If you want to start an argument on Long Island, you’ve got a few reliable options. Tell someone their pizza place is mid. Question whether the LIE is really that bad. Or, apparently, publish a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters and leave off the guy from Hicksville who wrote “Piano Man.”

That last one is exactly what the New York Times managed to do this week, and the reaction has been about as calm and measured as you’d expect.

What the Times Actually Put Together

To be fair, this wasn’t some intern’s listicle dashed off between coffee breaks. The Times polled more than 250 musicians, critics, executives, historians, and other industry insiders, who collectively nominated over 700 different songwriters before six in-house critics debated and hammered out the final 30 names. That’s a lot of work to still manage to leave out Billy Joel, but here we are.

The final list is unranked and spans genres and generations, ranging from Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Richie to Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Lana Del Rey, and Young Thug. A real “something for everyone” situation, except if what you’re looking for is the Piano Man.

The Times framed the whole project as a conversation starter, not a definitive verdict. Which is convenient, because the conversation it started is mostly people saying “where the heck is Billy Joel?”

Let’s Talk About the Resume for a Second

Joel has spent more than 50 years in music, writing and recording dozens of chart-toppers, from “Piano Man” and “New York State of Mind” to “Uptown Girl” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” Along the way, he picked up six Grammy Awards and earned inductions into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

That’s not a resume you overlook. That’s a resume you frame and hang on the wall.

For Long Islanders, Joel has always been more than a star. He’s a hometown hero whose lyrics read like a love letter to New York and its working-class stories, a reputation only deepened by his legendary Madison Square Garden residency and decades of ties to local communities.

The man literally wrote “New York State of Mind.” He has a monthly residency at MSG that ran for years. His songs are playing right now in approximately 400 diners across Nassau and Suffolk counties. The argument for inclusion basically writes itself.

The Backlash Was Immediate, Loud, and Correct

Once readers noticed Joel wasn’t on the list, the criticism came fast, with fans and commentators pointing out that the list felt incomplete without one of the most successful and influential singer-songwriters in American pop history.

The most high-profile voice in the pile-on belonged to former Sony Music Chairman and CEO Tommy Mottola, who knows a thing or two about the music industry. Mottola took to Instagram to call Joel’s absence an oversight, writing “Sorry guys… we are going to need another list. Billy Joel!! This must be an oversight,” and adding that the Times had left out one of the all-time greats.

When the guy who ran Sony Music is posting “excuse me, what?” on Instagram, you’ve made a notable editorial choice.

Online, fans echoed the sentiment, with threads questioning how Joel, along with other conspicuous omissions like Garth Brooks and Randy Newman, didn’t survive the final cut. Some music writers even published their own corrected ballots, slotting Joel in where they felt he belonged.

What This Is Really About

Here’s the thing about “greatest” lists: they’re simultaneously very important and completely made up. The Times acknowledged as much, noting that the project was designed to spark conversation rather than settle anything, and that many worthy artists would inevitably be left out. Which is a polite way of saying “please don’t @ us.”

But the backlash to Joel’s snub actually proves his point better than the list itself does. His songs are threaded so deeply into American life, from barroom sing-alongs to arena concerts to daily radio rotation, that his absence registers as a genuine absence rather than just a missing name.

For Long Islanders specifically, seeing their hometown legend left off a high-profile national list feels personal, like a piece of the region’s own musical story got quietly shuffled aside. And look, we’re used to not getting enough credit out here. The LIRR delays, the property taxes, the fact that nobody outside New York can agree on how to pronounce “Massapequa.” We’re built for this.

But Billy Joel? Billy Joel we’ll go to the mat for.

The Times wanted to start a conversation. Consider it started. And for the record, “Piano Man” plays at last call for a reason.