Genome analysis is one of the main criteria for description of new taxa. Availability of genome sequences for all the actinobacteria with a valid nomenclature will, however, require another decade’s works of sequencing. This paper describes the rearrangement of the higher taxonomic ranks of the members of the phylum ‘
Actinobacteria
’, using the phylogeny of 16S rRNA gene sequences and supported by the phylogeny of the available genome sequences. Based on the refined phylogeny of the 16S rRNA gene sequences, we could arrange all the members of the 425 genera of the phylum ‘
Actinobacteria
’ with validly published names currently in use into six classes, 46 orders and 79 families, including 16 new orders and 10 new families. The order
Micrococcales
Prévot 1940 (Approved Lists 1980) emend. Nouioui et al. 2018 is now split into 11 monophyletic orders: the emended order
Micrococcales
and ten proposed new orders
Aquipuribacterales
,
Beutenbergiales
,
Bogoriellales
,
Brevibacteriales
,
Cellulomonadales
,
Demequinales
,
Dermabacterales
,
Dermatophilales
,
Microbacteriales
and
Ruaniales
. Further, the class ‘
Actinobacteria
’ Stackebrandt et al. 1997 emend. Nouioui et al. 2018 was described without any nomenclature type, and therefore the name ‘
Actinobacteria
’ is deemed illegitimate. In accordance to Rule 8 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, Parker et al. 2019, we proposed the name
Actinomycetia
which is formed by using the stem of the name
Actinomycetales
Buchanan 1917 (Approved Lists 1980) emend. Zhi et al. 2009, to replace the name ‘
Actinobacteria
’. The nomenclature type of the proposed new class
Actinomycetia
is the order
Actinomycetales
Buchanan 1917 (Approved Lists 1980) emend. Zhi et al. 2009.