It became Columbia's best-selling release, selling over 10 million copies and spawning the hit singles "Just the Way You Are", "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "Only the Good Die Young", and "She's Always a Woman", as well as the concert staples "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Vienna".

An Innocent Man (1983) served as an homage to genres of music that Joel had grown up with in the 1950s, such as rhythm and blues and doo-wop; it featured "Tell Her About It", "Uptown Girl", and "The Longest Time", three of his best-known songs.

After River of Dreams (1993), he largely retired from producing studio material, although he went on to release Fantasies & Delusions (2001), featuring classical compositions composed by him and performed by British-Korean pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo.

[31] Influenced by early rock & roll and rhythm & blues artists, including Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, Joel favored tightly structured pop melodies and down-to-earth songwriting.

Artie Ripp, owner of Family Productions, states that he spent US$450,000 developing Joel;[40] nevertheless, the album was mastered at too high a speed and was a technical and commercial disappointment.

[42] During the spring of 1972, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM began playing a concert recording of "Captain Jack", which became an underground hit on the East Coast.

Although Streetlife Serenade was viewed unfavorably by critics,[47][48] it contains the notable songs "Los Angelenos" and "Root Beer Rag", an instrumental that was a staple of his live set in the 1970s.

In a 2008 radio interview, Joel said that he no longer performs the song because singing it in its high original key "shreds" his vocal cords; however, he did finally play it live for the first time since 1982 when he sang it at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2014.

In 1979, Joel traveled to Havana, Cuba to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and an array of Cuban artists including Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón.

From one of the final shows of the tour, Joel made his first video special, Live from Long Island, which was recorded at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 29, 1982.

The album was well received by critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, describing Joel as being "in top form as a craftsman throughout the record, effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles.

The music video of the song, originally written about then-girlfriend Elle MacPherson, featured Christie Brinkley as a high-society girl who pulls her car into the gas station where Joel's character is working.

On November 18, 1986, an extended version of "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was used on a Season 3 episode of Moonlighting.The Bridge was Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, after which he severed his ties with Artie Ripp.

Joel also revamped his backing band, dismissing everyone but drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero.

In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa.

"2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.

In February 2010, Joel denied rumors in the trade press that he canceled a summer 2010 leg of the tour, claiming there were never any dates booked and that he intended to take the year off.

A new song, titled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released in stores on February 27, 2007.

He also played many of his less well-known pieces, with full orchestral backing arranged by Mr. Ellis, including the rarely performed Nylon Curtain songs "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's the Orchestra?".

It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007.

[94] The first MSG show also launched the Billy Joel in Concert tour, which continued at the Amway Center (in Orlando, Florida) where Joel performed several cover songs such as Elton John's "Your Song", Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful" (in tribute to Joe Cocker), the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Can't Buy Me Love" and "When I'm 64", Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne" and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" (with Brian Johnson).

[98] On June 24, 2017, he returned to Hicksville High School fifty years after his would-be graduating class received their diplomas,[99] to deliver the honorary commencement address.

Joel and Stevie Nicks jointly announced plans to perform a series of concerts across the United States in 2023, tentatively beginning with SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles on March 10.

"[108] According to Billboard, "the HarperCollins book was billed as an 'emotional ride' that would detail the music legend's failed marriage to Christie Brinkley, as well as his battles with substance abuse.

[120] On July 4, 2015, Joel married a fourth time, to Alexis Roderick, an equestrian and former Morgan Stanley executive, at his Oyster Bay estate on Long Island.

Joel rarely publicly endorses political candidates; however, he did play a benefit with his friend Bruce Springsteen to raise money for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008.

"[140] In 2016, after his sarcastic dedication of "The Entertainer" to then-Republican candidate Donald Trump[141] was taken as a serious endorsement, Joel told the New York Daily News in an email that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton.

Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1999 by one of his chief musical influences, Ray Charles, with whom he also collaborated on his song "Baby Grand" (1986).

At the dinner honoring him, various artists performed versions of his songs, including Nelly Furtado, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Diana Krall, Rob Thomas and Natalie Cole.

[158] On July 18, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed the date to be Billy Joel Day in New York state to mark his 100th performance at Madison Square Garden.