On this week’s Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 18), Toby Keith not only returns to the chart with his 2002 hit “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” but the song also achieves the highest Billboard Hot 100 position of his career.
“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” leads a fresh wave of patriotic songs returning to the Hot 100, debuting at No. 11 this week. The track finishes ahead of other Independence Day favorites, including Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” at No. 25, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” at No. 31, and Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” at No. 32, along with several other holiday staples. The No. 11 ranking surpasses Keith’s previous career-best Hot 100 position of No. 15, achieved by “Red Solo Cup” in January 2012.
During its original chart run in 2002, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”—a song whose strongly patriotic message following the September 11 attacks resonated with many listeners while drawing criticism from others—reached No. 25 on the Hot 100, earning that peak on the chart dated Aug. 3. It also became the ninth of Keith’s 20 career No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. In the summer of 2025, the song returned to the Hot 100 for the first time since 2002 after receiving a Fourth of July boost the previous year that brought it back at No. 31. The track likely gained additional sentimental value following Keith’s death at age 62 in February 2024.
This year, the song’s now-traditional Fourth of July resurgence received an even bigger lift as the United States celebrated its 250th anniversary. The holiday also fell on a Saturday, concentrating the period of highest listener activity within a single Billboard tracking week while maximizing Independence Day weekend celebrations and related music consumption.
Throughout his career, Keith has earned 39 entries on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” which peaked at No. 93 in 1993 and also became his first Hot Country Songs chart-topper. Although that signature hit and several of his other songs from the 1990s enjoyed limited success—or none at all—on the Hot 100, largely because country music crossed over to the all-genre chart less frequently during that era, Keith became a consistent presence in the top 40 after the turn of the century. Between 2000 and 2011, he reached the top 40 a total of 15 times.
The song’s impressive performance on this week’s chart was driven primarily by streaming. “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” generated 15.3 million official U.S. streams, representing a 198% increase compared with the previous tracking week. In addition, its radio airplay audience climbed 492% to 2.6 million, while sales jumped 215% to 6,000 copies.