The Ultimate Collection (Billy Joel album)

The Ultimate Collection
Greatest hits album by Billy Joel
Released	December 20, 2000[1]
Recorded	1973–1993
Genre	Rock, pop
Length	153:09
Label	Sony/Columbia
Producer	Phil Ramone Michael Omartian Billy Joel Mick Jones Danny Kortchmar Joe Nicolo David Thoener
Billy Joel chronology
2000 Years: The Millennium Concert (2000) The Ultimate Collection (2000) Fantasies & Delusions (2001)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

The Ultimate Collection is a double-disc compilation album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. It was first released by Sony Music Entertainment Japan in December 2000, and subsequently issued in the most of European and Oceanian countries with slightly different track listings (replacing Japanese top-3 charting hit "The Stranger" with live version of "You're My Home").

This career-spanning compilation features some of Joel's early notable compositions and hit singles which were disregarded on his Greatest Hits series, although several hits and fan favorites like "Only the Good Die Young", "Captain Jack", "Vienna", "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Pressure" and "Big Shot" were excluded alternatively. It became a smash hit worldwide, entering top-5 on the charts in many countries, including United Kingdom.

The Ultimate Collection was not issued in the United States, though Legacy Recordings released another similar compilation The Essential in October 2001.