The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Wednesday announced its 2021 Inductees with Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti, missing on the list.

The 2021 inductees are Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go’s, JAY-Z, Foo Fighters and Todd Rundgren.

The news came as a surprise for Fela’s fans because he placed second in the fan vote category on the last day of voting.

When Nigeria Twittersphere challenged the outcome of the voting process, the organisers tweeted, ‘‘The top five public-selected artists comprise a “fans’ ballot” that is tallied along with the ballots from more than 1,200 artists including Inductees, historians and members of the music industry. FWIW, in 2021, three of the top five Fan Vote winners will be Inducted’’.

The late singer topped the voting chart of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee list for weeks as Nigerians voted en masse.

Several Nigerian celebrities including Burna Boy, Mr Macaroni, and Don Jazzy took to Twitter to call on their fans to vote for the Afrobeat pioneer.

The momentum died down after a while and this led to Tina Turner topping the chat while Fela followed closely in the second position.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the iconic singer was among the seven artistes whose names appeared on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee list, alongside Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, and Tina Turner.

Artistes become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. In order to be inducted, an artiste must be nominated by a committee that selects a number of candidates, the highest being 16 for the 2020 class.

Fela is appearing on the list for the first time.

Explaining the rationale behind the choice of inductees on their website, the organisers said 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.

‘‘Factors such as an artiste’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,’’ they noted.

The 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

Reactions

On Twitter, the announcement has continued to generate controversies with many Nigerians challenging the winners’ list and the mode of selection.

Meanwhile, Fela’s son Femi Kuti, lamented the lack of transparency in the selection process.

“Apparently there’s another vote only members can take part in, and that’s what counts. So they kind of wasted our precious time, the positive side #Fela was trending and many who never heard of him got to hear his music and his story,” he wrote on Twitter.

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