial recording.

The British showing is the clearest marker of how the Hall’s canon has expanded and, at times, circled back on itself. The previous record for British acts in a single year was five, set in 2019. This year’s group includes names that once sat outside the Hall’s core rock narrative, from Sade’s polished, genre-blurring soul to Joy Division/New Order’s post-punk lineage, and from Billy Idol’s MTV-era swagger to Oasis’ Britpop scale. In other words, the Hall is not simply rewarding longevity; it is acknowledging how British acts helped define the sound, image and export value of rock across decades.

Some of the choices carry their own institutional history. Phil Collins, already inducted in 2010 as a member of Genesis, is entering again as a solo artist. Iron Maiden reached the Hall after its third nomination. Phil Collins, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan were first-time nominees in 2026, while Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis and Sade had all been nominated before. After years of mockery, Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher called the induction “a real honour” on social media.

The class also shows how far the Hall’s definition of rock has stretched. Alongside arena rock and post-punk, the 2026 honors recognize R&B, hip-hop, Latin and African music, with Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti signaling a broader transatlantic and global frame. For an institution once built around a narrower American rock story, this year reads as a canon in motion, shaped as much by nostalgia as by a belated accounting of influence.