The Snub List - Country Music Hall of Fame

There are a number of country music artists who have yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame despite their impact on the genre and their contributions to the industry. Because the Country Music Hall of Fame only inducts one artist in each category, the backlog of deserving artists gets longer every year. The current system may have been proportional to the number of deserving artists in the early years of the institution, but the country music landscape today is signficantly broader and arguably generates more worthy artists than the Hall of Fame can keep up with. In fact, in 2001, the Country Music Hall of Fame had a "catch-up year" in which they inducted 10 extra artists to help reduce the backlog.

Modern Era Category

After initially becoming eligible for the Country Music Hall of Fame, artists have 25 years to be inducted in the Modern Era category. After that time, they switch to the Veterans Era process. Since artists rarely get recognized in the first decade of their eligibility, their window for the Modern Era is fairly short. It's fair to say that under the current system, most of the artists below will not be inducted in the Modern Era category.

Rank	Artist	Years Eligible
1.	Kenny Chesney	12
2.	The Chicks	8
3.	Miranda Lambert	1
4.	Shania Twain	12
5.	Tim McGraw	13
6.	Keith Urban	6
7.	Brad Paisley	6
8.	Carrie Underwood	0
9.	Dwight Yoakam	19
10.	Clint Black	16
11.	Alison Krauss	14
12.	Faith Hill	12
13.	Trisha Yearwood	14
14.	Blake Shelton	4
15.	Lee Ann Womack	8
16.	Martina McBride	13
17.	Jason Aldean	0
18.	Travis Tritt	16
19.	Diamond Rio	14
20.	Steve Earle	22
21.	Rascal Flatts	5
22.	Mary Chapin Carpenter	16
23.	Paul Overstreet	23
24.	Shenandoah	18
25.	K.T. Oslin	24
26.	Kathy Mattea	22
27.	Lee Greenwood	24
28.	Mark Chesnutt	15
29.	Dan Seals	22
30.	Collin Raye	14
31.	Lucinda Williams	16
32.	Shelly West	22
33.	John Michael Montgomery	13
34.	Highway 101	18
35.	Little Texas	14
36.	Suzy Bogguss	18
37.	Restless Heart	20
38.	Ricky Van Shelton	19
39.	Sawyer Brown	21
40.	Pam Tillis	21

Veterans Era Category

Unlike the Modern Era category, there is no eligibility sunset for Veterans artists. The "years eligible" column represents the time the artists has been eligible for the Hall of Fame in either category.

Rank	Artist	Years Eligible
1.	Charlie Rich	37
2.	The Stanley Brothers	58
3.	John Denver	34
4.	Johnny Horton	46
5.	John Prine	33
6.	Gary Stewart	32
7.	Freddie Hart	46
8.	Gram Parsons	37
9.	Linda Ronstadt	31
10.	Johnny Paycheck	40
11.	Crystal Gayle	35
12.	Lynn Anderson	39
13.	Mickey Gilley	37
14.	Sammi Smith	37
15.	Jessi Colter	35
16.	Guy Clark	30
17.	Linda Martell	36
18.	Eddie Rabbitt	31
19.	Jack Greene	39
20.	Rosanne Cash	26
21.	Vern Gosdin	29
22.	Jeannie C. Riley	37
23.	Bobbie Gentry	38
24.	Freddy Fender	30
25.	Anne Murray	35
26.	Townes Van Zandt	37
27.	Nitty Gritty Dirt Band	34
28.	Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass	35
29.	David Frizzell	35
30.	Steve Wariner	27
31.	Mac Davis	35
32.	Billy Joe Shaver	32
33.	Donna Fargo	33
34.	Doug Sahm	29

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