Billy Joel once sang, “I know the game/you’ll forget my name/I won’t be here in another year/if I don’t stay on the charts.” Well, Billy’s just returned to the charts for the first time in 26 years, and his name wasn’t forgotten in the interim.
“Turn the Lights Back On,” Billy’s first pop single since 2007, blasted onto Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary chart at #11 after just one day of release. He was last on the chart in March 1998, with a cover of the 1963 Freddie Scott hit “Hey Girl,” which peaked at #13. The last time he was top 10 on the chart was in 1997, with his cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Make You Feel My Love.”
Despite his absence from the charts as an artist, Billy did appear on it as a writer just last year, thanks to Fall Out Boy‘s cover of his 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
Billy performed twice at the Grammy Awards Sunday: He sang “Turn the Lights Back On” and then closed the show with “You May Be Right.”
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