This will be the seventh consecutive year that women have been invited to rock and roll's annual party. (And not just as the +1s of male inductees.)
Of the 17 people (15 individuals and a duo) who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 1986, would you care to venture a guess how many were women? We’re looking at all inductees – performers, non-performers and early influences.
Would you believe: none?
It’s true that most of the most vital artists from rock and roll’s early years were men — Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and more. But it’s not like there were no women to choose from. Many women who have subsequently been inducted could have been inducted that first year (meaning they had been active for at least 25 years at that point).
And that wasn’t the only time that women were shut out of the Rock Hall’s annual class of inductees. It has happened five subsequent times, most recently in 2016. But the Rock Hall has since seen the light and is working toward gender parity. With Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott and Chaka Khan set to be inducted later this year, this will be the seventh consecutive year that women have been invited to rock and roll’s annual party.
Listed chronologically by each year’s class, here are all the women to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All were inducted as performers unless otherwise designated. Likewise, all were inducted as individuals unless otherwise designated. Three women – Stevie Nicks, Carole King and Tina Turner – have been inducted twice. (So too have 23 men.)
1986
Female Inductees: None
Notes: It’s hard to imagine any Hall of Fame starting up today with no women in its inaugural class. Our collective consciousness has been raised since 1986.
1987
Female Inductees: Aretha Franklin
Notes: Franklin had been the Queen of Soul for 20 years at the time she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock Hall. She topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Respect” in 1967 and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” a collab with future Rock Hall inductee George Michael, in 1987 – just in time for her induction.
1988
Female Inductees: The Supremes (Florence Ballard,Diana Ross, Mary Wilson)
Notes: The Supremes were the first all-female group to be inducted. They amassed 12 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 in the 1960s, second only to The Beatles (who had 18 No. 1 hits in that decade). Their longest-running No. 1 was “Baby Love,” which spent four weeks on top in 1964. Sadly, Ballard didn’t live to see the induction. She died in 1976 at age 32, which makes her the first woman to be inducted posthumously.
The Rock Hall has yet to induct Ross as a solo performer. (Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner have been inducted as performers both with groups or duos and as solo artists – as have 13 male artists.) Nile Rodgers, who co-wrote and co-produced Ross’ 1980 smash “Upside Down,” and Lionel Richie, Ross’ duet partner on the 1981 megahit “Endless Love,” have been inducted, but Ross has not. Now that the Hall is broadening its definition of rock and roll, they should take another look at that.
1989
Female Inductees: Bessie Smith (early influence)
Notes: Smith was the first woman to be inducted as an early influence. Known as the “Empress of the Blues,” Smith is best known for her 1923 recording, “Down Hearted Blues.”
1990
Female Inductees: Zola Taylor (as part of The Platters), Carole King (with Gerry Goffin, non-performers category), Ma Rainey (early influence)
Notes: The Platters topped the Hot 100 in early 1959 with a remake of the 1930s classic “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and had several major hits prior to the 1958 introduction of the Hot 100, including “Only You (and You Alone),” “The Great Pretender,” “My Prayer” and “Twilight Time.”
King was the first woman to be inducted in the non-performers category, for her legendary collaboration with then-husband Gerry Goffin on such classics as The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” If it felt like a slight to call an artist who had recorded one of the landmark albums of the 1970s (Tapestry) a “non-performer,” the Hall would later recognize her as a performer.
See AlsoRock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum | History, Facts, & InducteesTips for Visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ClevelandInside 2021 Rock Hall Induction, With Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, LL Cool J & MoreExclusive: Dolly Parton on rock, rhinestones and her genre-busting careerRainey is best known for her 1925 recording of “See See Rider Blues.” Viola Davis received an Oscar nomination for best actress for playing Rainey in the 2020 film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
1991
Female Inductees: LaVern Baker, Tina Turner (as part of Ike & Tina Turner)
Notes: Baker’s biggest hit was “I Cried a Tear,” which reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1959. Ike & Tina’s biggest hit was an explosive cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud May” that utterly redefined the song. It reached No. 4 in 1971.
The Hall still hasn’t acknowledged another high-profile husband-and-wife team from the 1960s: Sonny & Cher. “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On” are enduring classics.
1992
Female Inductees: None
Notes: This was the second time that no women were inducted. (Ironically, 1992 is often referred to as the “Year of the Woman”: Four women were elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time that year, upping the number of women in the Senate to a then-unthinkably high six.)
1993
Female Inductees: Ruth Brown, Etta James, Cynthia Robinson and Rosie Stone (as part of Sly & the Family Stone), Dinah Washington (early influence)
Notes: Brown’s highest-charting Hot 100 hit was “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin’” (No. 24 in 1958). Brown won a Tony for best actress in a musical in 1989 for Black and Blue.
James’ most famous and timeless recording is “At Last,” but it wasn’t her highest-charting Hot 100 hit. That distinction is held by “Tell Mama” (No. 23 in 1967).
Robinson and Stone were the first women to be inducted as part of mixed-gender group. Sly & the Family Stone had three No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 between 1969-71 – the mass-appeal smash “Everyday People” and the progressively funkier “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” and “Family Affair.”
Washington had three top 10 hits on the Hot 100 in the early 1960s – “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” and a pair of duets with Brook Benton, “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” and “A Rockin’ Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love).”
1994
Female Inductees: Donna Jean Godchaux (as part of The Grateful Dead)
Notes: Godchaux joined the Dead in 1972, on the heels of their classic hit “Truckin.’” That song peaked at No. 64 in December 1971, becoming The Dead’s biggest hit of the 1970s. Godchaux remained with the band until 1979.
1995
Female Inductees: Janis Joplin, Martha & the Vandellas (Rosalind Ashford, Annette Beard, Betty Kelly, Lois Reeves, Martha Reeves)
Notes: Joplin was the first solo female rock artist to be inducted. In 1971, she became the first woman to top the Hot 100 posthumously, with “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Martha & the Vandellas made the top five on the Hot 100 with “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Street.” Both songs were later revived by other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stars. Linda Ronstadt brought “Heat Wave” back to the top five in 1975. The Mamas and the Papas, Van Halen and Mick Jagger & David Bowie all made the Hot 100 with their versions of “Dancing in the Street.”
1996
Female Inductees: Gladys Knight (as part of Gladys Knight & the Pips), Grace Slick (as part of Jefferson Airplane), The Shirelles (Shirley Alston Reeves, Addie Harris, Doris Kenner-Jackson, Beverly Lee), Maureen Tucker (as part of The Velvet Underground)
Notes: The Shirelles were the third all-female group to be inducted; the first that wasn’t signed to Motown Records. The Supremes and Martha & the Vandellas both recorded for that Detroit powerhouse.
The Shirelles had a pair of No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 in 1961-62, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “Soldier Boy.” Gladys Knight & the Pips reached No. 1 in 1973 with “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
Jefferson Airplane had a pair of iconic top 10 hits in 1967, “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” before morphing into Jefferson Starship and later just Starship.
The Velvet Underground never had a Hot 100 hit. (If they had ever had a mainstream hit they might have had to change their name!) Their many classics include “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Sweet Jane” and “White Light/White Heat.”
1997
Female Inductees: Joni Mitchell, Mahalia Jackson (early influence)
Notes: Mitchell’s track record of hits doesn’t convey her stature or influence: She had just one top 10 hit as an artist – “Help Me,” which reached No. 7 in 1974.
Jackson’s biggest pop hit was a cover version of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” which was a 1958 smash for English teen star Laurie London. The gospel legend’s version charted on a precursor to the Hot 100.
1998
Female Inductees: Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks (as part of Fleetwood Mac), Cass Elliot and Michelle Williams (as part of The Mamas & the Papas)
Notes: McVie was the first British woman to be inducted into the Hall.
This was the only time two mixed-gender bands were inducted in the same year. Both groups topped the Hot 100 with songs drawn from albums that topped the Billboard 200 – Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” (from Rumours) and The Mamas & the Papas’ “Monday, Monday” (from If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears).
1999
Female Inductees: Dusty Springfield; Cleotha Staples,Mavis Staples andYvonne Staples (as part of The Staple Singers)
Notes: Springfield was the first solo British woman to be inducted into the Hall. Her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis wasn’t much of a hit when it was released (No. 99 on the Billboard 200, if you can believe that), but its stature has grown over the decades. Her highest-charting Hot 100 hit was “What Have I Done to Deserve This?,” a collab with Pet Shop Boys. It reached No. 2 in 1988.
The Staple Singers topped the Hot 100 twice in the ’70s, with the classic “I’ll Take You There” and the less-classic “Let’s Do It Again.”
2000
Female Inductees: Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday (early influence)
Notes: Raitt had to wait her turn before stardom finally arrived, but when it did — on Grammy night in 1990 — boy was she ready. Her highest-charting Hot 100 hit was “Something to Talk About,” which hit No. 5 in 1991.
Holiday’s biggest hit, as pop hits are measured, was “Carelessly,” which she recorded with Teddy Wilson’s orchestra in 1937. But her most classic releases include “Strange Fruit” and “Good Morning Heartache.” Both Diana Ross and Andra Day received Oscar nominations for best actress for playing Holiday. Ross was nominated for 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues; Day for 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday.
2001
Female Inductees: None
Notes: This was the third time that no women were inducted.
2002
Female Inductees: Brenda Lee, Tina Weymouth (as part of Talking Heads)
Notes: Brenda Lee had back-to-back No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 in 1960 with “I’m Sorry” and “I Want to Be Wanted.” She was the second female artist to notch back-to-back No. 1s, following Connie Francis (who has yet to get a call from the Hall). Lee was the first woman to be inducted into both the Country and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
Talking Heads’ highest-charting hit was “Burning Down the House” (No. 9 in 1983).
2003
Female Inductees: None
Notes: This was the fourth time that no women were inducted.
2004
Female Inductees: None
Notes: This was the fifth time that no women were inducted; and the only time it happened two years running. Hashtag campaigns weren’t a thing back then, but #RockHallSoMale would have been a natural.
2005
Female Inductees: Chrissie Hynde (as part of The Pretenders)
Notes: The Pretenders’ biggest hit was “Back on the Chain Gang” (No. 5 in 1983), which Hynde wrote. She also wrote the group’s other top 10 hit, “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (No. 10 in 1986).
2006
Female Inductees: Deborah Harry (as part of Blondie)
Notes: Blondie had four No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 from 1979-81 – “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture.” Harry co-wrote all of them except “The Tide Is High.”
2007
Female Inductees: The Ronettes (Estelle Bennett,Ronnie Spector, Nedra Talley), Patti Smith
Notes: The Ronettes were the fourth all-female group to be inducted. Their hits include the immortal “Be My Baby,” which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1963. It was kept out of the top spot by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs’ amiable but less-than-essential “Sugar Shack.”
Smith’s highest-charting hit was “Because the Night,” which she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen (No. 13 in 1978).
2008
Female Inductees: Madonna
Notes: Madonna had 12 No. 1 hits from 1984-2000. “Take a Bow” logged seven weeks on top in 1995, making it her longest-running No. 1. Madonna earned her induction with her brave performance at the inaugural VMAs in 1984. She took a huge risk there – and stole the show.
2009
Female Inductees: Wanda Jackson (early influence)
Notes: Jackson toured with Elvis in 1955-56. She had a pair of top 30 hits on the Hot 100 in 1961, “Right or Wrong” and “In the Middle of a Heartache.”
2010
Female Inductees: Agnetha Fältskog,Anni-Frid Lyngstad (as part of ABBA), Ellie Greenwich (with Jeff Barry, Ahmet Ertegun Award), Cynthia Weil (with Barry Mann, Ahmet Ertegun Award)
Notes: ABBA topped the Hot 100 in 1977 with “Dancing Queen,” one of the most delectable pieces of ear candy in pop history.
Greenwich and Weil followed Carole King as the second and third women who were inducted in the non-performers category (which had been renamed the Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2008). All three of these women were honored for their roles in legendary songwriting collaborations. Barry & Greenwich gave us such songs as “Leader of the Pack” and “Be My Baby.” Mann & Weil gave us “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “On Broadway,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Kicks” and many other classics.
2011
Female Inductees: Darlene Love
Notes: Love was the voice behind hits by The Crystals and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans. Her highest-charting solo hit is her holiday perennial “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which reached a new peak, No. 15, in 2022. Love was featured in the Oscar-winning music documentary, Twenty Feet From Stardom, for which she won her first Grammy (for best music film).
2012
Female Inductees: Claudette Rogers (as part of The Miracles), Laura Nyro
Notes: The Miracles were inducted 25 years after their front-man, Smokey Robinson, got the nod. Their biggest hit in the years Rogers was with the group was “Shop Around,” which reached No. 2 in February 1961. It was kept out of the top spot by Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta” – as “the sound of young America,” as Motown liked to call itself, met the sound of old America.
Nyro was one of the hottest songwriters of the late ’60s and early ’70s, with such classic hits as “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “And When I Die,” “Eli’s Coming” and “Stoney End.” Yet, Nyro’s only Hot 100 hit as an artist was a cover of Goffin & King’s “Up on the Roof.” Go figure.
2013
Female Inductees: Ann Wilson andNancy Wilson (as part of Heart), Donna Summer
Notes: Summer will forever be known as the queen of disco, but she won the first Grammy ever awarded for best female rock vocal performance, for “Hot Stuff.”
Heart had two No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 in 1986-87 – “These Dreams” and “Alone.” Summer had four No. 1 hits in 1978-79 – “MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough),” a collab with Barbra Streisand.
2014
Female Inductees: Linda Ronstadt, Patti Scialfa (as part of the E Street Band, award for musical excellence)
Notes: Ronstadt, who topped the Hot 100 in 1975 with “You’re No Good,” was the undisputed queen of country-rock in the ‘70s. In the ’80s, she boldly stepped into Broadway, the Great American Songbook, Mexican American music and more.
The E Street Band was inducted 15 years after their Boss, Bruce Springsteen, was honored. Springsteen’s highest-charting hit on which the E Street Band was credited was a cover of Edwin Starr’s “War” (No. 8 in 1986).
2015
Female Inductees: Joan Jett (as part of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)
Notes: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks in 1982 with “I Love Rock and Roll.” Jett had previously been in the all-female band The Runaways (who have yet to be inducted).
2016
Female Inductees: None
Notes: This was the sixth – and most recent – time that no women were inducted. It’s hard to imagine it ever happening again.
2017
Female Inductees: Joan Baez
Notes: Baez’s eponymous 1960 album logged 140 weeks on the Billboard 200. That stood as the record for an album by a female solo artist until Carole King’s Tapestry surpassed it a decade later. Baez reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 1971 with a cover version of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
2018
Female Inductees: Nina Simone, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (early influence)
Notes: Simone’s most famous songs include “Mississippi Goddam” and “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” but her highest-charting Hot 100 hit was “I Loves You, Porgy” (from Porgy and Bess), which hit No. 18 in 1959.
Tharpe is best known for her 1939 recording “This Train.” Yola played the gospel singer/guitarist in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis.
2019
Female Inductees: Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks
Notes: Jackson was inducted 18 years after her brother Michael was inducted as a solo artist. Janet Jackson had 10 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 from 1986-2001, topped by “That’s the Way Love Goes” (eight weeks on top in 1993).
Nicks’ highest-charting solo hit on the Hot 100 was “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a 1981 collab with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers that logged six weeks at No. 3. With her solo induction, Nicks became the first woman to be inducted twice. (At that point, 22 men had been inducted twice.)
2020
Female Inductees: Whitney Houston
Notes: Houston amassed 11 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 between 1985-95, topped by her power ballad version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which became the first hit in Hot 100 history to log 14 weeks at No. 1. Houston’s induction showed that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was broadening its definition of rock and roll. They may need to broaden it a little more: Houston’s cousin, the peerless Dionne Warwick, still hasn’t been inducted, despite two nominations.
Mariah Carey, who teamed with Houston to record the Oscar-winning “When You Believe,” likewise has yet to be inducted. You don’t keep a diva waiting.
2021
Female Inductees: Go-Go’s (Charlotte Caffey,Belinda Carlisle,Gina Schock,Kathy Valentine, andJane Wiedlin), Carole King, Tina Turner
Notes: Go-Go’s were the fifth all-woman band to be inducted, and the only one that was primarily known for pop/rock. The group’s highest-charting hit was “We Got the Beat,” which reached No. 2 in 1982.
King and Turner both had No. 1 hits that won Grammys for record of the year – “It’s Too Late” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” respectively. With these solo nods, King and Turner became the second and third women to receive two inductions. King was inducted 21 years after James Taylor, with whom she shares so much history. King, of course, wrote “You’ve Got a Friend,” which became Taylor’s only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. They probably should have been inducted the same year, but better late than never.
2022
Female Inductees: Pat Benatar (with her husband and musical partner Neil Giraldo), Annie Lennox (as part of Eurythmics), Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Elizabeth Cotton (early influence), Sylvia Robinson (Ahmet Ertegun Award)
Notes: Benatar was the hottest female singer in rock in the early 1980s, winning four consecutive Grammy Awards for best female rock vocal performance. Her highest-charting Hot 100 hits were “Love Is a Battlefield” and “We Belong,” both of which reached No. 5.
Eurythmics, Simon and Parton all topped the Hot 100 – Eurythmics with their 1983 synth-pop classic “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” Simon with the letter-perfect “You’re So Vain” and Parton with a pair of hits – the Oscar-nominated “9 to 5” and “Islands in the Stream” (with Kenny Rogers).
Parton is the second woman, following Brenda Lee, to be inducted into both the Country and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. Cotton is best known for “Freight Train,” which she wrote between 2006 and 2012. Her 1958 recording of the song is in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Robinson was the first woman to win the Ahmet Ertegun Award (formerly the non-performers category) on her own, not as part of a male/female collaboration. Robinson had two significant hits as a recording artist – the 1957 classic “Love Is Strange (as half of Mickey and Sylvia) and the sexy “Pillow Talk,” which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 1973. Even so, she made her most significant contribution as a label executive with Sugar Hill Records.
2023
Female Inductees: Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Chaka Khan (award for musical excellence)
Notes: All four of these artists reached the top three on the Hot 100 – Bush with “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”; Crow with “All I Wanna Do”; Elliott with “Work It,” “Lose Control” and as a featured artist on Ciara’s “1,2 Step”; and Khan with “I Feel for You” (having previously reached the top three as a member of Rufus with “Tell Me Something Good”).
Elliott is the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted – just as she was the first female hip-hop songwriter to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Bush’s chances were given a huge boost by the stunning 2022 success of “Running Up That Hill,” which became a smash 37 years after it was first released, thanks to a synch in Stranger Things. Khan was presented with the award for musical excellence after being nominated as a performer seven times – four times with Rufus and three times on her own.
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