| "Red Solo Cup" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Toby Keith | ||||
| from the album Clancy's Tavern | ||||
| Released | October 10, 2011 | |||
| Recorded | June 2011 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:43 | |||
| Label | Show Dog-Universal | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Toby Keith | |||
| Toby Keith singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Red Solo Cup" is a song written by Brett Warren, Brad Warren, Brett Beavers, and Jim Beavers and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith. The song was released on October 10, 2011,[1] as the second single from Keith's 2011 album Clancy's Tavern.[2][3] This is the only song on the album that Keith did not write or co-write. The song was featured in the Glee episode "Hold On to Sixteen". Insider ranked it as the second worst song of the 2010s[4] and Keith himself called it "the stupidest song I ever heard in my life". A remixed version by Johnny Mac appears on the deluxe edition of Keith's sixteenth studio album Hope on the Rocks, released the following year. It was Keith's biggest and final chart hit before his death in 2024.
"Red Solo Cup" is about the Solo Cup Company's red style of plastic cups, and their common usage at parties, among other occasions.[5] It is in the key of A major, with a primary chord pattern of A–Bm7–E–A on the verses, which are spoken-word. The final chorus modulates a whole step upward to B major.[6]
Singer-songwriter duo the Warren Brothers (Brad and Brett Warren) co-wrote "Red Solo Cup" with Brett Beavers and his brother, Jim Beavers. The four of them decided to write something that would "make us all laugh and smile". According to Brett Warren, Jim did the majority of the writing.[7] Keith told CMT that it was "the stupidest song that I have ever heard in my life" but also "freakin' awesome".[2]
All four writers sing backing vocals on the song. The Warren Brothers also perform acoustic guitar on it, while Jim plays bass guitar and Brett plays six-string banjo.[8]
The music video includes cameos from Jeff Dunham (and his character Bubba J), Carrot Top, Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, Craig Ferguson (on set of his Late night talk show The Late Late Show alongside his Robot Skeleton sidekick Geoff Peterson, the latter of whose scene is omitted in the Holiday Version), Roger Clemens, Eric Church, Joe Nichols, Lance Burton, and Larry Bird among others.[9]
It had acquired more than 600,000 views on YouTube before the album's release.[10] The video surpassed 69 million views as of February 2023.[11]
| Chart (2011–2012) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Country (Billboard)[12] | 8 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[13] | 27 |
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[14] | 9 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[15] | 15 |
| Chart (2012) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[16] | 89 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[17] | 82 |
| US Country Songs (Billboard)[18] | 53 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[19] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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