It just shows how much she was loved worldwide.
Though it still doesn’t feel real almost 48 hours later, the queen of country music herself, Dolly Parton, passed away yesterday at 80 years old in Nashville, Tennessee. The “Jolene” singer had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so, and she previously shared that she was having issues with severe kidney stones. Aside from that, she understandably didn’t share more, though clearly there were more serious issues going on.
Dolly’s rep confirmed to People that her death sadly followed a “brief battle with cancer,” though the specific kind was not revealed. She had been open about her health struggles over the last several months, though it sounds like the cancer was a more recent development.
Unsurprisingly, the country music world — and the world at large — has been mourning her death. Online, legends such as George Strait, Reba and Blake Shelton, as well as Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and Ella Langley (among plenty of others) took to social media to pen tributes, share memories and send condolences to the Parton family.
Since her passing, there have been plenty of memories shared, stories swapped and facts posted online about the late legend. Additionally, we’ve seen a plethora of live performances begin to pop up honoring Dolly across the music industry, with Chris Stapleton delivering a chill-inducing cover of “I Will Always Love You,” Ernest dedicating a performance of “I’ll Fly Away” at Red Rocks, Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker and Charley Crockett performing “The Last Thing On My Mind,” Jack White covering “Jolene” and the likes of Katy Perry and Pitbull taking time to remember her at their shows.
Of course, it’s hard to understate the impact that Dolly had on the landscape of country music. With 25 #1 hits, 27 gold/platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 11 #1 albums, 10 Grammy Awards, multiple best-selling books, her own theme park at Dollywood, a lifetime of impactful work through her philanthropy and more, there’s hardly anything that the “9 to 5” singer didn’t accomplish throughout her incredible life.
What remains even more important in regard to Dolly, her artistry and her life in general is the fact that she served as a great unifier between just about everyone. Of course, that was shown from the outpour of support she received from just about everyone, ranging from President Trump to even the Royal Family.
This was put on display more than ever when you take a look at the streaming numbers worldwide she’s put up since her passing on Tuesday.
Upon her passing, she received 19.8 million streams on Spotify on August 25th, which was up a staggering 1,300% from the day before. Additionally, she held a mind-blowing 92 of the Top 200 songs on the U.S. iTunes chart, including 65 of the top 100. As of writing, she still owns 42 of the Top 50 songs on the platform (43 if you include Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You”), including a clean sweep of the Top 10 with hits like “9 to 5,” “Jolene,” “Islands In the Stream” and “Coat of Many Colors.”
As of today, her streaming numbers on both Spotify and Apple Music are continuing to grow both in the U.S. and worldwide.
On Spotify, she owns the Top 2 songs on the daily Global Top 50 with “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” with “Islands in the Stream” (#4), “I Will Always Love You” (#28) and “Coat of Many Colors” (#45) also making appearances on the chart. Diving into the numbers, “Jolene” received a record 4.728 million streams on August 26th worldwide.
Here in the U.S., she’s even more dominant. In addition to owning the Top 3 songs in the country with the aforementioned tracks, on Spotify’s daily USA Top 50 chart, she owns eight separate entries. In case that wasn’t enough, she also went #1 on Spotify’s U.S. Top Artists chart for the first time ever on August 26th.
In case you didn’t think her Spotify numbers were impressive, her Apple Music ones might be better. On Apple’s Top 100: Global chart, she owns four of the Top 5 tracks and eight on the chart. On the Top 100: USA chart, she owns seven of the Top 20 and nine overall.
“9 to 5”
“Jolene”
“I Will Always Love You”
