In 2003, Toby Keith & Willie Nelson Saddled Up at No. 1 With ‘Beer for My Horses’: Chart Rewind

On June 14, 2003, Toby Keith and Willie Nelson’s “Beer for My Horses” started a six-week domination on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

The raucous song, which Keith co-authored with Scotty Emerick and co-produced with James Stroud, was released from his LP Unleashed, which launched atop both Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200. The set yielded two other Hot Country Songs No. 1s: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” and “Who’s Your Daddy?”

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“Horses” became Keith’s 10th of 20 Hot Country Songs leaders and the most recent of Nelson’s 20, after he had last ruled in 1989 with “Nothing I Can Do About It Now.” “Horses” marks Nelson’s longest command on the chart; for Keith, it’s tied with the six-week No. 1 run of “As Good as I Once Was” in 2005 for his longest stay at the summit.

To-date, “Horses” has drawn 3.8 billion in radio airplay audience and 229 million on-demand official streams and sold 1.3 million downloads in the United States, according to Luminate.

The song also inspired the 2008 comedy movie Beer for My Horses, starring Keith, Nelson, Rodney Carrington, Gina Gershon, Cledus T. Judd, Ted Nugent and Mel Tillis, among others.

Keith was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in July 2021. Last year, he revealed that he was being treated for stomach cancer. He has recently shared photos amid his battle and has become an advocate for children fighting the disease.

Nelson, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, turned 90 on April 29. He will be enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

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