Greatest Hits (Billy Joel albums)

Billy Joel's Greatest Hits is a collection released in two sets, 12 years apart. The first set, consisting of two discs, titled Volume I and Volume II, was released in 1985. The second, single disc titled Volume III was released in 1997. All songs but the last three on Volume III, "To Make You Feel My Love", "Hey Girl" and "Light as the Breeze" were written by Joel. "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" are only available on the first set. The other songs appear mostly in order of their release dates and generally represent Joel's most successful singles.

Greatest Hits - Volume I & Volume II has been certified double diamond by the RIAA, selling over 11.5 million copies (23 million units) and is tied with Pink Floyd's The Wall and Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV for third most certified album of all time in the U.S.

Greatest Hits - Volume I & Volume II

Greatest Hits - Volume I & Volume II
Greatest hits album by Billy Joel
Released	September 2, 1985
Recorded	1973-1985
Genre	Rock
Length	1:53:45 (CD)
Label	Family Productions/Columbia
Producer	Michael Stewart, Billy Joel, Phil Ramone
Billy Joel chronology
An Innocent Man (1983) Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 (1973-1985) (1985) The Bridge (1986)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone Album Guide, 3rd Edition	[citation needed]

The Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II album includes hits from 1973-1985 in chronological order with one exception. The album includes two previously unreleased tracks, "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young", exclusive to this collection (and repackaged variants).

LP Release Tracklist

Side One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Piano Man" (1973)	5:36
2.	"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (1981) (live edited version)	3:53
3.	"New York State of Mind" (1976) (contains different saxophone solo than Turnstiles version)	5:58
4.	"The Stranger" (1977)	4:55
5.	"Just the Way You Are" (1977) (radio edit version)	3:34

Side Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" (1977)	3:27
2.	"Only the Good Die Young" (1977)	3:53
3.	"She's Always a Woman" (1977)	3:18
4.	"My Life" (1978) (radio edit version)	3:50
5.	"Big Shot" (1978) (radio edit version)	3:43
6.	"You May Be Right" (1980)	4:09

Side Three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (1980)	2:54
2.	"Don't Ask Me Why" (1980)	3:40
3.	"Pressure" (1982) (radio edit version)	3:13
4.	"Allentown" (1982)	3:49
5.	"Goodnight Saigon" (1982)	7:02

Side Four
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tell Her About It" (1983) (radio edit version)	3:55
2.	"Uptown Girl" (1983)	3:15
3.	"The Longest Time" (1983)	3:35
4.	"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" (1985)	4:47
5.	"The Night Is Still Young" (1985)	5:27

Cassette Release Tracklist

The same as the LP version, but since it is on one cassette LP sides 1 and 2 are put onto one side of the cassette and LP sides 3 and 4 are put onto the other side.

CD Release Tracklist

Disc One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Piano Man"	5:39
2.	"Captain Jack"	6:57
3.	"The Entertainer"	3:40
4.	"Say Goodbye to Hollywood"	4:39
5.	"New York State of Mind"	6:05
6.	"The Stranger"	5:09
7.	"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"	7:36
8.	"Just the Way You Are"	4:51
9.	"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"	3:30
10.	"Only the Good Die Young"	3:54
11.	"She's Always a Woman"	3:20
Total length:		55:20

Disc Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"My Life"	4:44
2.	"Big Shot"	4:02
3.	"You May Be Right"	4:13
4.	"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"	2:58
5.	"Don't Ask Me Why"	2:59
6.	"She's Got a Way [Live]"	3:02
7.	"Pressure"	4:37
8.	"Allentown"	3:48
9.	"Goodnight Saigon"	7:02
10.	"Tell Her About It"	3:50
11.	"Uptown Girl"	3:16
12.	"The Longest Time"	3:39
13.	"You're Only Human (Second Wind)"	4:49
14.	"The Night Is Still Young"	5:26
Total length:		58:25

The LP and Cassette have 21 tracks. The CD has 4 additional tracks: "Captain Jack", "The Entertainer", "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant",& "She's Got a Way" (the live version from Songs in the Attic). In 1998, this two CD set was digitally remastered and packaged with two bonus videos ("You're Only Human" and "The Night Is Still Young"). All of the songs that were edited in the 1985 package ("Pressure", "My Life", "Big Shot", "Just the Way You Are" and "The Stranger") were restored to their original album lengths. Also, the live version of "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" was removed and replaced with the studio version from Joel's 1976 album Turnstiles.

Greatest Hits Volume III

Greatest Hits Volume III
Greatest hits album by Billy Joel
Released	August 18, 1997
Recorded	1983-1997
Genre	Rock
Length	1:08:18
Label	Columbia
Producer	Phil Ramone, Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Danny Kortchmar, Joe Nicolo, David Thoener
Billy Joel chronology
River of Dreams (1993) Greatest Hits Volume III (1997) 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert (2000)

The Greatest Hits Volume III album includes hits from 1983-1997. Three previously unreleased studio tracks are included, "To Make You Feel My Love", "Hey Girl", and "Light as the Breeze". All three tracks are covers songs (a rare occurrence in his catalogue), and although "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Hey Girl" were recorded to be singles for this album, Joel originally recorded the song "Light as the Breeze" for a Leonard Cohen tribute album, Tower of Song, released in 1995.

Chronologically, Greatest Hits Volume III overlaps slightly with Volume II, as the first two tracks, "Keeping the Faith" and "An Innocent Man", first appeared on his album An Innocent Man.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Keeping the Faith"	4:38
2.	"An Innocent Man"	5:19
3.	"A Matter of Trust"	4:12
4.	"Baby Grand"	4:05
5.	"This Is the Time"	5:00
6.	"Leningrad"	4:04
7.	"We Didn't Start the Fire"	4:48
8.	"I Go to Extremes"	4:24
9.	"And So It Goes"	3:38
10.	"The Downeaster 'Alexa'"	3:44
11.	"Shameless"	4:27
12.	"All About Soul (Remix)"	6:01
13.	"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)"	3:35
14.	"The River of Dreams"	4:11
15.	"To Make You Feel My Love (B. Dylan)"	3:53
16.	"Hey Girl (Goffin & King)"	3:57
17.	"Light as the Breeze (L. Cohen)"	6:12

The Complete Hits Collection: 1973-1997

On October 13, 1997, a boxed set was released that included all three Greatest Hits volumes as well as a fourth disc that contains a Q&A with Billy Joel.

An Evening of Questions & Answers... & A Little Music
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Billy Joel Spoken Intro/Music Concepts [Live]"	10:18
2.	"Scenes From an Italian Restaurant [Unreleased Version - Live]"	7:50
3.	"Beatles Influence [Live]"	5:18
4.	"A Hard Day's Night [Unreleased Version - Live]"	2:53
5.	"Why Vienna? [Live]"	9:28
6.	"Vienna [Unreleased Version - Live]"	3:41
7.	"History Through the Music [Live]"	4:31
8.	"We Didn't Start the Fire [Unreleased Version - Live]"	5:13
9.	"Music Source [Live]"	9:14
10.	"The River of Dreams [Unreleased Original Studio Recording]"	5:20
11.	"Piano Bar [Live]"	7:46
12.	"Piano Man [Unreleased Version - Live]"	6:31
Total length:		1:18:03

See also

• List of best-selling albums in the United States