This year, the first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — music’s most exclusive club — range from a black female rapper to a gay male pop heartthrob to an ’80s icon known as much for human rights as artistic achievement.

On Wednesday morning, Missy Elliott, George Michael and Cyndi Lauper were among the 14 acts making the short list to be inducted into the 2023 rock hall class.

Eighties icon Cyndi Lauper scored her first nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Getty ImagesAnother first-time nominee is Sheryl Crow, who surprisingly is just getting a nod after being eligible since 2019, while repeat contenders include Kate Bush — no doubt buoyed by the “Stranger Things”-driven success of “Running Up That Hill” — the New York hip-hop posse A Tribe Called Quest and protest rockers Rage Against the Machine.

Willie Nelson continued the recent trend of country artists being nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.TV Times via Getty ImagesAnd following Dolly Parton’s induction in 2022 — after she initially withdrew, thinking that she wasn’t “rock” enough — there’s also country legend Willie Nelson getting his first nomination at almost 90.

And while other first-time nominees — including the White Stripes , Warren Zevon and the new-wave mash-up of Joy Division/New Order — feel more like usual suspects, there has definitely been a significant shift in the rock hall.

Missy Elliott, Chris Cornell's Soundgarden and George Michael are among the nominees for the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class.