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\n\tAs the pool of artists eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame continues to get more and more diffuse in its nominations \u2014 in terms of sound, geography and chronology \u2014 the inductees get harder and harder to predict. <\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s particularly true this year, as the list of nominated artists includes eight first-timers \u2014 one of whom had their biggest hits in this century, one of whom hasn\u2019t had a hit in over 60 years, one of whom has never had a major crossover hit in America, and one of whom has never had a major hit, period. Some of this year\u2019s nominees are as down-the-center rock as you could imagine, some of them are only rock by association or rock in attitude, and at least one only really ever rocked in their downtime. <\/p>\n
\n\tFurther confusing things is the return of multiple nominees who seemed sure (or close-to-sure) things in previous classes \u2014 but were denied at least once. Should their current candidacy be judged on their resum\u00e9s, or their histories of being dubbed close-but-not-quite by previous Rock Hall voting blocs? Are their chances of induction better or worse than artists who have been eligible for the Hall for decades, but who are only now being deemed worthy of such consideration? <\/p>\n
\n\tBelow, Billboard<\/em> does its best to parse the many questions surrounding all 14 artists recognized as part of this year\u2019s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations class \u2014 ranking them in order of our projected odds for them to be inducted, from least to most likely. <\/p>\n