Credit: Kevin NixonThis year marked the first time that Def Leppard was nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame after being eligible for the honor since 2005. And to pour some sugar on that, the band has finished first in the online fan poll choosing the most popular potential 2019 inductee.
The British rockers accumulated more than 547,000 votes, over 100,000 more than the second-place vote-getter, Stevie Nicks, who had just under 428,000.
Rounding out the top five artists with the most votes were Todd Rundgren at #3, with more than 365,000; The Zombies at #4, with over 329,000; and The Cure, with more than 264,000 votes.
Nicks and Rundgren also received their first nominations for the Rock Hall this year, while The Zombies were nominated three times before and The Cure, once. If Stevie is chosen for the honor, she’ll become the first woman to be inducted into the Rock Hall twice, having been previous welcomed in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
Thanks to the poll, the top five acts will get an extra vote toward induction, although about one thousand ballots are cast each year when deciding which artists are welcomed into the Rock Hall. That being said, the acts who received the most votes in the fan poll during the last six years all ended up getting inducted, which bodes very well for Def Leppard.
The Rock Hall’s Class of 2019 inductees will be announced this Thursday, December 13, at 8 a.m. ET via RockHall.com and the museum’s social media sites. The induction ceremony is scheduled for March 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Here’s the full list of 2019 nominees and the number of votes they received in the poll:
1. Def Leppard: 547,647
2. Stevie Nicks: 427,844
3. Todd Rundgren: 365,370
4. The Zombies: 329,052
5. The Cure: 264,443
6. Janet Jackson: 218,581
7. Devo: 186,754
8. Roxy Music: 167,307
9. Rage Against the Machine: 148,208
10. Radiohead: 140,458
11. John Prine: 136,746
12. LL Cool J: 119,657
13. Rufus featuring Chaka Khan: 99,724
14. Kraftwerk: 87,456
15. MC5: 85,304
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