Four pop icons — Lady Gaga, Shakira, Pink and Sia — headline the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s 2027 nominees, announced November 5, 2026. And honestly? It’s about time. This is a Mount Rushmore-level class of hitmakers, and the ballot reads like the soundtrack to the last two decades.

The Hall announced 26 nominees across two categories — Songwriters and Performing Songwriters — with six set to be inducted, three from each category. Voting members have until midnight EST on Dec. 14, 2026, to cast their ballots. The inductees will be announced in early 2027, ahead of an induction gala in New York City.

On the performing-songwriter side, the headliners bring the hits with them. Lady Gaga is nominated on the strength of a catalog that includes “Poker Face,” “Bad Romance,” “Born This Way,” “Shallow” and “Die With a Smile.” P!NK follows with anthems like “So What” and “Raise Your Glass,” while Shakira’s global smashes “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Whenever, Wherever” made her case years ago. Sia rounds out the quartet with “Chandelier,” “Titanium” and “Diamonds” — a song she wrote that became one of Rihanna’s defining hits.

They are far from the only big names on the ballot. Also nominated are Jack White, Boy George, Ne-Yo, Vince Gill, Blondie’s Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, and members of ZZ Top, WAR, and America. It is a list that spans rock, pop, R&B, country and Latin music — and just about every karaoke night in Toledo.

For Toledo fans, this is the rare awards race where you already know every word. Whether you belted “Born This Way” at a Pride celebration, danced to “Hips Don’t Lie” at a wedding, or screamed “So What” on a road trip down I-75, these are songs that lived in our cars, our bars and our playlists long before any Hall of Fame came calling.

There is also a second-chance story on the ballot: Pink, Carlsson and Bellotte were nominated for the 2026 class but not inducted. Now they are back in the running for 2027 — and with a field this stacked, every vote will matter.

Read more from USA Today, JustJared and The Music Universe.

Lady Gaga at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, 2024 — Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)