Dolly Parton Had the Second-Most Streams of Any Artist on the Day of Her Death
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Billboard’s Trending Up newsletter reports several streaming and social-media music trends, led by a sharp rise in listening to Dolly Parton’s catalogue after news of her death. The increase illustrates how major cultural events can rapidly reshape music consumption and bring older songs back to a mass audience.
– Parton’s US on-demand streams reportedly rose from just over 1.2 million on 18 August to 26.3 million on 25 August, a 2,056% increase. – “Jolene”, “9 to 5” and “Islands in the Stream” were her most-streamed songs that day. – Her total reportedly ranked second among all artists, ahead of Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny; only Drake had more streams. – Dua Lipa’s “Training Season” also saw renewed interest, with US streams rising to more than 2.79 million during 19–25 August.
- Dolly Parton’s streams surged after her reported death.
- Her catalogue ranked second in daily US streams.
- Dua Lipa’s “Training Season” also gained momentum.
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Dolly Parton is an American singer, songwriter and performer whose career has spanned country music, pop, film and television. She is known for songs including “Jolene” and “9 to 5”, and for a public career that has made her one of the most recognisable figures in American entertainment.
Streaming figures measure how often songs are played on services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Sudden rises can follow major news about an artist, as listeners revisit well-known songs and explore older recordings.
Her catalogue includes solo hits, collaborations and recordings that have remained popular across several decades. This broad audience helps explain why attention to her music can extend beyond country listeners.
Full account
Dolly Parton’s recorded catalogue saw a sharp rise in listening in the United States after news of her death on Tuesday, 25 August, according to figures attributed to music data company Luminate. Billboard reported that her songs received 26.3 million official on-demand US streams that day, compared with just over 1.2 million on the equivalent Tuesday a week earlier. The increase reflected widespread public tributes to the singer-songwriter and actor, whose work crossed country, pop and film audiences over several decades.
The total put Parton second among all artists for US daily streams on the date in Billboard’s early data. Drake was reported to have led with 36.6 million streams, while Parton’s figure exceeded those cited for Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny. Billboard noted that the announcement of her death circulated part-way through the tracking day, suggesting that a subsequent full day of listening could produce an even larger total.
Her best-performing recordings included “Jolene”, with 2.7 million US streams, and “9 to 5”, with 2.3 million. Both reports also identify “Islands in the Stream”, her duet with Kenny Rogers, among the songs drawing renewed attention. The second account said “I Will Always Love You” and “Here You Come Again” were also among her five most-streamed tracks, underlining the breadth of renewed interest across different periods of her career.
The second report additionally described a worldwide uplift, putting Parton’s global streams at about 34.9 million or 35 million on Tuesday, depending on the stream measure used. It also reported strong sales growth in the US, with 7,300 catalogue products sold. Such posthumous surges are often driven by both established listeners revisiting familiar songs and newer audiences discovering an artist’s work through memorial coverage and online sharing.
Where outlets differ
Billboard focuses on Parton’s ranking against other artists in US daily on-demand streams, identifying Drake as the only artist ahead of her and stressing that the news arrived during the tracking day.
The second report foregrounds percentage changes, global listening and catalogue sales, and gives a fuller top-five list of songs.
The outlets use related but not identical measurements: Billboard cites 26.3 million official on-demand US streams, while the second report distinguishes audio-only and combined audio/video figures. It also gives a different stream total for “Islands in the Stream” than Billboard.
Only the second report says that Parton died after a brief battle with cancer; Billboard’s excerpt gives her age and date of death but no cause.
More coverage
- Rolling Stone — Dolly Parton’s Streams Soar More Than 2,000 Percent After Her Death
- American Songwriter — Lainey Wilson Reveals What Dolly Parton Told Her During Their Final Phone Call Just Weeks Before Her Death
- Billboard — John Mayer Says Dolly Parton’s Death Brought a ‘Fractured World’ Together & Shares Electric Guitar Spin on ‘I Will Always Love You’