For a man who hasn’t launched a mainstream pop album in over three a long time, Billy Joel certain loves touring.

Since 1993’s River of Dreams turned his de facto curtain name as a studio musician, Joel has packed arenas and stadiums world wide along with his spectacular catalog of piano-pounding hits. He’s typically joined forces with megastars corresponding to Elton John (on the multi-leg Face to Face Tour that dominated field workplaces within the ’90s and ’00s) and, extra just lately, Stevie Nicks and Sting. In 2024, he performed his one hundred and fiftieth profession gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden, marking the conclusion of a residency that noticed him promoting out the house of the Knicks for greater than a decade.

Joel’s prolonged stay profession ? filled with high-energy renditions of hits and fan favorites by a rotating assortment of bandmates ? has all the time translated effectively in album kind. The longer it has been since he bade farewell to writing new materials, the extra he is signed off on new live performance recordings, together with a wholesome providing of traditional reveals from the archives.

There’s a Joel stay album for nearly each period of his profession, from his humble pre-fame origins to his chart-topping imperial part to his tenure as a blockbuster legacy act. Taken as a complete, our record of Billy Joel Live Albums Ranked Worst to Best paints a portrait of an artist who, all through his varied profession ups and downs, prided himself on delivering an interesting stay present and refused to relaxation on his laurels.