Maybe Benny Andersson. Their music will be forgotten as soon as their tone deaf fans die. They both achieved fame far beyond their level of talent. They were both extremely popular for a short amount of time and, at least in the case of Joel, have overstayed their welcome in the public eye.
I mentioned "Piano Man" because it is one of his signature works. A piece of music that he is famous for. It is schmaltzy crap and typical of the rest of his music.
Billy Joel: Prime period (1973-1980) underrated, everything since 1986 has been crap.
Lennon and McCarthy were outstanding songwriters with the Beatles, with Lennon's solo work very mediocre. As for Macca, his work with Wings (up to Venus and Mars) holds up surprisingly well.
I hate to break it to you but that song doesn’t sound anything like the rest of his music. Not remotely. It’s a fluke novelty song. His best music has the melodic and harmonic sophistication of the best Tin Pan Alley pop. I’m a Classically trained musician and can back up my assertion with examples if you want. Do you think Leonard Bernstein and Paul McCartney were tone deaf? They both liked his music quite a bit. So did Brian Wilson. So did Ray Charles. All tone deaf no doubt.
As for popularity, Joel sold out Shea Stadium last year and has as many teenage fans as any artist of his generation. Just look at all the covers on Youtube.
And ABBA is more popular now than ever. They produced perfect pop records. What qualities do you expect in pop music that they lacked?