From vinyl to streaming, Billy Joel‘s “Vienna” continues to stand the test of time.
The track, off of the famed singer’s 1977 album, The Stranger, just made it on to Spotify’s Billions Club playlist, Joel announced on Instagram recently.
“Vienna waits for you,” the social media caption read, referring to the songs beloved lyrics. “‘Vienna’ is Billy’s 3rd song to join the Billions Club playlist on Spotify.”
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The playlist, which aptly includes songs that have been streamed on the platform over a billion times, also includes Joel’s “Piano Man,” which joined in April, and “Uptown Girl,” which joined in September 2024, according to Classic Rock 93.9. “Uptown Girl” currently has over 1.4 billion streams, “Piano Man” comes in second at 1.3 billion, with “Vienna” at just over a billion.
Joel’s Instagram announcement garnered tons of comments with fans praising the song.
“An amazing song, that should be listened for all people. A song that just saved me,” one wrote.
“One of my all-time favorites!” added another.
“I have ‘slow down you’re doing fine’ tattooed on my arm,” said another, referencing other lyrics of the song.
The song, which has become known as a coming of age tune, is also about Joel’s relationship with his estranged father who lived in Vienna, Austria. Joel explained the the backstory of the song in his 2025 HBO documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes.
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Additionally, in an interview with the tourism board of Vienna, he said, “When I wrote ‘Vienna waits for you’, I meant that it is a place where you close the circle. By going to Vienna, suddenly things started to make sense in the world for me.”
When asked to rank his own songs during a 2017 appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Joel put “Vienna” in his top five.
“We give the audience a choice, ‘Do you want ‘Vienna’ or do you want ‘Just The Way You Are,?'” he said, referring to his live performances, most notably at Madison Square Garden. “They pick ‘Vienna.'”
Other artists on the Billions Club playlist include songs by Fleetwood Mac and Lady Gaga.
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