They’re already two of the most successful recording artists in modern country music. Now Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson are getting their due as songwriters, too.

Brooks and Jackson are two of this year’s inductees in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, along with John Bettis, Thom Schuyler and Allen Shamblin. The five will be honored with a dinner and ceremony in October.

Said Hall chairman John Van Mol, “These five very talented individuals are among an era of powerhouse writers and artists who propelled country music to unparalleled heights beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and also made substantial contributions to popular and rock music. We look forward to a fantastic evening of recognition for our inductees, and great entertainment for all who attend.”

The five-member 2011 class represents a larger crowd than normal for the hall, which has historically chosen only three new members per year. “Songwriters and songwriter/artists with ties to Nashville have made our city the songwriting capital of the world,” explained Van Mol. “This year’s inductees have greatly enhanced that reputation and are richly deserving of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame honors.”

Though Brooks and Jackson are the biggest household names in the bunch, their fellow inductees have penned some of pop and country’s biggest hits — Bettis was responsible for ‘Slow Hand,’ made famous by Conway Twitty and the Pointer Sisters, while Thom Scuyler penned hits for Kenny Rogers (‘Love Will Turn You Around’) and Shamblin wrote the modern classic torch song ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me,’ a hit for Bonnie Raitt.

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