Billy Joel, as many of you know, is one of my favorite artists of all time. In fact, in this post in which I tried to determine how good Dave Matthews Band really was, I ranked Billy Joel as my all time favorite music act. So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Billy had 12 studio albums which were released from 1971 to 1993. That’s a pretty impressive run which only ended because Joel decided to walk away in Jordan fashion after River of Dreams topped the charts in 1993. Of his 12 studio albums, four reached the top of the charts (River of Dreams, Storm Front, Glass Houses and 52nd Street), with another (The Stranger) reaching the number two spot. Starting with The Stranger in 1977, Joel also had a streak of eight 
consecutive albums which topped out between number one and number seven on the charts.
To that end, by anyone’s estimation, Joel has had a stellar music career. When I finally saw him live, in 2007, Billy still had his fastball. Putting on a great show, Joel was able to deliver everything I could have asked for growing up as such a big fan. After finishing the intro songs Joel introduced himself as "Billy's father," noting that "Billy of course is tall, much better looking, and with more hair." He then proceeded to rock the stage for the next few hours, pulling from nearly all of his discography. Using those twelve albums as a springboard, here is my breakdown of the best of Billy Joel, twelve through one:
12. Streetlife Serenade – 1974
Streetlife Serenade reached a high water mark of 35 on the US charts, and was the follow up album to Joel’s breakthrough 1973 album Piano Man. Serenade is likeable enough, with catchy tunes like “Last of the Bigtime Spenders” and the title inspiration “Streetlife Serenader,” as well as the big single from the album, “The Entertainer” in which Joel decries the music industry as a whole. Serenade has a bit of a more folksy feel to it, which is not uncommon throughout Joel’s early catalogue, but it lacks the memorable nature of many of his other early works. In sum, it’s fun to pop in the player once every few years just to refresh a bit, but it’s not worth playing over and over again.
11. Glass Houses – 1980
Glass Houses topped the charts at number one, becoming Joel’s second album to do so. So why do I have it ranked so low? Two reasons jump out, and both are equally legitimate. First, this is how deep Billy Joel’s discography is in my opinion, that one of his best received albums could be his next to worst album. Second, the album just doesn’t have the staying power of some of his other works. Sure, it has a few epic singles (“You May Be Right” and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” as well as “Don’t Ask Me Why” to a lesser degree), but beyond those three … it just seems lacking. Some Joel fans go crazy over songs like “Sleeping With the Television On” and “C’Etait Toi (You Were the One)” but I am not among them. I do enjoy “Sometimes a Fantasy,” but that song alone isn’t enough to hold this album up. The first four songs of this album are solid, even spectacular at times, but the final five songs are forgettable. Joel did much better.
10. Innocent Man – 1983
Innocent Man, which topped out at number four in the US charts, is a bit of an enigma for me. I look at the track list and think “how can it rank this low?” and so I then review the next few albums, and I find that for whatever reason I just like them more. Innocent Man had a plethora of radio singles, ranging from the top ten singles (“Tell Her About it” (#1), “Uptown Girl” (#3) and “Innocent Man” (#10)) to the complementary singles (“The Longest Time,” “Leave a Tender Moment Alone,” “Keeping The Faith” and “This Night”).
Upon further reflection, this album just doesn’t fit right to me; it feels, rather, like at least two albums which were forced together into one. It doesn’t have a sense of continuity, or building towards something as a completed work of art. On the one had you have the soulful ballad “Innocent Man” which, I suspect, would be in my top five favorite Joel songs. After all, it is the song I chose to sing as my Senior solo in high school. Then it has a great rock/pop song in “Keeping The Faith,” as well as “Leave a Tender Moment Alone.” On the flip side, the more poppy “Uptown Girl,” “Tell Her About It” and “The Longest Time” feel out of place to me, and, particularly with “Uptown Girl,” borderline annoying after a few listens. I understand where Joel was going with this album, using it as a homage to a variety of styles of music, but as great of an album as it was, it only has the place of #10 on this list.
9. The Bridge – 1986
Honoring my birth year, The Bridge reached a peak position of number seven on the charts. This album lacks the single power of Innocent Man, but it plays as a much better album front to back. It has a number of songs that, while not hits, I enjoy immensely. “Running on Ice” has a pace and beat that I find infectious, and that always gets me going. “Temptation” is a beautiful song written, surprisingly, about his daughter. The crown jewel of the album, however, is not these, nor the album’s top radio singles (including “This is the Time,” and “A Matter of Trust”). Working with Ray Charles on the song “Baby Grand,” Joel successfully made a song that can transcend generations, and also showcases two of the greatest American musicians of all time. The Bridge was solid, if unspectacular, whereas Innocent Man was spectacular, but not solid. 
8. The Nylon Curtain – 1982
Also reaching number seven on the US charts, The Nylon Curtain had one of the iconic songs of the early 1980s in “Allentown.” Joel’s ability to bring attention to a social situation was showcased here, and the song stayed in the top 20 for six weeks in 1983. Again, what makes this album is not the singles, but instead the songs which complement the singles (singles which also include “Pressure,” and the epic “Goodnight Saigon.”) The songs like “Laura,” “She’s Right On Time” and “A Room of Our Own” are catchy, and still play very well to this day. “Scandinavian Skies” is a fascinating listen, which uses an almost detached voice of Joel through violent musical movements to paint an uneasy picture. All in all The Nylon Curtain remains a solid album which delivers on a variety of levels.
7. Cold Spring Harbor – 1971
This is where a cursory Joel fan would start screaming at me. His first album, Cold Spring Harbor was mixed poorly, recorded poorly, made Joel sound like a chipmunk, and had no singles of any consequence (and therefore, no radio play). Add all that together, and the album reached no higher than 158 on the US Charts. That said, this album is pure gold. “She’s Got a Way” has become a solid fan favorite for its simplicity and beauty, but the album is a ten for ten in my opinion. In other words, I can listen to it front to back and love every track. My personal favorites include “Everybody Loves You Now,” “Falling of the Rain,” “Nocturne” which is piano only, and “Got to Begin Again.” This album is stripped of all the pomp and circumstance of later albums, and is a simple example of how talented a musician Joel really is. All of 22 years old at this point, it is fresh and exciting, particularly if your only experience with Joel is his pop hits. I highly recommend it.
6. Turnstiles – 1976
How this album only made it to number 122 on the US charts is simply beyond me. It has single power (“New York State of Mind” and “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” as two prime examples), but many of these songs didn’t really catch on until well after the fact. In reality, most of them didn’t catch on until they were re-released as live versions on 1981’s Songs in the Attic, which featured some of Joel’s favorite songs which he felt were underappreciated. This album had only eight songs, but in addition to the two mentioned above it also had songs such as “James,” “Miami 2017” and “Angry Young Man” which are stellar. “I’ve Loved These Days” found its way into my senior commencement speech for its ability to put things in perspective. In sum, I can understand how this album was stuck so low, but for a true Joel fan it should rank pretty high.
5. Storm Front – 1989
Now into the top five, and leading off is Storm Front, which hit the top of the charts at number one. “We Didn’t Start The Fire” became a number one hit, and other singles from the album (including “Leningrad,” “I Go To Extremes,” “And So It Goes,” and “The Downeaster ‘Alexa”) give this album a loaded feel, much like the New York Yankees lineup. All of these songs are catchy and worth listening to again and again, but other songs like “Shameless” and “Stormfront” continue to add to the album’s attractiveness. With this album it is easy to see why it reached the top of the charts.
4. River of Dreams – 1993
Topping the charts at number one, River of Dreams was the album Joel released which I first jumped into, and was also the last album he made. Far from being singles drive, the album has an impressive flow to it, starting with “No Man’s Land” and ending with the prophetic final track “Famous Last Words.” Joel’s ability to show perspective was rarely as succinct as in the song “Two Thousand Years,” where he takes a philosophical viewpoint to the world:
"Sometimes I wonder 'why are we so blind to fate?' Without compassion there can be no end to hate, no end to sorry caused by the same endless fears. Why can't we learn from all we've been through after two thousand years? There will be miracles after the last war is won. Science and poetry rule in the new world to come. Prophets and angels gave us the power to see what an amazing future there will be."A gift to his fans, Joel’s last album became his living will and testament, illustrating his worldview and his philosophical and theological beliefs, and giving us something deep to ponder on. Beyond all of that, however, is one heck of a catchy album.
3. Piano Man – 1973 
At a high point of number 27 on the US charts, it would seem that this album is out of place, and it might be. It lacks the deep introspection of Joel’s later albums, as well as the massive pop success of his intermediate albums. But it has the folksy nature of a fresh, un-jaded upstart, and it hits the ball out of the park on two songs. The title track, “Piano Man,” has, of course, become an absolute epic, although it never reached higher than number twenty five itself in the moment. Go into any bar, any frat house, and concert in America and play “Piano Man” and I guarantee you that everyone will know it. The song itself is a strong reason why the album ranks this high. But the title track is also counterbalanced by another fan favorite, and epic track: “Captain Jack.” An outright anti-drug song, “Captain Jack” talks about something close to Joel’s heart, as he noted in Songs in the Attic that if Vietnam didn’t kill his friends, drugs often did. Beyond the two heavyweights of the album, the rest of the songs have the fresh feel of Cold Spring Harbor, and they include another huge fan favorite in the historically inaccurate “The Ballad of Billy the Kid.” All in all, Piano Man laid many of the ground roots for what Joel was to become, and the album has stood the test of time.
2. 52nd Street – 1978
Topping the charts at number one, 52nd street was the first album of Joel’s to accomplish that feat. And, as the second best of his albums, it was deserving of that crown. With three top forty singles (“Big Shot,” “My Life” and “Honesty”) the album had popularity, and the rest the album has a catchy feel to it that draws you in and won’t let you out. This album screams about youth and the potential of any night, as well as the potential downfalls. From the “don’t tell me what to do” aspects of “My Life,” through the “anything can happen” described in “Half a Mile Away,” through the descriptions in “Zanzibar” and “Until the Night,” and ending with the end result in “Big Shot,” this album is a good fit for the time period in Joel’s life.
1. The Stranger – 1977
Reaching number two in the US charts, The Stranger was Joel’s big breakthrough (he had never been higher
than 27 before, and was coming off of Turnstiles which clocked in at 122). The Stranger is still Joel’s best selling non-compilation album to date, and has been re-released a number of times to make good on its popularity. With a murderers row of hits (“Movin’ Out,” “She’s Always a Woman,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” “Just the way You Are,” “Only the Good Die Young” and “The Stranger”) the album is a work of art. It is backed up with “Vienna” and “Everybody has a Dream,” as well as “Get it Right the First Time.” The album is a work of art, and is generally accepted as Joel’s epic. I agree.
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