" We Didn't Start the Fire " is a song written and published by American musician Billy Joel . The song was released as a single on September 18, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album Storm Front on October 17, 1989. A list song , its fast-paced lyrics include brief references to 118 significant political, cultural, scientific and sporting events between 1948 (the year before Joel's birth) and 1989, in mainly chronological order. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became Joel's third single to reach number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in late 1989. Storm Front became Joel's third album to reach number one in the US. "We Didn't Start the Fire," particularly in the 21st century, has become the basis of many pop culture parodies and continues to be repurposed in various television shows, advertisements and comedic productions. Despite its early success, Joel later noted his dislike of the song musically and it was critically panned as one of his worst by later generations of music critics. - source