CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Grunge, hip-hop, the blues, prog rock, theatrical rock and MTV rock all are represented among the 16 finalists to become Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, the Rock Hall announced Wednesday.

Half of that potential Class of 2014 – Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Nirvana, Link Wray, the Replacements, Linda Ronstadt, Yes and the Zombies – are first-timers on the ballot, as well.

The other nominees are the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, KISS, LL Cool J, N.W.A., the Meters and Cat Stevens. Of that group, Chic has had the most prior shots at induction, having been nominated seven times before. Actor and hip-hop star LL Cool J and the Meters now have been on the ballot three times.

KISS went four years between nominations, having been on the ballot in 2010. Stevens, who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam, was last up for induction in 2006.

In addition to the artists and bands, the Rock Hall will induct one or two nonperformers under its Ahmet Ertegun Lifetime Achievement Award category.

Rock Hall President and CEO Greg Harris was, in his own words, "thrilled'' by the list of nominees.

"I think it's remarkable in that there are so many first-time nominees,'' Harris said in a telephone interview. "It's remarkably diverse in the type of bands that are on it. In some ways, it's a balance between the populist bands and some of the 'musicians' musicians.' ''

Though he declined to pick a sure winner among the list, Harris said Nirvana was a good option.

"I would think that everybody on this list was impactful and influential, but for a whole genre, Nirvana really led a charge,'' said Harris, who is in his late 40s.

The 16 finalists were chosen by secret ballots cast by more than 600 individual voters, including past inductees, musicians, historians, critics and music-business insiders. The Rock Hall expects between five and seven nominees to make the cut. Last year, that decision was announced in mid-December. The Rock Hall anticipates a late December or early January reveal on just who will be inducted in New York City in April.

Bands and artists become eligible 25 years after the commercial release of their first album or single. Thus, all those on the ballot had to be active in 1988 or earlier.

For the second time in its history, the Rock Hall will open the voting to fans. Beginning Wednesday, fans will be able to cast ballots on a poll via rockhall.com, rollingstone.com and usatoday.com. The top five vote-getters will comprise a "fans' ballot,'' which will be considered as one ballot in the voting.

Deep Purple finished second in the 2013 variation of the fan balloting, behind Rush, which finally won induction to be the first among long-denied prog-rock bands. Chic, a favorite of Rolling Stone founder (and co-founder of the Rock Hall itself) Jann Wenner, wasn’t as popular with fans in last year’s poll. However, the collaboration of Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers on futurist duo Daft Punk's "Get Lucky'' has brought the band newfound prominence.

Archived results of that 2013 poll – the Rock Hall closed the page with the tabulation and isn’t releasing those numbers this year – showed the band with less than 2 percent of the fan balloting.

But those numbers may have been a factor in this year's roster of nominees, said the Rock Hall's Harris.

"I think that clearly in this ballot creation, there is a voice of the fan in some of these bands,'' he said.

Despite Harris' equivocating, the biggest no-brainer lock on the ballot truly is Nirvana, in its first year of eligibility. The band with the late Kurt Cobain, plus bassist Krist Novaselic and eventually drummer Dave Grohl (who didn’t join the group until 1990), launched the grunge movement.

Rush pulled in about a quarter of the votes in the Rock Hall’s 2013 poll; look for Nirvana to double that. Nirvana just barely squeaked into this year’s potential class. The band’s first album, “Bleach,’’ was released in June 1989, but the first single off it, “Love Buzz,’’ came out in 1988.

Rush may also serve as the groundbreaker for Yes. Until the induction last year of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart – 15 years after the band became eligible – prog-rock fans had frequently accused Rock Hall voters of bias against their favorite genre.

Often, those prog-rockers and others saved their greatest and loudest howls for the Rock Hall’s decision to step outside the “norm’’ and include hip-hop bands like Public Enemy, which earned enshrinement last year.

That being said, behind Nirvana and Deep Purple, the band on the ballot that is most likely – and most deserving – of a spot in the Rock Hall is the groundbreaking hip-hop group N.W.A. The progenitors of gangsta rap -- Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren -- turned the genre into one of angry social commentary aided by high-quality production values with their debut album, “Straight Outta Compton,’’ and its breakthrough hit, “F--- the Police.’’

Eazy-E, who died of complications from AIDS in 1995, became the mentor to Cleveland’s own Grammy-winning Bone Thugs-N- Harmony. Dre became and remains an influential figure in the genre, especially on the production side. Cube, who was last in town this summer with fellow 2014 nominee LL Cool J and Public Enemy, has added actor and beer spokesman to his lengthy resume.

Ronstadt, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease to the point where she needs crutches to get around and has told interviewers she "can't sing a note,'' might be the sentimental favorite. Now 67, she was arguably the most successful female artist of the 1970s and was able to cross genres when it wasn't cool to do so. She also was responsible for launching and/or boosting the careers of some of music's most-loved people and bands, such as the Eagles.

The induction ceremony itself will be in April in New York City. The location, and public ticket sale information, will be released later, the Rock Hall said. As in years past, HBO will tape the ceremony, and an edited version will be aired in May.