On August 25, 2026, Dolly Parton died at the age of 80 at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, after a brief battle with cancer.
That same day, without anyone planning it, millions of people around the world opened Spotify and pressed play.
Dolly’s catalog generated more than 19.8 million streams in 24 hours, a 1.300% jump from the previous day and the biggest streaming day of her entire career. “Jolene” and “9 to 5” climbed to second and third place in the daily ranking in the United States; “Islands in the Stream” and “I Will Always Love You” reappeared among the most-listened-to songs.
The next day, “Jolene” reached number 1 globally with 4.728 million streams in 24 hours.
Seven decades of writing songs, and the entire world, in mourning, chose the only way of saying goodbye that she herself had taught them: singing along with her one more time. 🎶🦋