Def Leppard has won the coveted “fan vote” for induction into the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cleveland.com reported the band snagged “547,647 votes, followed by Stevie Nicks (427,844), Todd Rundgren (365,370), The Zombies (329,052), and The Cure (264,443).”
Fans voted on the Rock Hall’s site for the nominees of their choice. The top five acts will comprise a “fan’s ballot” that will count as one of the ballots that determine the class of 2019.
Cleveland.com shed light on what exactly the “fan vote” means in the grand scheme of securing induction for the artist:
“The collective fan vote counts as a single ballot, making it one of more a thousand ballots. So while winner Def Leppard’s 547,647 fan votes is impressive, it means the British metal band’s ‘victory’ won’t guarantee induction. Although to be fair and honest, their omission would be a surprise, as the ‘official’ voters — all the living inductees and certain music industry insiders, including record label executives, publicists and a select few journalists — usually side with the fans for the first two or three spots. . . Each single fan vote for Def Leppard was worth 0.00182599 actual ballots.”
To be eligible for this year’s ballot, each nominee’s first single or album had to be released in 1993 or earlier. For the seventh consecutive year, the public had the opportunity to vote alongside the more than 800 artists, historians and music industry insiders of the Rock Hall voting body.
The top Rock Hall vote-getters will be announced on December 13th and inducted on March 29th at a ceremony at Brooklyn’ New York’s Barclays Center. HBO will broadcast a truncated version of the ceremony later in the year.
