Our next 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is unquestionably a pop culture legend. Cher has been eligible for inclusion in the Hall since 1991 and yet, remarkably, was nominated for the first time this year.

That’s despite being the only solo artist in history to have #1 hits (on any Billboard chart) in each of the last seven decades. Only The Rolling Stones have matched that feat, and as Cher said, “it took four of them to be one of [her].”

Cher started her music career as part of Sonny & Cher with husband Sonny Bono (who won’t join her in the Rock Hall). She then went on to a solo career that resulted in more than 100 million album sales, mostly in the dance pop space.

She has also had a celebrated acting career that includes a Best Actress Oscar for her turn in 1987’s Moonstruck. That has no bearing on her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame consideration, but I’ll never pass up an opportunity to plug Moonstruck.

Cher’s first Hot 100 #1 was 1965’s ‘I Got You Babe,’ one of the decade’s biggest hits. Her most recent was 1998’s electropop smash ‘Believe,’ giving her the longest span between #1s until both Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee snapped that record with revived Christmas hits in the last two years.

‘Believe’ is one of the top-selling singles of all-time, a global smash that introduced Auto Tune to the mainstream pop world. I looked down my nose at this song back in ’98, but now I can recognize it as a dance pop masterpiece.

It’s pretty crazy that Cher went 33 years without even a Rock Hall nomination. She called out the snub a year ago, telling Kelly Clarkson “You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go you-know-what themselves.”

She did change her mind a year later, accepting the honor and performing at the ceremony with Dua Lipa. In her speech, she said “It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”