I Love This Bar

This article is about the song. For the restaurant chain, see Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill.

"I Love This Bar"
Single by Toby Keith
from the album Shock'n Y'all
B-side	"I Love This Bar" (album version)[1]
Released	August 2003
Recorded	2003
Genre	Country
Length	5:35 (album version) 3:52 (single version)
Label	DreamWorks Nashville
Songwriter(s)	Toby Keith Scotty Emerick
Producer(s)	Toby Keith James Stroud
Toby Keith singles chronology
"Beer for My Horses" (2003) "I Love This Bar" (2003) "American Soldier" (2003)

"I Love This Bar" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released in August 2003 as the first single from his 2003 album Shock'n Y'all. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, keeping the top spot for five weeks. Keith wrote this song with Scotty Emerick.

The song's title inspired a chain of restaurants owned by Keith named Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill.

Content

The narrator describes his favorite bar and the people who frequent it.

Critical reception

Ray Waddell, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "beer-joint staple for years to come.""^[2]

In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #98 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.^[3]

Music video

The video for this song was filmed at a bar in Chatsworth, California called The Cowboy Palace Saloon. It was directed by Michael Salomon, and premiered on CMT on August 21, 2003.

Chart performance

"I Love This Bar" debuted at number 30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of August 30, 2003. The song has sold 1,033,000 copies in the U.S. as of April 2014.^[4]

Chart (2003)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5]	1
US Billboard Hot 100[6]	26

Year-end charts

Chart (2003)	Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[7]	44

Chart (2004)	Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[8]	52

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[9]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Covers

In 2006, this song was covered by Sammy Hagar for his album Livin' It Up!.

"I Love NASCAR"

On his 2004 album Bipolar and Proud, country music parodist Cledus T. Judd recorded a parody titled "I Love NASCAR". This parody peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although the song featured a guest vocal from Keith, he did not receive chart credit for it.^[10]

Chart (2004)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	48

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. pp. 219–220. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
2. Billboard, November 15, 2003
3. "The 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. May 24, 2014.
4. Grein, Paul (April 16, 2014). "Chart Watch: "Happy" tops 4M". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo!.
5. "Toby Keith Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
6. "Toby Keith Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
7. "Best of 2003: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2003. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
8. "Best of 2004: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2004. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
9. "American single certifications – Toby Keith – I Love This Bar". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
10. Whitburn, p. 217

External links

• "Toby Keith - I Love This Bar" on YouTube