Billy Joel: His Top 100 Songs

Billy Joel Top 100 Songs

William Martin Joel, better known as Billy Joel, was born in Long Island, New York on May 9, 1949. While he spent a good chunk of the ‘60s in various bands including The Lost Souls, The Hassles, and Attila, he made his name as a solo singer, songwriter and pianist who was adept at pop and rock. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Piano Man (1973) 2. Just the Way You Are (1977) DMDB Top 2%: 3. Uptown Girl (1983) 4. It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me (1980) 5. We Didn’t Start the Fire (1989) DMDB Top 5%: 6. My Life (1978) 7. Tell Her About It (1983) 8. The River of Dreams (1993) 9. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) (1977) 10. She’s Always a Woman (1977) 11. The Longest Time (1983) 12. You May Be Right (1980) DMDB Top 10%: 13. Only the Good Die Young (1977) 14. Goodnight Saigon (1982) 15. She’s Got a Way (1971) 16. An Innocent Man (1983) 17. This is the Time (1986) 18. Honesty (1978) 19. Say Goodbye to Hollywood (1976) 20. A Matter of Trust (1986) 21. Leave a Tender Moment Alone (1983) 22. You’re Only Human (Second Wind) (1985) 23. Allentown (1982) 24. Big Shot (1978) 25. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (1977) 26. Baby Grand (with Ray Charles, 1986) 27. Modern Woman (1986) 28. Pressure (1982) 29. Don’t Ask Me Why (1980) 30. New York State of Mind (1976) 31. The Entertainer (1974) DMDB Top 20%: 32. Keeping the Faith (1983) 33. And So It Goes (1989) 34. All About Soul (1993) 35. The Downeaster Alexa (1989) 36. The Night Is Still Young (1985) 37. I Go to Extremes (1989) 38. All Shook Up (1992) 39. The Stranger (1977) 40. Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) (1993) 41. Sometimes a Fantasy (1980) 42. The Star-Spangled Banner (live, 2000) 43. When You Wish Upon a Star (1991) 44. A Hard Day’s Night (1994) 45. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (live, 1994) 46. Vienna (1977) 47. To Make You Feel My Love (1997) 48. That’s Not Her Style (1989) 49. Heartbreak Hotel (1992) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 50. Why Should I Worry? (1988) 51. Travelin’ Prayer (1973) 52. Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) (1976) 53. Back in the U.S.S.R. (live, 1987) 54. No Man’s Land (1993) 55. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (live, 1987) 56. Live and Let Die (2014) 57. The Ballad of Billy the Kid (1973) 58. Big Man on Mulberry Street (1986) 59. Until the Night (1978) 60. Leningrad (1989) 61. Worse Comes to Worst (1973) 62. All for Leyna (1980) 63. Captain Jack (1973) 64. Hey Girl (1997) 65. Shameless (1989) 66. Temptation (1986) 67. Prelude/Angry Young Man (1976) 68. Code of Silence (with Cyndi Lauper, 1986) 69. She’s Right on Time (1982) 70. Light As the Breeze (1995) 71. You’re My Home (1973) 72. Getting Closer (1986) 73. Two Thousand Years (1993) 74. A Room of Our Own (1982) 75. James (1976) 76. Careless Talk (1983) 77. All My Life (2007) 78. Christie Lee (1983) 79. Laura (1982) 80. This Night (1983) 81. Everybody Loves You Now (1971) 82. Running on Ice (1986) 83. Easy Money (1983) 84. Stiletto (1978) 85. Close to the Borderline (1980) 86. Shout (live, 1990) 87. I’ll Cry Instead (1983) 88. Scandinavian Skies (1982) 89. Famous Last Words (1993) 90. Summer, Highland Falls (1976) 91. I’ve Loved These Days (1976) 92. Nocturne (1971) 93. Why Judy Why (1971) 94. You Can Make Me Free (1971) 95. You Look So Good to Me (1971) 96. Zanzibar (1978) 97. Elvis Street Blvd. (1982) 98. Stop in Nevada (1973) 99. Ain’t No Crime (1973) 100. Tomorrow Is Today (1971) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Billy Joel Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 5/9/2012; last updated 10/12/2023.

 

Billy Joel’s The Nylon Curtain released

First posted 5/9/2011; updated 9/22/2020.

The Nylon Curtain Billy Joel

Released: September 23, 1982 Peak: 7 US, 27 UK, 12 CN, 4 AU Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Allentown (11/27/82, 17 US, 19 AC, 28 AR, 21 CN, 49 AU) Laura Pressure (9/25/82, 20 US, 8 AR, 9 CN, 16 AU) Goodnight Saigon (3/19/83, 56 US, 29 UK) She’s Right on Time A Room of Our Own (11/13/82, 27 AR) Surprises Scandinavian Skies (10/9/82, 38 AR) Where’s the Orchestra? Total Running Time: 41:57

Rating: 3.608 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

About the Album: With previous album Glass Houses, Billy Joel set out “to prove that he could rock as hard as any of those new wave punks.” AMG “For all of his claims of being a hard rocker, his work inevitably is pop because of his fondness for melody – but he proved to himself that he could still rock, even if the critics didn’t give him any credit for it.” AMG “His faux-New Wave period behind him, Joel decided it was time to be taken seriously as an artist” DB and that “it was now time to mature, to move pop/rock into the middle age.” AMG Joel “consciously crafting a song cycle about Baby Boomers in the Reagan era,” AMG making for “a fascinating cross between ear candy and social commentary.” AMG “His desire to record a grand concept album is admirable, but his ever-present lyrical shortcomings mean that the songs paint a picture without arriving at any insights.” AMG “He scored with brooding, well-intentioned odes to Vietnam and Rust Belt unemployment” DB with Goodnight Saigon and Allentown respectively. The first half of the album – including those songs as well as Laura, Pressure, and She’s Right on Time –“ is layered, successful, mature pop that brings Joel tantalizingly close to his ultimate goal of sophisticated pop/rock for mature audiences.” AMG However, “he occasionally gets lost in his own ambition, as on the waterlogged second side.” AMG In addition, “the Beatlesque art-pop that lords over the album was strained and overly stylized.” DB “Joel is naturally inclined to write big melodies like McCartney, but he idolizes Lennon.” AMG In the end, though, “Lennon and McCartney should never sound this labored.” DB “And be wary of any Billy Joel album with a song called Scandinavian Skies.” DB

Resources and Related Links: Billy Joel’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine DB David Browne (6/07). Blender magazine. Pages 114-5.