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The best Billy Joel song is “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” but the case for it is not based on chart position or an official ranking—none exists. It earns the top spot because it is Joel’s most complete piece of songwriting: a multi-part story with memorable characters, romantic disappointment, social detail, melodic variety, and an arrangement that feels built for both close listening and the stage.
There is no official Billy Joel ranking, so this is an editorial one. It weighs songwriting, melody, character, arrangement, emotional precision, cultural life, and the songs’ ability to work beyond their familiarity. That means “Piano Man” and “Just the Way You Are” remain essential, but album tracks such as “James,” “Stiletto,” and “Sleeping with the Television On” are not treated as lesser simply because they were not the biggest singles.
The list covers Joel’s early albums, his extraordinary 1970s and 1980s run, later studio work, and the songs that have remained important in concert. The central test was simple: Would this song still make a strong case if the listener did not already know it was a hit?
The 50 best Billy Joel songs, ranked
50–41: Early character, restless ambition, and range
- “Everybody Loves You Now” — Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
Joel’s bitter, theatrical voice is already evident in this early song. The performance is less polished than his later work, but its defensive swagger previews his gift for turning romantic resentment into a sharply drawn character. - “The Entertainer” — Streetlife Serenade (1974)
A concise, self-aware song about the machinery of pop success. Joel looks at the compromises of professional performance before he had fully mastered the blockbuster style that would make him its subject. - “Los Angelenos” — Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
This restless portrait of displaced ambition gives Joel’s early catalog geographic breadth. Its subjects are not settled or triumphant; they are people trying to make a life in a place that promises more than it delivers. - “Travelin’ Prayer” — Piano Man (1973)
A brisk, country-tinged performance that disrupts the idea of Joel as only a piano-ballad specialist. Its bounce and vocal phrasing show how comfortably he could borrow from roots styles. - “Ain’t No Crime” — Piano Man (1973)
Loose, rhythmic, and full of personality, this track is a useful reminder that Joel’s early records could groove. It has a playful confidence that sits apart from the loneliness associated with “Piano Man.” - “You’re My Home” — Piano Man (1973)
A plainspoken love song whose directness is its strength. It is not as complex as Joel’s finest ballads, but its singer-songwriter warmth remains convincing. - “All for Leyna” — Glass Houses (1980)
A nervous, propulsive portrait of fixation. The song’s restless energy belongs to the harder-edged aesthetic of Glass Houses, an album that pushed Joel’s pop writing toward sharper rock textures. - “Until the Night” — 52nd Street (1978)
An expansive late-night ballad that builds toward a deliberately grand full-band climax. Joel takes a familiar romantic premise and gives it a scale large enough for the album’s sophisticated sound. - “Rosalinda’s Eyes” — 52nd Street (1978)
This flavorful, Latin-influenced love song broadens the palette of an album often remembered for jazz-pop polish. Its rhythmic character is as important as its romantic lyric. - “Goodnight Saigon” — The Nylon Curtain (1982)
A solemn ensemble piece about Vietnam veterans. The communal chorus gives it unusual weight in Joel’s catalog, although its large-scale sentiment can feel more overt than the subtler songs ranked higher.
40–31: Album cuts with personality
- “A Room of Our Own” — The Nylon Curtain (1982)
A witty domestic negotiation song built around an unusually conversational premise. It is less monumental than the album’s political material, but more nimble and revealing. - “The Great Wall of China” — River of Dreams (1993)
A pointed song about betrayal and emotional distance. The writing is direct and bitter, with a mature awareness of how relationship damage can become a barrier neither person knows how to cross. - “Leningrad” — Storm Front (1989)
Joel’s cross-cultural character sketch humanizes people on opposite sides of Cold War politics. Its historical framing makes it a valuable companion to “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but its strength is the individual perspective rather than the geopolitical summary. - “That’s Not Her Style” — Storm Front (1989)
A polished, affectionate relationship song with a strong chorus. It is not as psychologically searching as Joel’s best love songs, but its melodic efficiency is hard to resist. - “The Night Is Still Young” — The Bridge (1986)
Reflective without becoming defeated, this song considers aging, memory, and renewal. Its modest profile makes it one of the more rewarding discoveries on the list. - “Modern Woman” — The Bridge (1986)
A compact, hook-driven pop-rock track that captures Joel’s conversational vocal persona. It is accessible songwriting with enough character to avoid sounding anonymous. - “Zanzibar” — 52nd Street (1978)
A stylish jazz-pop hybrid with a memorable bass-and-piano identity. The groove and arrangement carry as much personality as the lyric, showing Joel’s willingness to let the band shape a song’s meaning. - “Sleeping with the Television On” — Glass Houses (1980)
One of Joel’s strongest deep cuts, this is a compressed study of emotional isolation and failed connection. Its anxious rhythm makes loneliness feel kinetic rather than passive. - “Stiletto” — The Bridge (1986)
One of Joel’s darker relationship songs. Its controlled, menacing imagery and atmospheric arrangement are unusual in a catalog more often associated with open-hearted pop. - “James” — Turnstiles (1976)
A quietly devastating song about unrealized potential and the choices that produce an ordinary life. Its restrained perspective makes it a powerful counterweight to Joel’s more flamboyant character studies.
30–21: The hits become more complicated
- “She’s Always a Woman” — The Stranger (1977)
A finely balanced portrait of attraction and frustration. The subject is neither idealized nor condemned, which gives the song greater durability than a conventional love-song portrait. - “Don’t Ask Me Why” — Glass Houses (1980)
Its light surface disguises a more complicated emotional core. The melody, arrangement, and compact structure make it one of the album’s most replayable tracks. - “My Life” — 52nd Street (1978)
A sharply hooky declaration of independence. Joel turns a conversational phrase into a chorus that works simultaneously as a personal statement and an accessible pop anthem. - “You May Be Right” — Glass Houses (1980)
A signature live-rock song built around self-accusation, defiance, and a huge chorus. Its directness is not a weakness; it is the reason audiences can inhabit it immediately. - “I Go to Extremes” — Storm Front (1989)
A vivid confession of instability and contradiction. Joel translates shifting moods into an efficient pop-rock structure without removing the sense of personal exposure. - “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” — Storm Front (1989)
A maritime working-life narrative with an unusually strong sense of place. Economic pressure, regional pride, and decline are carried by the story of a fishing family rather than delivered as an abstract argument. - “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” — Turnstiles (1976)
A cinematic disaster vision that becomes an argument for New York’s cultural survival. Joel combines spectacle with genuine affection for a place, a quality that has helped the song survive changes in its original context. - “Captain Jack” — Piano Man (1973)
A bleak, unsettling character study about boredom, dependency, and escape. It helped establish Joel’s early reputation as a writer willing to look directly at lives that pop music usually romanticized or ignored. - “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” — Piano Man (1973)
A miniature Western epic. Its cinematic narrative and changing sections reveal Joel’s early appetite for scale and storytelling, even before his arrangements became as assured as they would on The Stranger. - “Sometimes a Fantasy” — Glass Houses (1980)
A muscular, nervy song about fantasy and dissatisfaction. It is among the clearest examples of Joel moving from the softer singer-songwriter sound toward the harder-edged production of the early 1980s.
20–11: Craft, history, and emotional exposure
- “All About Soul” — River of Dreams (1993)
A broad, affirmative late-career anthem. It is less subtle than Joel’s very best work, but it has the communal lift and conviction of a seasoned performer. - “The Longest Time” — An Innocent Man (1983)
A technically disciplined vocal-group pastiche performed with extraordinary clarity and charm. Its minimal instrumental foundation puts the vocal arrangement, layering, and rhythmic precision at center stage. - “Tell Her About It” — An Innocent Man (1983)
A bright Motown-inspired single with a lesson embedded in its narrative. Joel recreates a period style without disappearing into imitation; the personality remains unmistakably his. - “Uptown Girl” — An Innocent Man (1983)
An irresistible doo-wop/pop construction with an expertly engineered hook. Its simplicity is disciplined rather than simplistic, and its cultural afterlife has kept it among Joel’s most recognizable recordings. - “An Innocent Man” — An Innocent Man (1983)
A vulnerable title track that uses soul-ballad conventions to stage a plea for emotional fairness. It is one of Joel’s most effective vocal performances because the polished style never conceals the insecurity underneath. - “Pressure” — The Nylon Curtain (1982)
A tense, synth-driven song about modern anxiety. Its mechanical pulse and escalating vocal delivery make pressure feel physical, turning an abstract condition into the song’s sound and structure. - “We Didn’t Start the Fire” — Storm Front (1989)
As history, the song is necessarily selective; it should not be mistaken for a comprehensive lesson. As a pop mnemonic and generational self-portrait, however, its rapid catalog of names and events is exceptionally effective. It also received a Record of the Year nomination at the GRAMMY Awards. - “Honesty” — 52nd Street (1978)
A deceptively simple ballad about the difficulty of finding emotional truth. Its clean melodic line and direct lyric explain why the song has traveled successfully across languages and performance contexts. - “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” — Turnstiles (1976)
A dramatic farewell that turns relocation and artistic frustration into a full-band anthem. Joel makes personal experience feel larger without losing its sense of disappointment. - “A Matter of Trust” — The Bridge (1986)
A sturdy, emotionally direct song about dependence and commitment. Its premise is conventional, but the melodic confidence and live energy make it stronger than its category might suggest.
10–1: The essential Billy Joel songs
- “She’s Got a Way” — Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
One of Joel’s most elegant melodies. Its understated devotion demonstrates that emotional exactness does not require elaborate structure, and the song’s later re-recorded life confirms its durability. - “Only the Good Die Young” — The Stranger (1977)
A fast, provocative pop-rock song whose narrator is both persuasive and ridiculous. Catholic imagery, teenage desire, and exuberant arrangement combine into one of Joel’s most immediate performances. - “New York State of Mind” — Turnstiles (1976)
A defining urban ballad and one of Joel’s most convincing vocal performances. Its jazz-inflected sweep turns homesickness into a statement of identity and place. It has also remained a recurring live centerpiece. - “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” — The Stranger (1977)
A sharply observed critique of status, work, and suburban aspiration. The narrative is economical, the chorus explosive, and the song’s social commentary arrives through a memorable pop story rather than a lecture. - “The Stranger” — The Stranger (1977)
The title track is musically distinctive, psychologically suggestive, and more enigmatic than the album’s hit singles. Its whistled motif and shifting presentation dramatize the gap between public identity and private impulse. - “And So It Goes” — Storm Front (1989)
A restrained, deeply vulnerable song about intimacy and self-protection. It is mature because it allows love to be real while acknowledging that closeness can still end—or remain dangerous. - “Just the Way You Are” — The Stranger (1977)
A classic love song with a relaxed groove and exceptionally clear melodic architecture. Familiarity should not obscure its craft: it is economical, emotionally legible, and beautifully arranged. It won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 21st GRAMMY Awards. - “Piano Man” — Piano Man (1973)
The song that became Joel’s public calling card creates a miniature barroom world from a handful of sharply sketched lives. Its recurring chorus makes performance itself part of the subject. The official career timeline identifies it as Joel’s first top-20 single and connects it with his first gold-album milestone. - “Vienna” — The Stranger (1977)
A beautifully constructed argument against frantic self-optimization. Its waltz-like motion, gentle admonition, and unusual emotional maturity have made it a modern favorite well beyond its original album context. - “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” — The Stranger (1977)
Joel’s most ambitious and complete narrative song moves from reunion to character history to romantic disappointment and back again. It functions as a story, a suite, a portrait of class and aspiration, and a showcase for the full band without losing momentum. Its continuing prominence in Joel’s live repertoire confirms its unusual staying power.
What this ranking says about Billy Joel
The top 10 is not simply a list of the biggest singles. It shows the range that makes Joel’s catalog unusually durable: New York identity in “New York State of Mind,” romantic vulnerability in “And So It Goes” and “Just the Way You Are,” social observation in “Movin’ Out,” theatrical narrative in “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” and classic-pop engineering in “Only the Good Die Young.”
#1 Best Overall
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Joel is often reduced to the public image of the piano-playing storyteller. That description is accurate but incomplete. He is also an arranger who could move from country inflection to jazz-pop, Motown, doo-wop, synth-driven rock, and full-band theatricality. The deeper catalog reveals a writer interested in workers, strivers, obsessives, aging couples, displaced dreamers, and people negotiating the difference between the life they imagined and the one they inhabit.
Best Billy Joel songs by category
- Best character songs: “Piano Man,” “Captain Jack,” “James,” “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” and “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).”
- Best New York songs: “New York State of Mind,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” “Miami 2017,” “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” and “The Entertainer.”
- Best love songs: “And So It Goes,” “Just the Way You Are,” “She’s Got a Way,” “Honesty,” and “An Innocent Man.”
- Best deep cuts: “Sleeping with the Television On,” “Stiletto,” “James,” “Zanzibar,” “Until the Night,” and “Rosalinda’s Eyes.”
- Best live-minded songs: “Piano Man,” “New York State of Mind,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” “Pressure,” “Uptown Girl,” “Miami 2017,” and “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’.”
- Best songs for piano students: “Vienna,” “She’s Got a Way,” “Honesty,” “Piano Man,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “New York State of Mind.” Difficulty varies by arrangement, so a student should choose an edition appropriate to their level.
Want to play these songs?
A practical starting point is the Billy Joel Complete Volume 1 sheet music songbook, a Hal Leonard piano/vocal/guitar artist collection. Check the current edition’s table of contents before buying: it is a useful way to learn or study recognizable Joel repertoire, but it should not be assumed to contain every song in this ranking.
How to explore the catalog beyond the ranking
For a first listen, start with The Stranger, then move backward to Turnstiles and Piano Man. Continue through 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, and An Innocent Man to hear Joel change styles without abandoning his melodic identity. Storm Front and River of Dreams show a later, more mature version of the same songwriter.
Rank #2
- Greates Hits
- Best Of
- Complete
- Edition
Collectors may encounter Billy Joel: The Complete Albums Collection, a physical set described by Joel’s official catalog materials as containing 14 classic albums, a bonus disc of rare and original recordings, and accompanying booklets. Because editions and availability can change, verify whether a listing is the original set, a reissue, or a used copy before purchasing.
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For the concert dimension, Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium is available in documented DVD and Blu-ray editions. It is best approached as a view of Joel’s live arrangements and New York performance history, not as a replacement for the studio recordings.
There is also a two-part Billy Joel: And So It Goes documentary, whose 2025 debut was announced by HBO. Check current regional streaming access before planning a viewing; availability may differ by country and platform. The film is useful biographical context, not evidence that any one song belongs at a particular position on this list.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Final verdict
“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is the best Billy Joel song because it brings together nearly every major strength in his writing: melody, narrative, character, arrangement, emotional reversals, and a sense of performance as theater. “Vienna,” “Piano Man,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “New York State of Mind” are close behind for different reasons. But the larger point of the ranking is that Joel’s catalog is deeper than its most familiar choruses. The best way to test that claim is to put the hits aside for an evening and listen to “James,” “Stiletto,” “Sleeping with the Television On,” and “And So It Goes.”
Rank #3
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Billy Joel song?
“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” ranks first because it combines Joel’s strongest qualities: narrative writing, memorable characters, melodic invention, shifting sections, emotional turns, and a full-band arrangement that remains compelling in concert.
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“Piano Man” is Joel’s signature song and one of his most recognizable recordings, but this editorial ranking places “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “Vienna” higher because of their greater structural and emotional complexity.
Rank #4
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- ABBA's Gold - Greatest Hits collection features 19 timeless hits such as "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," "Take a Chance on Me," "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" and more! This 2 LP set is pressed on 180-gram vinyl
Which Billy Joel album should I listen to first?
Start with The Stranger, then listen to Turnstiles, Piano Man, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, and An Innocent Man. Together, they cover the core of Joel’s most celebrated album period.
The Bottom Line
Best overall: “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” Best introduction: The Stranger. Best overlooked songs: “James,” “Stiletto,” “Sleeping with the Television On,” and “And So It Goes.”
Quick Recap
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