52nd Street (album)


52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1978. The follow-up to his breakthrough success album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to differentiate it from his previous albums.
It was the first of four Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, and it earned him two Grammys. Three songs reached the Top 40 in the United States, contributing to the album's success: "My Life", "Big Shot", and "Honesty". It was similarly well received by critics, earning the 1980 Grammy for Album of the Year. This Grammy was presented to its producer, Phil Ramone. Upon Ramone's death, 52nd Streets Album of the Year Grammy was passed on to Joel. Additionally, the album is notable for being among the first albums commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982, in Japan. In keeping with this history, it was also the first release when Sony returned to manufacturing vinyl records in 2018.
The title is a reference to 52nd Street, one of New York City's jazz centers in the middle of the century. Joel's label was headquartered on 52nd Street at the time of the album's release. The studio where recording took place was also on 52nd Street, one block away from the CBS Building.

Reception

Allmusic praises Joel for expanding stylistically on 1977's The Stranger, describing 52nd Street as "more sophisticated and somewhat jazzy." In 2000 it was voted number 621 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 352 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and at 354 on a 2012 revised list.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Billy Joel.
;Side one
;Side two

Song notes

The song "Rosalinda's Eyes" was inspired by Joel's mother, Rosalind Nyman Joel.

Personnel

Grammy Awards

American Music Awards

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales