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

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	36
2.	The Stanley Brothers	57
3.	John Denver	33
4.	Johnny Horton	45
5.	John Prine	32
6.	Gary Stewart	31
7.	Freddie Hart	45
8.	Gram Parsons	36
9.	Linda Ronstadt	30
10.	Johnny Paycheck	39
11.	Crystal Gayle	34
12.	Lynn Anderson	38
13.	Mickey Gilley	36
14.	Sammi Smith	36
15.	Jessi Colter	34
16.	Guy Clark	29
17.	Linda Martell	35
18.	Eddie Rabbitt	30
19.	Jack Greene	38
20.	Rosanne Cash	25
21.	Jeannie C. Riley	36
22.	Vern Gosdin	28
23.	Bobbie Gentry	37
24.	Freddy Fender	29
25.	Anne Murray	34
26.	Townes Van Zandt	36
27.	Nitty Gritty Dirt Band	33
28.	Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass	34
29.	David Frizzell	34
30.	Steve Wariner	26
31.	Mac Davis	34
32.	Billy Joe Shaver	31
33.	Donna Fargo	32
34.	Doug Sahm	28

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