David Byrne, Taylor Swift, Kenny Loggins, LL Cool J, P!nk, Sarah McLachlan, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley of Kiss are among the nominees for induction into the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame. The 2026 Performer nominees also include The Go-Go’s Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine, and Jane Wiedlin, Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of the Guess Who, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of America, Boz Scaggs, and Harry Wayne Casey, KC of KC and the Sunshine Band.
Nominees will be chosen for induction and celebrated during the 2026 Induction & Awards Gala in New York City. A songwriter with a “catalog of notable songs” qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
Eligible voting members have until midnight Eastern on Dec. 4 to turn in ballots with their choices of up to three nominees each from the Songwriter and Performing Songwriter categories.
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Nominees in the Songwriter Non-Performer category include Swedish producer Andreas Carlsson (Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In Vegas,” Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”); disco icon Pete Bellotte, known for his work with Donna Summer; longtime Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard, who co-wrote “Like a Prayer,” “Live to Tell,” “Frozen,” and mroe, and also worked with Leonard Cohen and Pink Floyd; Steve Kipner, who co-wrote Olivia Newton-John’s 1918 hit “Physical,” Natasha Bedingfield’s “These Words,” and Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle”; Martin Page (Starship’s’ “We Built This City,” Heart’s “These Dreams”); and Graham Lyle and Terry Bitten, co-writers of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
Additional nominees in the Non-Performer category include: Vini Poncia (Kiss’ “I Was Made For Lovin You,” Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”); Tom Snow (Deniece Williams’ “Let’s Hear it for the Boy,” “Don’t Know Much” by Aaron Neville and Linda Rondstadt); Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Umbrella” by Rihanna, and Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”); Larry Weiss (Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy,” and “Bend Me Shape Me” by the American Breed); Walter Afanasieff, who co-wrote Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “Hero”; Jeffrey LeVasseur/Jeffrey Steele (“What Hurts The Most,” “The Cowboy In Me”); and Bob McDill, the writer behind Dan Seals’ 1986 No. 1 country hit “Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold” and Alan Jackson’s “Gone Country.”
Some of the 2026 nominees will join the 2025 inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which includes the Doobie Brothers‘ Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, and Patrick Simmons, the Beach Boys‘ Mike Love, George Clinton, Tony Macaulay. Ashley Gorley, and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
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