The Stooges and Genesis are among the acts set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.

ABBA, Hollies and Jimmy Cliff will also join the prestigious roll of honour at a ceremony in New York.

Bands become eligible for inclusion twenty-five years after the release of their first recording.

Stooges frontman Iggy Pop told Rolling Stone the group had been waiting to join the Hall of Fame for some time.

"We've been rejected seven times, and we would have set a record, I think, if it happened again," he said.

ABBA's Benny Andersson admitted he didn't think the Swedish pop group would ever have the opportunity to be inducted.

"I didn't think this would happen, because we were a pop band, not a rock band," Andersson said.

"Being a foreigner from the North Pole, this feels really good."

Metallica and Run-DMC were two of the acts inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2009. Next year's ceremony will take place at the Waldorf Astoria on March 15.

(by Jason Gregory)