In determining this year's class of inductees, and some previous year inductees, ballots were sent to an international voting body of more than 1,200 artists, including current living inductees, historians and members of the music industry and actors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black political, legal and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post in Cleveland, Ohio, and under two publishers and several editors