The nominees for induction to this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class were announced yesterday. Each year, fans get to vote for five artists. Their vote will be included with a panel of experts to determine the inductees for 2021. The top vote-getters in fan voting doesn’t mean automatic induction. Two of the artists receiving the highest amount of votes last year, Dave Mathews Band and Pat Benetar were not only not inducted, but they didn’t make the list of this year’s sixteen finalists.

These are the sixteen who made it to the finalist list for 2021:

Carole King, Jay-Z, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Kate Bush, Devo, Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, Chaka Khan, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Todd Rundgren and Dionne Warwick.

Here are my five choices and my reasoning:

Carole King:
Although she’s already been inducted as a songwriter, her exclusion as a performer is shocking. Her album “Tapestry” has been classified as 13xPlatinum, with sales in the United States of over thirteen million records. That makes it one of the biggest selling records of all-time. That alone should get her inducted. On the now fiftieth anniversary of “Tapestry”, Carole King joining the other legends of the Rock Hall would be fitting.

Jay-Z:
He is considered one of the most influential hip-hop artists in the genre. Jay-Z’s recordings have sold over fifty-million albums and seventy-five-million singles worldwide. He also has won twenty-two Grammy awards. When you add it all up, Jay-Z is a no-brainer Hall of Famer.

Tina Turner:
In the mid-1980s, there wasn’t anyone hotter than Tina Turner. From big selling hit records, selling out huge stadiums and performing at all the big events, Tina Turner showed that she didn’t need Ike to make her a star. She’s won eight Grammys and was honored by The Kennedy Center, in 2008. Tina Turner is already in the Hall of Fame due to her collaborations with Ike, but in 2021, she should earn the honor on her own. She’s simply the best.

Foo Fighters:
In 1994, Nirvana dissolved following the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Their drummer, Dave Grohl, needed a new creative outlet. Later that year he formed Foo Fighters. Who would have guessed that Grohl would become one of music’s biggest stars by leaving his drum kit and becoming a frontman? Twenty-five years later, the band still thriving. They’ve won eleven Grammys and the recently released “Medicine at Midnight” is their tenth studio album.

Chaka Khan:
In a career that goes back almost five decades, Chaka Khan has won ten Grammys and has been nominated a total of twenty-two times. Five of her albums have been certified as Gold sellers with another one going platinum. Her hit singles include “I Feel For You” and “I’m Every Woman”, as well as the single “Ain’t Nobody”, done with the band, Rufus.

Women have been extremely underrepresented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They currently only make up 8% of the total inductees. It looks like they are trying to make up for their past mistakes. Almost half of the finalists are women. If my choices or any of the other deserving candidates such as The Go-Go’s, Mary J. Blige, Kate Bush or Dionne Warwick are elected, it will truly become the year of the woman for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Related Post: How does Carole King’s “Tapestry” sound fifty years later?

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