Billy Joel’s New Song: Hear “Turn The Lights Back On,” His First Single In 17 Years

Tom Tapp
·1 min read
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Billy Joel released his first single in 17 years today, “Turn the Lights Back On,” a spare, piano-based ballad that harkens back to some of his best-loved work.

The single is being released by Columbia Records, and marks Joel’s first new material since 2007, when the Piano Man released “All My Life” and “Christmas in Fallujah.” The song was written by Freddy Wexler, Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector and Joel. Listen below.

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While Joel hasn’t released much new music since his most recent rock album, 1993’s River of Dreams, he has continued to perform live. He has played New York’s Madison Square Garden once a month since January 2014 and will end the 10-year residency with the 150th performance set for July. He continues to tour in the U.S. and abroad. He will perform at Sunday’s Grammys, though it’s not clear whether he’ll debut “Turn the Lights Back On” or not.

His double-disc Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II is the seventh-best-selling album in U.S. history, at 23 million units and counting. Joel also is No. 7 overall among acts who have sold the most combined albums and singles, with 86 million, per the RIAA. He has amassed 13 platinum albums since breaking out with 1973’s Piano Man, four of which — 52nd Street, Glass Houses, Storm Front and River of Dreams — topped the Billboard 200 chart. His best-selling studio album is 1977’s The Stranger, which has shifted 11 million units in the U.S.

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