High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Stranger is the fifth studio album by musician Billy Joel, released in September 1977. While his four previous albums had been moderate chart successes, this was his breakthrough album, spending six weeks at #2 in the U.S. album charts. It remains Joel`s best-selling non-compilation album to date and was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stone magazine`s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.