Billy Joel return to ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 for first time since the ’90s

Never underestimate the exposure an artist gets by being featured on Music’s Biggest Night. Thanks to his appearance on the Grammy Awards, Billy Joel is back on the Billboard Hot 100 as an artist for the first time in more than 25 years, thanks to “Turn the Lights Back On,” which debuts at #62.

Billy performed “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first new single in 17 years, during the Grammy telecast, before closing the show with his classic “You May Be Right.”

Billboard notes that Billy makes his return just one week shy of the 50th anniversary of his first appearance on the chart: On February 23, 1974, “Piano Man” debuted at #94; it would eventually peak at #25. His last appearance on the Hot 100 was with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love,” which charted in October 1997.

But while Billy’s been absent from the Hot 100 as an artist since 1997, he’s appeared as a writer several times since then. The Glee cast’s versions of “Only the Good Die Young” and “Uptown Girl” charted in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and last year, Fall Out Boy had a hit with their update of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”