When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2026 class was announced on Monday (April 13), few paid much attention to the fact that six women were among those honored. Sade Adu (Sade) and Gillian Gilbert (New Order) were both selected in the performers category, while Celia Cruz, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte were chosen to receive the early influence award and Linda Creed was tabbed to receive the musical excellence award.
That’s how the Rock Hall has rolled for several years now. Each of the last five induction classes has included at least four women (or groups featuring women) across the various induction categories.
It was not ever thus. When the inaugural class was inducted in 1986, all 10 performer honorees were men: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley.
The Rock Hall could have brought in some gender diversity that year with its other selections, but they too were all men. The inaugural early influence (now called musical influence) honorees were Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmy Yancey and Robert Johnson. The inaugural non-performer selections (now called Ahmet Ertegun Award) were Alan Freed, John Hammond and Sam Phillips.
There were likewise no women in the induction classes of 1992, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2016. John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, has made diversifying the roster of inductees along gender, genre and racial lines a priority. As such, it’s likely we’ll never see another all-male induction class.
In honor of this year’s gender-diverse class of nominees, here are 19 women who have made history at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
