Glass Houses
by Billy Joel
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Billy Joel bestography
Glass Houses is ranked 2nd best out of 27 albums by Billy Joel on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Billy Joel is The Stranger which is ranked number 236 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,618.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Glass Houses on YouTube
Glass Houses track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Glass Houses rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Robert Anton Wilson | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 13/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 76 Music Albums of 1980 | 48/76 | 2 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum decade 1980s | 83/100 | - |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1980 | 20/50 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 21/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum albums Pt 4 | 70/100 | - |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 8/100 | 19 |
| 2026 | culwin | Top 67 Music Albums of 1980 | 7/67 | 5 |
| 2026 | sunnydhamm | Top 14 Music Albums of 1980 | 10/14 | 2 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List Zone 32 America Usa 4 | 5/58 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 203 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,225 | |||
Glass Houses collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 164 members
Glass Houses ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 305 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/28/2026 16:19 | Charlesd | 111 | 83/100 |
| ! | 05/18/2026 00:11 | CjHubb117 | 301 | 89/100 |
| ! | 04/15/2026 17:04 | gmessian | 385 | 60/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.6/100, a mean average of 75.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.7.
Glass Houses favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 45 members
Glass Houses forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSea BestEverAlbums 09/06/2023 20:00 in Album of the day (#4644): Glass Houses by Billy JoelGlass Houses comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/18/2014 19:36 | #119755 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Billy Joel adds a little more rock to his usual brand of pop, relying much less on piano than previous albums. As a pop/rock answer to the punk rock of the time ("it's still rock and roll to me"!), it's a solid album, with a very good first half which falls apart a bit in the 2nd. (Edited)
Billy Joel's punk/new wave record. It's a much more cynical and angry Joel than on previous albums, and it's an excellent example of a seventies superstar moving into the 'new sound funny' of the eighties. Two of the tracks are off course out and out Joel classics. You may be right, and, especially, it's still rock'n'roll to me, show an artist with still something to say. Other highlights are the cool rock of, I don't want to be alone, the new wavy, just a fantasy, and the brilliant, all for Leyna, possibly the album's best song. Other standouts are, the dirty rock of, close to the borderline, and the flamenco/folk rock of, don't ask me why. For older fans, there's also a couple of nice ballads too. All in all, it's a solid and consistent album, one of Billy Joel's best.
First half of this album : total home runs. Second half: not so much.
This album never really did much for me. I think it feels a bit less infectious when compared to other releases of his and just a bit bland in terms of choruses. Nothing hooks me and makes me want to come back for more as nothing truly stands out as being exceptional. A lot of it is just decent and it isn't very experimental or edgy. There is little to no filler but I do think that is due to the run time. The vocal performance is great and there are brief glimpses of some enjoyable instrumentation. Overall, this album is a bit boring and not as catchy and fun as his other releases which always held it back in my opinion.
Side One is terrific, side 2 not so good though, Still Rock n' Roll standout track and I like Leyna.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
