Toby Keith had a plethora of No. 1 hits, but a beloved 2011 banger wasn’t one of them.
Keith’s fan-favorite track “Red Solo Cup” might be one of the most celebrated and iconic songs from his entire catalog, but somehow, it never reached the top of the country charts.
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Released as a single off his 2011 album Clancy’s Tavern, the playful party anthem never even cracked the top five on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, instead peaking at the No. 9 spot in February 2012.
Keith, who had 20 other songs hit No. 1 during his massively successful country career, knew that “Red Solo Cup” may not be the most profound song he ever recorded, but even he couldn’t deny the track’s fun, infectious quality.
“It is the stupidest song I ever heard in my life, but it’s so stupid it’s good,” Keith told The Boot back in 2014, comparing the song to a “squirrel loose in a church house.”
“We can play it in an office and then play five other songs, give it an hour, walk out, and you’d hear the receptionist singing it,” he said. “It’s like nursery rhyme stupid.”
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Unlike most of his other radio hits, Keith actually didn’t “Red Solo Cup.” The utterly unserious song was written by two sets of brothers, Jim and Brett Beavers and Brett and Brad Warren — who are also acutely aware of how silly the song is.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Jim Beavers told The Boot. “I can also say, having been a writer for 10 years and written hundreds of songs, I don’t know a song that more people bring up in more instances than this song about a red solo cup. I don’t know why, it hits something somewhere. It is the craziest, weirdest song you’ve ever heard.”
Toby Keith’s Other No. 1 Hits
“Red Solo Cup” may have never made it to No. 1, but Keith had plenty of other songs that reached the top of the charts. Here are all 20 of Keith’s No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart:
- “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
- “Beer For My Horses” (duet with Willie Nelson)
- “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This”
- “My List”
- “Who’s Your Daddy?”
- “I Wanna Talk About Me”
- “I Love This Bar”
- “American Soldier”
- “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”
- “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”
- “As Good As I Once Was”
- “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight”
- “God Love Her”
- “She Never Cried in Front of Me”
- “Love Me If You Can”
- “Whiskey Girl”
- “Who’s That Man”
- “Me Too”
- “Made in America”
- “American ride”
Related: 1983 Timeless Ballad, Named One of the ‘Best Country Songs’ of All Time, Never Made It to No. 1