And the ants are marching … to victory! Dave Matthews Band have scored themselves a formidable win in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s fan vote, clinching the top spot with just over 1 million votes. (The final day of voting was Friday, January 10.) The band is followed by Pat Benatar, the Doobie Brothers, Soundgarden, and Judas Priest, respectively, to round out what encompasses the “fan vote” in this year’s induction class. But what exactly does this top five group all mean? And will Dave and his pals definitely be inducted in 2020 because of that first place finish? The simple answer is: None of these five acts are guaranteed induction despite their ardent fans rallying together to vote. Rather, these five artists will comprise of a single “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the Rock Hall’s full-fledged voting members — which hover around 1,000 — to choose the 2020 inductees. Dave Matthews Band coming in first, as weird as it may sound, carries the same weight as Judas Priest coming in fifth.
However, looking at the short history of the Rock Hall’s fan vote winner since its inception for the 2013 induction class, Dave Matthews Band is undoubtably in a great place if history were to repeat itself yet again: 2013’s Rush, 2014’s KISS, 2015’s Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, 2016’s Chicago, 2017’s Journey, 2018’s Bon Jovi, and 2019’s Def Leppard were all inducted the respective years they won the vote. A 100 percent success rate! We’ll just have to wait a few days and see if the guys crash into some success when the 2020 class is announced on January 15.