Which song from The Stranger peaked at No. 2 on Japan's Oricon chart?

“The Stranger” was the song from Billy Joel’s album The Stranger that peaked at No. 2 on Japan’s Oricon chart. It became a particularly successful single in Japan, where it sold more than 471,000 copies.

The song was released as a Japanese single on May 21, 1978, with “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” as its B-side. Although The Stranger was the title track of Joel’s 1977 album, it was not released as a single in the United States or United Kingdom in the same way; Japan gave it a prominent standalone release.

The recording has a distinctive quiet piano-and-whistling motif at both its opening and close. Billy Joel originally imagined the melody being played by a wind instrument, but producer Phil Ramone encouraged him to whistle it himself.

A frequent mix-up is to identify “Movin’ Out” because it appeared on the Japanese single as the B-side. Oricon’s No. 2 position belongs to “The Stranger,” not the album as a whole and not its companion track.