Did We Expect Dolly Parton’s Posthumous Chart Takeover?
Categoria: Musica
This week's Five Burning Questions looks at five songs from Dolly Parton's catalog returning to the Hot 100 following her death last week at 80.
Por Billboard | 01/09/2026
The death of country music and entertainment icon Dolly Parton obviously led to a wide outpouring of grief and affection following its announcement last Tuesday (Aug. 25). Now, it’s also led to a major impact on the Billboard charts. Related Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ & ‘I Will Always Love You’ Recordings Become Top 40 Hot 100 Hits for the First Time Dolly Parton Returns to Billboard 200 Top 5, Notching Second-Highest-Charting Album Ever Dolly Parton’s Catalog Surges by 1,143% in Streams After Her Death For this week’s Billboard Hot 100 (dated Sept. 5), Parton posthumously re-charts five classic titles — “Jolene” (No. 16), “9 to 5” (No. 18), “Islands in the Stream” with Kenny Rogers (No. 26), “I Will Always Love You” (No. 27) and “Here You Come Again” (No. 43) — despite her death coming with just two and a half days to go in that Billboard tracking week (Aug. 21-27). Most impressively, “Jolene” and “Always” both reach new best placements on the chart, with the former surpassing its original 1974 high of No. 60, and “Always” passing the No. 53 peak it hit upon the 1974 ballad’s 1982 re-recording for the soundtrack to Parton film vehicle The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas . Did we see this huge Hot 100 return happening for Parton’s catalogue following her death? And might the songs hang around for longer than the next couple weeks? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below. 1. Dolly Parton returns five songs to the Hot 100 this week, led by “Jolene” at No. 16. Is that more, less, or about what you would expect for her posthumous Hot 100 impact? Kyle Denis : Given that she passed mid-tracking week, this is about what I expected for her posthumous Hot 100 impact. I expect those returning songs to stick around for another week or two — and maybe even reach higher peaks. Lyndsey Havens : I’d expect more songs to re-enter the chart — but am not at all surprised that “Jolene” is leading the pack. Also, with $1 million on the line, the five songs that have re-entered (“Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5,” “Islands In the Stream” and “Here You Come Again”) are the exact ones I would guess. And while I would have liked to see some more peppered throughout, since the streams are so concentrated, that focus has helped push “Jolene” and “Always” into the top 40 for the very first time. Melinda Newman : I, frankly, expected — or maybe just wished — that “Jolene” and/or “I Will Always Love You” would have at least been in the top 10 given the phenomenal outpouring of love we have seen for Parton since her death. Both songs became omnipresent this past week, and radio stations who had ignored her for years were blasting her music. As i