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52nd Street is een album van Billy Joel uit 1978.

Het album is de opvolger van The Stranger waarmee hij internationaal doorbrak. Om dit album een andere sound te geven dan zijn voorganger, huurde Joel een aantal jazzmusici in voor de begeleidingsband. Het is het eerste album van Joel dat de eerste plek in de Amerikaanse Billboard 200 wist te halen en het leverde Joel twee Grammy Awards op bij de uitreiking in 1980: die voor album van het jaar en die voor beste zanger. Behalve de eerste plaats in de Amerikaanse albumlijst, lukte het Joel met dit album ook om de toppositie in Australië, Canada en Nieuw-Zeeland te behalen. In Nederland werd de 29e positie behaald.

Drie singles, "My Life", "Big Shot" en "Honesty", wisten de Amerikaanse top 40 te halen. "My Life" werd ook een bescheiden hit in Nederland (plek 23) en Vlaanderen (plek 27). Het album was een van de eerste albums die, in oktober 1982, op compact disc zijn uitgebracht. De titel van het album verwijst naar 52nd Street in New York, waar halverwege de 19e eeuw veel jazzclubs zaten. Toen het album uitgebracht werd, zat ook het hoofdkantoor van Joels platenfirma alsmede de studio waar dit album opgenomen is aan 52nd street.

52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1978, by Columbia Records. Presenting itself as the follow-up to his breakthrough studio album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the new album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to differentiate it from his previous studio albums.

The album's title is a reference to 52nd Street, a popular street location in Midtown Manhattan for jazz musicians, beginning during the Great Depression and continuing through to the 1950s. Joel's label was headquartered within the CBS Building on West 52nd Street at the time of the album's release. The studio where recording took place was also on 52nd Street, one block away from where Joel's label was headquartered.

52nd Street was an instant commercial success, becoming Joel's first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, a spot it held for eight consecutive weeks. Three songs reached the Top 40 in the United States, contributing to the album's success: "My Life" (number 3), "Big Shot" (number 14), and "Honesty" (number 24). It was similarly well received by critics, earning two Grammy awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards. The latter Grammy was presented to its producer, Phil Ramone. Upon Ramone's death, 52nd Street's Album of the Year Grammy was passed on to Joel.

The album was among the first commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982, in Japan (it was one of 50 CDs released that day, including The Stranger, but bore the first catalogue number in the sequence, 35DP-1, and so is frequently cited as the first to be released). In keeping with this history, it was also the first release when Sony returned to manufacturing vinyl records in 2018.