Rock Hall Announces 2025 Nominees: Bad Company, Mariah Carey, Outcast And At Long Last Chubby Checker

Bad Company, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol and, after decades of effort, Chubby Checker are among the performers nominated for induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Hall Foundation announced today.

In all, 14 nominees made the cut: Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes. Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Maná, OutKast, and Phish are first-time nominees.

“These remarkable nominees have each created their own musical style and attitude impacting generations of music lovers and contributing to the ever evolving sounds and continued growth of rock & roll,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

The inductees will be revealed in late April, along with those Inductees entering the Hall under special committee categories Musical Influence, Musical Excellence and the Ahmet Ertegun Non Performer Award.

This year’s Induction ceremony will take place in Los Angeles in the fall.

Today’s news might be especially welcome to the 83-year-old Checker, whose 1960 hit “The Twist” ushered in a dance craze that included the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, The Jerk and others.

Checker and his fans have been lobbying for induction for decades, to no avail until now. In 2001, Checker took out a full page ad in Billboard magazine all but demanding induction (and a Nobel Prize to boot). “I want my flowers while I’m alive,” he wrote. “I can’t smell them when I’m dead.” He also requested a statue on top of a 30-foot pedestal in the courtyard of the Rock Hall, away from other inductees.

“l would like to be alone, thank you,” he wrote. “I changed the business.”

This year’s list of nominees represents a noticeable mix of genres, from hard rock such as Bad Company and Billy Idol and alternative rock including Joy Division/New Order and The White Stripes. The late Cocker represents the Woodstock generation, while hip-hop is on board with Outcast. Maná is a longstanding, Grammy-winning Mexican pop-rock band.

Despite years of criticism that the Rock Hall too often ignores women, only two were nominated this year: Carey and Lauper.