Wu-Tang Clan Make the Rock Hall on Their First Ballot, Joining Oasis, Sade and Joy Division in the Class of 2026

On their first time on the ballot, Wu-Tang Clan are Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. The Hall announced its class of 2026 on Monday (April 13): Wu-Tang, Oasis, Phil Collins, Joy Division/New Order, Sade, Iron Maiden, Billy Idol and Luther Vandross. Wu-Tang and Vandross made it in their first year as nominees, Pitchfork noted. The induction ceremony is set for Nov. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with a broadcast on ABC and Disney+ in December.

The Clan have been eligible since 2018, and on past legs of the Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber Tour they lobbied for it from the stage. RZA told Rolling Stone, “Every night, we put the QR code on the screen and tell the fans to vote.” His method was polite. Raekwon’s, he said, was not:

I did it humbly, like, ‘It’d be an honor if you feel you want to vote for us.’ Raekwon would be like, ‘Nah, fuck that. Y’all better vote.'

RZA, Rolling Stone

What RZA said

He found out over champagne: a partner invited him for a bite, and his wife told him the news. “Good morning, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer,” she said the next morning. RZA told Rolling Stone, “I’m still just absorbing the idea that this is real,” and called an induction “almost unfathomable” early in his career. His first house was in Cleveland, where he drove past the Hall hundreds of times. In a statement, he said it filled him “with joy, proudness, profound achievement, and awe.”

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Few groups have had more internal squabbling, Rolling Stone put it to him, and he agreed it was set aside this week. Weeks earlier, he said, the group had been navigating the “Australian misfortune” of bad news; now, “the bad smell goes away when the good smell comes in.”

The rest of the class

It is a wide-ranging class. Liam Gallagher joked that Oasis, whose documentary later landed on Disney+ and Hulu, won “by reverse psychology” before turning sincere: “it’s a real honour ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame.” Peter Hook said he was “wonderfully pleased,” and that he might attend, which would set up a rare meeting with his estranged bandmates. Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Shakira, Jeff Buckley, P!nk and the Black Crowes were among the nominees who missed out.

Hip-hop was also honored in other categories: Queen Latifah and MC Lyte received Early Influence Awards, and producer Rick Rubin received a Musical Excellence Award, Complex noted.

Why it matters

Hip-hop’s place in the Hall keeps growing, and this year it is honored on several fronts. Wu-Tang’s debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), came out in 1993, and the group’s hold on New York is still visible: they rode a hip-hop float at the Knicks’ championship parade in June, as we reported.

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)Wu-Tang ClanListen on Apple Music

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.