The 50 Best Billy Joel Songs

Billy Joel is one of the all-time great pop legends — the piano man who’s kept the world singing along for over fifty years and thousands of Saturday nights. He’s a songwriter with an attic full of classics, not to mention a world-beating live performer. But he’s always stayed true to himself — a downtown man who ain’t too pretty and ain’t too proud. Billy was already a tough veteran when he blew up into rock stardom in 1977, with classics like “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” Yet he just kept cranking out hits, from albums like 52nd Street, An Innocent Man, and River of Dreams, with experimental detours like The Nylon Curtain. 

So let’s break it down — the fifty best Billy Joel songs, from all over his career. Some of these tunes are classics known and sung all over the world. Others are deep cuts, cult bangers, or hardcore fan faves. Some go back to his early days, when he wore a younger man’s clothes. But they’re all Billy Joel at his very best. Now that we’re in the summer of 2025 — Brenda and Eddie’s fiftieth wedding anniversary!—let’s celebrate this legend and his amazing songbook, from the hits to the buried treasures, from Miami to Hollywood to a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line. We’re all in the mood for a melody, and he’s got us feeling all right.