Did you know that Billy Joel’s ’52nd Street’ was the first album sold as on a compact disc?
The first album printed on a CD at a factory was ABBA’s ‘The Visitors’ in mid-1982 but it was not made available for purchase in that format by the public. Joel’s ’52 Street’, on the other hand, was released as a commercial CD via Sony Music Entertainment in Japan on October 1st 1982; almost four years after it was initially issued on vinyl.
To date, ’52 Street’ has been certified 7x platinum by the RIAA. The biggest hit from the album was ‘My Life’, which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Listen to that song below: