Phish topped the fan vote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2025 class, but unfortunately, the jam band still didn’t make the final cut.
That’s right, despite receiving nearly 50,000 more fan votes than any other artist nominated, Phish will not be among those inducted into the Rock Hall in 2025. Instead, the honor will go to performers Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes.
As shocking as this may or may not be to the 330,000 fans who casted ballots for Phish (beating out runner-up Bad Company, who earned 281,000 votes), it’s not too surprising considering the way the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selection process actually works.
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Rather than equitably considering fan input, the Rock Hall considers the totality of the fan vote to be just one of 1,200 ballots. In other words, the top five artists in the fan vote are placed on a single ballot, which is then considered just one of the hundreds of ballots submitted by industry professionals, other performers, historians, and more.
So, even though Phish won the fan vote, earning 50,000 more votes than Bad Company made no difference — all five winners were given the same advantage when the won the fan vote, and that advantage had a relatively minuscule impact on the ultimate outcome, considering that it only accounted for one out of 1,200 votes.
Phish and Billy Idol are the two artists included on the fans’ ballot this year that won’t be inducted. The other three — Checker, Cocker, and Lauper — will be honored.
This isn’t the first time the winner of the fan ballot was excluded from the Hall. In 2020, the Dave Matthews Band won the fan vote but weren’t inducted. Four years later, though, the group returned to the ballot, and ultimately were inducted.
So, this isn’t the end of the road for Phish’s Rock Hall ambitions… but if you ask the band’s Trey Anastasio, that ambition doesn’t seem too terribly strong. In an interview with GQ earlier this year, he expressed immense gratitude that Phish was even nominated, but seemed more inclined to vote for his other nominees than himself.
For now, Phish joins the long list of artists who have been snubbed by the Rock Hall.
This summer, Phish will embark on a US tour, playing shows in Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and many more cities. Get tickets here.
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