Toby Keith’s ‘Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue’ Is Now His Highest-Peaking Hot 100 Hit Thanks to 4th of July Return

On this week’s Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 18), Toby Keith not only scores a reentry for his 2002 hit “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” he achieves a best-ever chart rank for the song — or for any of his songs. 

“Courtesy” leads a wave of patriotic songs re-swarming the Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 11 — ahead of fellow 4th of July perennials from Miley Cyrus (“Party in the U.S.A.,” No. 25), Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Sweet Home Alabama,” No. 31) and Zac Brown Band (“Chicken Fried,” No. 32), among several others. That No. 11 placement bests Keith’s prior career peak of No. 15, achieved by his party singalong “Red Solo Cup” in January 2012. 

Upon its original chart run in 2002, “Courtesy” — whose aggressively pro-American posturing in the aftermath of 9/11 resonated with some audiences and inspired backlash from others — reached No. 25 on the Hot 100, securing that position on the chart dated Aug. 3. It also became the ninth of his 20 career No. 1s on Hot Country Songs. In summer 2025, it reentered the Hot 100 for the first time since 2002, after last year’s 4th of July bump brought it back to No. 31 on the listing. (The song likely became more of a sentimental favorite following Keith’s passing at age 62 in February 2024.) 

This year, the song’s now-annual 4th of July surge was further accelerated by the U.S. celebrating its 250th anniversary — and by the holiday falling on a Saturday, thus further concentrating the highest-volume days of related gains all within the same Billboard tracking week, and maximizing the 4th of July weekend partying (and related soundtracking).

Keith has scored 39 career hits on the Hot 100, starting with 1993’s No. 93-peaking “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” (his first Hot Country Songs leader). While that classic and several other of his ’90s hits achieved minimal success, if any, on the Hot 100 — during a period where there was significantly less crossover to the chart from the country world in general — starting at the turn of the century, he became a regular visitor to the top 40, ultimately visiting the region 15 times between 2000 and 2011. 

The chart success of “Courtesy” this week is most heavily owed to its streaming activity, with the song accruing 15.3 million official U.S. streams — a 198% gain from the prior tracking week — according to Luminate. Additionally, it rises 492% to 2.6 million in airplay audience and 215% to 6,000 sold.