Hearing the news of Dolly Parton's deathat the age of 80 has us reflecting on the musical icon’s journey. She earned 25 number 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart that span from 1971 to 2006. More Entertainment News
Having the privilege of hearing the story behind many of these songs, her storytelling is what connected the listener to each song, from the bank teller who inspired one of her most famous songs to the childhood coat of many colors, and the way she made everything musical, even her acrylic fingernails. Below are some of the most memorable songs from Dolly.
“Jolene” (1973)
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1
Billboard Hot 100: No. 60
Few songs are more immediately identified with Parton than “Jolene,” yet the record was far bigger on the country chart than it initially was in pop music.
Released in 1973, “Jolene” became Parton’s second No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart in February 1974. It peaked at only No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, a surprisingly modest number considering the song’s eventual cultural reach.
The story behind it became almost as famous as the song itself. The storyline, however, was inspired by a beautiful bank teller who Parton noticed paying a little too much attention to her husband, Carl Dean.
Instead of writing an angry revenge song, Parton did something more vulnerable. The narrator admits that the other woman is beautiful and essentially begs her not to take the man she loves.
Decades later, artists across genres would reinterpret it, and Beyoncé brought a new version of the song to the Billboard charts in 2024.
Take a listen here.
“I Will Always Love You” (1974)
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1 — two times
“I Will Always Love You” sounds like one of the great romantic breakup songs of all time. It wasn’t originally written about a romance at all.
Parton wrote the song as she prepared to leave Porter Wagoner, the country star who had hired her for The Porter Wagoner Show and helped introduce her to a national audience.
Their professional partnership had become difficult as Parton increasingly wanted to establish a career of her own. Rather than trying to explain everything in a business meeting, she put what she wanted to say into a song.
Parton’s original recording reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart in 1974. When she rerecorded it for the 1982 film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the song went to No. 1 on the country chart again.
Elvis Presley wanted to record the song, but Parton refused after his representatives asked for a share of her publishing rights. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston recorded the song for The Bodyguard. Houston’s version became an enormous international pop hit.
Take a listen here.
“Here You Come Again” (1977)
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1
Billboard Hot 100: No. 3
Parton wrote thousands of songs, which makes one fact about “Here You Come Again” particularly interesting: she didn’t write it.
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote the song, which became an important turning point in Parton’s effort to reach listeners beyond country radio.
Released in 1977, “Here You Come Again” spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart and climbed all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Parton her first major pop crossover hit.
Take a listen here.
“9 to 5” (1980)
Billboard Hot 100: No. 1 for two weeks
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1
Parton wrote the theme song while filming the 1980 movie 9 to 5, her first major film role alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
While waiting around on the set, Parton began clicking her long acrylic fingernails together. The rhythm reminded her of a typewriter. She began building the song around it. That clicking became part of the finished recording.
“9 to 5” was more than a movie theme. Its description of the daily frustrations of working people turned it into a workplace anthem.
The song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and then climbed to the top of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, where it spent two weeks at No. 1 beginning in February 1981.
It remains Parton’s only solo No. 1 on the Hot 100.
For a songwriter from rural East Tennessee, it was also proof that the details of ordinary life could resonate with an enormous national audience.
Take a listen here.
“Islands in the Stream” (1983)
Billboard Hot 100: No. 1
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1
Two years after “9 to 5,” Parton returned to the top of the pop chart, this time beside Kenny Rogers.
The Bee Gees wrote “Islands in the Stream,” and Rogers began working on the song before Parton became involved. Rogers later recalled that the recording wasn’t quite coming together until producer Barry Gibb suggested bringing in Parton.
Released in 1983, “Islands in the Stream” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, knocking Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” from the top spot. It also topped Billboard’s country and Adult Contemporary charts.
The two last performed the song in 2017 at Bridgestone Arena for Kenny Rogers’ farewell concert.
Take a listen here.
“Coat of Many Colors” (1971)
Billboard Country Chart: No. 4
“Coat of Many Colors” didn’t reach No. 1. Parton repeatedly identified the 1971 song as one of the most important and often her favorite songs she ever wrote.
It told a true story from her childhood in the mountains of East Tennessee. Her mother, Avie Lee Parton, took scraps of fabric and stitched them together to make young Dolly a coat. While sewing it, she told her daughter the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Parton proudly wore her new coat to school.
The other children laughed at her.
Parton later recalled that her mother taught her something that would become central not only to the song but to the public identity she carried throughout her life: their family may not have had money, but they had things money couldn’t buy.
The song reached No. 4 on Billboard’s country chart and eventually became one of the defining compositions of Parton’s career.
In 2011, the Library of Congress added the recording to the National Recording Registry. Parton also released a children’s book titled Coat of Many Colors.
Take a listen here.
“Joshua” (1970)
Billboard Hot Country Songs: No. 1
Before “Jolene,” before “9 to 5,” and before the pop crossover years, there was “Joshua.”
Released in late 1970, the song became Parton’s first No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart in February 1971.
Parton wrote the story-song herself, filling it with Appalachian imagery familiar from her upbringing. Its success marked a pivotal moment: she was no longer simply Porter’s female singing partner or a promising Nashville songwriter. She was becoming a hitmaker in her own right.
Twenty-four more Billboard country No. 1s would follow.
Take a listen here.
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