WOULD YOU BELIEVE?....Toby Keith Almost Left His Latest No. 1, 'Made in America,' Off His New Album!!!

When he first wrote and recorded the song, his first inclination was to leave it off his upcoming "Clancy's Tavern" album.

Toby tells Billboard:  "About a year and a half ago, me and Bobby Pinson were writing that song and I said, 'Man, I might have to put this thing on the back burner for awhile.

"I've got 'Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue,' 'American Soldier,' I just did 'American Ride' (in 2009)...a lot of America songs. They're just coming daily; if I did 'em all, that's all I'd record. I thought I should leave about three or four years between 'em and let the last one breathe a little, y'know? I figured ('Made in America') could wait for the next (album)."

But Toby says the reaction from the musicians and engineers in the studio, as well as those at his label, convinced him otherwise.

He says... "everyone was going, 'God, what a smash. That is awesome, pal!'

"Everyone was high-fiving and carrying on. I wasn't about to pop everyone's bubble and say, 'I ain't putting it on the album.' So I said, 'Alright, y'all win. Put it on there.' And now it's sitting at No. 1."

"Clancy's Tavern" is due out Oct. 24 in both standard and deluxe editions, the latter including four new "Incognito Bandito" tracks recorded live during a 2010 club show in New York City.