Here Are All of Billy Joel’s Adult Contemporary Top 10s, From ‘Piano Man’ to ‘Turn the Lights Back On’
Billy Joel is back in the top 10 of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart (dated Feb. 24) as “Turn the Lights Back On” – his first single release in 17 years – rises to No. 10.
Joel achieves his 24th Adult Contemporary top 10 and first since his version of Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love” hit No. 9 in August 1997.
Notably, Joel logs his latest Adult Contemporary top 10 a week shy of the 50th anniversary of his first appearance on the chart: On the list dated March 2, 1974, he debuted at No. 48 with his breakthrough classic “Piano Man,” which went on to become his first top 10, peaking at No. 4 that April.
Among Joel’s 24 Adult Contemporary top 10s, he has sent eight songs to No. 1, from “Just the Way You Are” in 1978 to “The River of Dreams” in 1993.
Following its release at 7 a.m. ET Feb. 1 on Columbia Records, “Turn the Lights Back On” debuted at No. 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart (dated Feb. 10) and held at the rank in its second week on the survey. As previously reported, the piano ballad, which Joel performed on the Grammy Awards Feb. 4, returned him to the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Feb. 17) for the first time as a recording artist since 1997.
The song’s official video arrived Feb. 16.
“Turn the Lights Back On” was written by Joel, Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector and Freddy Wexler.
“I started the song with Arthur and Wayne,” Wexler told Billboard. “Billy and I met some time later in Sag Harbor, NY. We became close friends, and we started quietly working on his unfinished material from over the years. This period was about a year and a half during which Billy, unbeknownst to nearly anyone, started to dip his toe into writing again. I travelled with him to many of his shows and, eventually, I showed him ‘Turn the Lights Back On.’ He helped me finish it at a studio and, as I suspect he does with anything, he made it much better.”
Below (and mirroring the time-travel effects of his new video), browse all 24 of Joel’s Adult Contemporary top 10 hits.
Gary Trust
Billboard