www.dollymania.net                News                          December 2020

Dec. 25:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Here's Dollymania.net's annual Merry Christmas wish: a 1969 holiday special featuring Dolly, Porter Wagoner, The Wilburn Brothers, Loretta Lynn, Jim Ed Brown, Del Reeves and more. Enjoy here or in the media player above. (Also, please keep your webmaster and my family in your prayers this holiday as we are currently ill with COVID-19 and under quarantine until New Year's.)

Dolly Extends More Grammy Records This Year
All four artists with the greatest number of years they have received Grammy nominations added to their records this year, including Dolly. Composer John Williams increased his number of nominated years to 40 to hold onto his No. 1 spot, pianist/composer Chick Corea and Dolly each scored noms to increase their No. 2 tie from 32 to 33 years, and former Beetle Paul McCartney's nod brought his up from 31 to 32 years. Dolly holds the record for the vocalist with the most years to be nominated, the woman with the most years, and the country artist with the most years.


Dec. 23:
Dolly In AC Top 10 For First Time In 16 Years
The Dec. 26 Billboard charts released Tuesday revealed Dolly is back in the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary singles chart for the first time since "Baby It's Cold Outside" went to No. 2 with Rod Stewart in 2004 as "Cuddle Up and Cozy Down Christmas" with Michael Buble gains two in its fifth week to No. 10 Adult Contemporary Songs. It marks just her fifth top 10 on the chart, following "Outside" and No. 2 "Here You Come Again" in 1977 and No. 1s "9 To 5" and "Islands In The Stream" in 1981 and 1983, respectively. The track shoots up 13 places to No. 6 Canadian Adult Contemporary Songs. Meanwhile, "I Still Believe," her new single added to a bonus digital version of the album, drops off after one week on the country digital single sales list at No. 22 and No. 32 holiday digital single sales, while "Mary, Did You Know?" from the album drops off the Hot Christian Songs tally after one week at No. 49 and off the digital Christian single sales chart after two weeks, down from No. 18. The full album remains steady at No. 4 independent label albums and No. 3 country albums while losing two to No. 5 current album sales and No. 5 overall album sales, dropping six to No. 26 on the all-genre top 200 albums chart, falling two to No. 10 Christmas albums and 16 to No. 30 Canadian albums. And Dolly descends 16 to No. 42 on the Artist 100. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers falls 33 to No. 95 album sales, two places to No. 28 country albums, and two places to No. 47 Christmas albums. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" re-enters the Christmas digital song sales chart at No. 41. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" falls off the Hot Christian Songs chart, down from No. 9, while losing three to No. 18 Christian streaming songs and two to No. 16 Christian digital song sales chart.

Dolly Releases Another Animated Video
In these times where coronavirus restrictions make filming music videos difficult, Dolly on Tuesday released her third animated video from A Holly Dolly Christmas, this one for her duet with Willie Nelson on his classic composition "Pretty Paper." Watch it here for U.S. Facebook audiences, before it is released worldwide on all platforms Wednesday.


Dec. 22:
'Trio' Makes Grammy Hall Of Fame 2021
The original 1987 Trio album by Dolly, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris is among next year's inductees into the Grammy Hall of Fame, it was announced Monday. Also being inducted will be Ronstadt's Canciones de Mi Padre, giving her three titles in the Hall of Fame (as Heart Like A Wheel made it in 2018). It marks Emmylou Harris' first Grammy Hall of Fame entry and Dolly's fifth, as she was honored with her 1974 original of "I Will Always Love You" being inducted in 2008, her 1974 original of "Jolene" in 2014, "I Will Always Love You" as the songwriter of Whitney Houston's 1992 cover in 2018, and "Coat Of Many Colors" in 2019, but is her first full-length album to be honored in this way.

'Songteller' Remains On Best Seller Lists
Songteller continues to impress, gaining two last week to No. 6 in its fourth week on the New York Times Best Seller List. It holds steady at No. 9 nonfiction on the Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List. And The Independent Booksellers of America have it at No. 13 nonfiction.

Aussie Chart Updates, Christmas Interview, Review
A Holly Dolly Christmas gets a second week on the Australian top 40 all-genre album chart this week, inching down one to No. 38 Down Under. In other holiday news, The Sunday Post interviewed her about the season here, and Netflix's web series Trixie and Katya Like To Watch watched Dolly Parton's Christmas On The Square here over the weekend.

Stella Slams Politicians, Televangelists Over COVID
Dolly's sister Stella is not one to shy away from controversy and she went viral in recent days for criticizing politicians and televangelists for not personally contributing like Dolly did to help fund the vaccine. See what she had to say here.


Dec. 19:
Dolly's Vaccine Gains FDA Approval
"Dolly's vaccine" for COVID-19 was approved by the FDA for use in the United States Friday evening. Moderna is expected to begin shipping the vaccine immediately. The early research on what would become Moderna's vaccine was conducted using Dolly's $1 million gift to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which researchers there said sped up the process literally tenfold and attracted grant funding months before the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed began funding the clinical human trials for the vaccine. Read more from The Huffington Post here. Business Insider this week profiled Moderna chairman and co-founder Noubar Afeyan, who lauded Dolly's gift in the interview, explaining here he listened to her music growing up and his favorite Dolly track was "9 To 5." Of her donation, he said: "I think that's a terrific thing. It's a great act of generosity and providing resources to what's otherwise one of the important projects of our times."

'Coat' Repeat Brings Audience Of 3.124 million
NBC's Thursday night repeat of 2015's Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors drew an audience of 3.124 million viewers, the early ratings noted on Friday, and an 18-49 share of 0.4. The network announced it will air the film's Emmy-nominated sequel, Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love, at 8 p.m. Dec. 28.

'Holly Dolly' Sales Updates, U.K. Charts
In an article on this week's U.S. sales chart here, Billboard noted as of Dec. 10 the album A Holly Dolly Christmas had sold 26,000 that week (although it had 31,000 album equivalent credits for the other charts, meaning 5,000 were streaming credits instead of sales or downloads, and since it takes 1,500 streams to credit as one album equivalent, that represents 7.5 million streams of the album for the week.) The article noted since release the set has sold 171,000 units, making it her biggest-selling album since 2008's Backwoods Barbie, which has moved 281,000. Preliminary sales estimates through Dec. 18 show it sold 23,000 copies this week and about 4,000 streaming album equivalents for a total of 27,000 credits for next week's charts. That would put it at about 194,000 copies sold total. In other news from the album, its single "Cuddle Up And Cozy Down Christmas" with Michael Buble gains 19 to No. 71 in its third chart week on the British pop singles chart. The album stays steady at No. 20 all-genre pop albums chart, sliding eight spots to No. 23 downloads, one spot physical sales to No. 16, and two places to No. 17 sales. On the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 falls two to No. 8 in its 153rd week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe loses one to No. 9, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) falls four to No. 19 and The Essential Dolly Parton inches up one to No. 17.

Dolly & Willie Broke Records This Year
Dolly and Willie Nelson were No. 6 on Billboard's list of the 20 top record-breaking chart achievements of the year, with Willie becoming the first in July and Dolly second artist and first woman in October to have top 10 albums in all seven decades of the Top Country Albums tally: the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.

Another Publication Says Dolly Is Center
Another publication is calling Dolly the country's unifying factor, with a piece in The New Republic here.

Rob Thomas Covers 'I Believe In Santa Claus'
Former Matchbox Twenty front man Rob Thomas this week released a cover of Dolly's "I Believe In Santa Claus" as a duet with Abby Anderson. He Tweeted after its release that his "little brain is freaking out a bit" following the receipt of "a sweet note" from Dolly about the cover. Listen on YouTube here or in the media player below, or order the song from Amazon here.


Dec. 15:
Many 'Holly Dolly' Songs Make The Charts
Signifying the diversity of the project, three different songs from Dolly's current holiday album this week are on the charts across four different genres, the Dec. 19 Billboard charts released Tuesday revealed. "I Still Believe," her new single added to s bonus digital version of the album, debuts at No. 22 country digital single sales and No. 32 holiday digital single sales, while "Mary, Did You Know?" debuts at No. 49 Hot Christian Songs and gains two to No. 18 digital Christian single sales and "Cuddle Up and Cozy Down Christmas" with Michael Buble gains one in its fourth week to No. 12 Adult Contemporary singles in the U.S. and No. 20 Canadian Adult Contemporary singles. With 31,000 album-equivalent credits including streaming, A Holly Dolly Christmas, remains steady at No. 20 on the all-genre top 200 albums chart, No. 3 current album sales, No. 3 overall album sales, No. 4 independent label albums and No. 3 country albums while slipping one to No. 8 Christmas albums and gaining six to No. 14 Canadian albums. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers re-enters the top 100 album sales chart at No. 62 and shoots up 22 to No. 26 country albums while gaining one to No. 45 Christmas albums. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" falls off the Christmas digital song sales chart, down from No. 47. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" inches up one to No. 9 Hot Christian Songs while losing one to No. 15 Christian streaming songs and seven to No. 14 Christian digital song sales chart, but falling off the Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart, down from No. 9.

Dolly Loved 'SNL' Impersonation
Dolly on Monday responded publicly to Melissa Villaseñor's impersonation of her on Saturday Night Live, Tweeting: "I was flattered and I never looked and sounded so good!"

Dolly Helps Spread Cheer To Sick This Holiday
Musicians On Call this week announced a star-studded concert that is accessible throughout December at more than 5,000 American Hospital Association facilities nationwide to entertain those confined to hospitals over the holidays and their caretakers. Dolly is among the celebrities who recorded special holiday greetings for the program alongside Kelly Clarkson, Billie Eilish and others, while people such as Leslie Odom Jr., Meghan Trainor, Josh Groban and Pentatonix perform during the virtual show.


Dec. 14:
SNL Cast Member Offers New Dolly Impersonation


Comedienne Melissa Villaseñor debuted her Dolly impersonation during the "Weekend Update" segment of this week's Saturday Night Live on NBC, turning in a pretty good Dolly. Watch it here or in the media player above.

Watch Dolly Perform On Lauper's Fundraiser
Dolly performed "Christmas Is" for Cyndi Lauper's annual True Colors Fund Home For The Holidays concert this weekend, which you may watch on Facebook here. Dolly's appearance is around the 45-minute mark. To support Lauper's charity, which helps alleviate homelessness among LGBTQ+ youths, visit TrueColorsUnited.org or text TRUECOLORS to 24365.

Catch Two Re-Airings Of 'Holly Dolly' CBS Special
If you missed the Holly Dolly Christmas special on CBS earlier this month, you have two more chances to catch a broadcast without subscribing to the network's streaming platform, where it is currently accessible. It was announced over the weekend that CBS will repeat it as part of its holiday programming at 8 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, Dec. 23, and that CMT will give it a cable premiere at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 (following showings of Unlikely Angel at noon and Steel Magnolias at 2 p.m.). Meanwhile, another interview promoting all of her winter products got noticed over the weekend, from PrideSource here.

'Holly Dolly Christmas' Debuts Down Under
And the album A Holly Dolly Christmas made its Australian debut this week, entering the top 40 at No. 37 on the all-genre album chart Down Under, up from No. 73 the previous week.

In Memoriam: Charlie Pride
Country Music legend Charlie Pride died Saturday at age 86 due to complications from COVID, his family announced. They revealed he had entered the hospital in late November with COVID symptoms and finally succumbed to the virus. The family noted in the statement "he would want his fans to take this virus very seriously." Dolly, who worked with him many times when the two were labelmates at RCA throughout the 1970s, commented on social media: "I'm so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It's even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19. What a horrible, horrible virus. Charley, we will always love you. Rest In Peace. My love and thoughts go out to his family and all of his fans. – Dolly"


Dec. 12:
'Cuddle Up' Makes British Chart, 'Holly Dolly' Sets High U.S. Sales
"Cuddle Up And Cozy Down" with Michael Buble entered the British overall pop singles chart this week at No. 80, the Official Chart Company announced, as Dolly's A Holly Dolly Christmas slips four spots in its fifth week on the overall U.K. pop albums chart to No. 20 while taking straight No. 15s across the board for downloads (down three), physical sales (down one), and overall sales (down one) in its ninth week on each. It gets a third week on the vinyl sales tally, gaining three to No. 14. It marks just Dolly's 11th appearance on the British pop singles chart, her first since "Together You & I" went to No. 67 in 2011. In the U.S., it may have reached a new sales peak, with sales in excess of 26,000 for the week plus streaming equivalents that give it more than 30,000 units for the albums charts that will be published by Billboard on Tuesday, the preliminary sales estimates from Hits Daily Double indicated on Friday. (And in the U.K., sales data included in an interview with Music Week noted the project had sold 18,852 copies across the pond through November.) On the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 holds steady at No. 6 in its 152nd week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe gains one to No. 8, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) falls back out of the top 20, down from No. 20, Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) loses two to No. 15 and The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 18.

Dolly Still In Best Seller List Top 10s
After two weeks at No. 3 on the New York Times Best Seller List, Dolly's Songteller slides five in its third week to reach No. 8 nonfiction and slips three in its second week on the Publisher's Weekly sales chart to come in at No. 9 nonfiction.

Dolly Announces New Fragrance Line Coming In Spring
Edge Beauty Inc. on Friday announced they had inked a long-term agreement with Dolly for creation, development and distribution of her own signature fragrance line with the first collection to launch in spring 2021. In a press release, Dolly offered: "Fragrance has always played a major role in my life – I wear my own combination of scents every day. I am so excited to share this dream with my fans. Developing my own brand and scent with Edge Beauty has been an amazing experience, and I am looking forward to becoming a big part of the fragrance community."

'Billboard' Presents Hitmaker Award To Dolly
Dolly was presented the Hitmaker Award from the 2020 Billboard Women In Music Ceremony Thursday night by goddaughter Miley Cyrus and performed a remote rendition of "9 To 5," which you may watch on Billboard here.

Podcast Nominated For More Awards
The in-depth podcast Dolly Parton's America has been nominated by the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards for both Music Podcast of the Year and overall Podcast of the Year, the latter of which is voted on by the public by visiting the final nomination page here and clicking on Dolly's entry to post your vote via a Tweet.

Dolly To Present Lily Tomlin PETA Award
Dolly will appear Saturday on PETA's 40th anniversary party livestreaming at 8 p.m. Eastern to present the PETA Humanitarian Award to Lily Tomlin, it was announced this week. Others participating in the event include Sir Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Belinda Carlisle, Chrissie Hynde, Iggy Pop, Pamela Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix and Bill Maher. Individual tickets to access the livestream begin at $40 each and are available here.

Dolly The Lifesaver Going Viral
The chorus singer/dancer little girl from Christmas On The Square whom Dolly saved from running in front of a car on set is going viral with her tale. Check out a version of it from Vanity Fair this week here.

British Interview Confuses Fans As Tour, Album NOT Announced
An interview with a British music publication caused a stir among Dolly fans this week due to summaries from other media outlets that suggested a stadium tour was happening next year, even though it was the same news as was reported months ago that the tour remains in planning stages on hold until coronavirus restrictions are lifted. The news came from an in-depth interview with industry magazine Music Week in which manager Danny Nozell repeated what he told Billboard in Dolly's cover story from back in August (and was reported here) that they were planning a DollyFest worldwide stadium tour to celebrate her 75th birthday next year but plans remain on hold indefinitely due to coronavirus. The only difference was he said 12 stadiums in the Billboard interview and 15 stadiums in the new interview. Industry observers have said traditional concerts will not likely return until well after COVID restrictions are lifted once widespread immunity is achieved through vaccination and that this probably won't occur until late in 2021 at the earliest, perhaps not until 2022, so I wouldn't look for any such tour until then. However, a couple of other music publications picked up on a summary of the behind-the-paywall full interview and characterized it as more of a done deal to happen in 2021, getting many fans' hopes up on social media. The interview also noted Nozell saying Dolly would in the near future be planning another major book release, more feature films, a Broadway musical, and future albums. Although the summaries made it sound like all of these projects would be coming out in 2021, the actual article mentioned no timeline, so it's likely they could take a few years to come to fruition. In addition, the summaries noted she'd release a new album next year with 12Tone, the label that put out her holiday collection, but Nozell actually said she has only "written" several other albums but hasn't said she has recorded any of them yet, and he noted they only signed a one-album deal with 12Tone for the Christmas record, but he added he expected they likely will sign future contracts to release additional albums through the label because the experience on this project has been so positive, so there likewise was no timeline given for when any new music may be forthcoming either. The story also delved into the fact that she is considering selling the publishing and songwriting copyrights of her songs, much like Bob Dylan did for $300 million a few days ago. She noted in the interview as long as she still gets credit for writing the songs, she wouldn't care if she didn't earn royalty payments on them in the future. (A couple of weeks ago, Billboard had included that possibility in one of its industry bulletins, saying she has been considering such a sale and that given that the industry has been valuing catalogs at between 16 and 23 times their annual income, their experts valued hers at between $96 million and $184 million for such a sale. However, in the new interview, Nozell said he wanted "an iconic price for an iconic catalog," so their asking price may be significantly higher.) Although the main article is behind a paywall for subscribers only, excerpts available to the public include a profile of Nozell's management of her career here and an examination of the song catalog sale discussion here.

Imagination Library Documentary Premieres
Dolly's Imagination Library on Wednesday night premiered the documentary The Library That Dolly Built on Facebook, where as of press time Friday night the video had been viewed nearly 1 million times. Unfortunately, given the surge of COVID infections, Dolly decided it was unsafe to bring in a crew to make her planned live fan Q&A possible following the streaming of the film but she voice-called in instead to explain her decision to fans and thank them for watching. They then played a pre-recorded performance of the Library's theme song, "Try." You may watch the film on Facebook here or in the media player below.


Dec. 9:
Buble Duet Enters Adult Contemporary Top 15
Dolly is back in the top 15 of the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart this week, the Dec. 12 numbers showed Tuesday, as "Cuddle Up And Cozy Down Christmas" with Michael Buble rises 11 places to No. 13 this week. The song also moves up six to No. 21 Canadian Adult Contemporary singles. The album that contains the song, A Holly Dolly Christmas, drops four to No. 20 on the all-genre top 200 albums chart and remains steady at No. 3 current album sales and No. 3 overall album sales while advancing one to No. 3 country albums and slipping four to No. 7 Christmas albums, while it loses two to No. 4 independent label albums and gains three to No. 20 Canadian albums. It falls off the vinyl albums list, down from one week at No. 25, while Dolly slips seven to No. 28 Artist 100. Another track, "Mary Did You Know?," debuts at No. 20 on the Christian digital song sales chart. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers falls back off the top 100 album sales chart after one week No. 100 but re-enters the country albums chart at No. 44 and loses seven to No. 46 Christmas albums. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" increases two to No. 47 on the Christmas digital song sales chart. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" falls two to No. 10 Hot Christian Songs, six to No. 14 Christian streaming songs, one to No. 7 Christian digital song sales chart, and one to No. 9 Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart.

'Library That Dolly Built' Coming Wednesday
Don't forget Dolly's Imagination Library documentary The Library That Dolly Built premieres online at 7 p.m. Eastern Wednesday on Facebook.


Dec. 8:
6 Million Watch 'Holly Dolly Christmas' On CBS


A Holly Dolly Christmas on CBS won the non-sports ratings for the evening, pulling in 6.2 million viewers Sunday night and a 0.7 rating for 18-49, Variety reported here. It was followed by NCIS: Los Angeles on the network with 4.2 million viewers and a 0.4 rating. On ABC, Supermarket Sweep led with 2.8 million viewers and a 0.6 rating, followed by Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Card Sharks and America's Funniest Home Videos with respective audiences of 2.9 million/0.5 rating, 1.8 million/0.3 rating, and 4.7 million/0.6 rating. FOX's animation night saw The Family Guy bring in 1.4 million viewers and a 0.6 rating, followed by The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Bless The Harts with respective audiences of 1.6 million/0.5 rating, 1.2 million/0.5 rating, 1.1 million/0.4 rating. NBC won sports programming with a Kansas City vs. Denver game having 14 million viewers and a 3.8 rating. Fans loved the show, noting the tears when Dolly became emotional telling a story about a Christmas grab bag event at church she had not shared publicly before (viewable here or in the media player above) and when she closed with her new inspirational song "I Still Believe," viewable here or in the media player below. The special remains available for streaming on the premium CBS All Access service.

'Holly Dolly' CD Still Among Week's Best Sellers
Dolly's continued promotions have kept sales strong for A Holly Dolly Christmas, preliminary estimates show. Hits Daily Double estimates it sold about 24,000 more copies last week, its ninth since release, plus about 3,000 streaming equivalents for a total of 27,000 credits for the charts this week that will be announced on Tuesday and close to 150,000 copies sold since release. In addition, Amazon on Monday announced yet another exclusive version of the project: a transparent white vinyl release solely available from the retailer here. In further promotions, a nice interview with RuPaul was released Monday as the cover story of the new digital issue of Marie Claire magazine here and the BBC took a look here at how she became one of the most beloved celebrities in the world.

'Songteller' Remains Steady On Best Seller Chart
Meanwhile, her new book Songteller remains steady at No. 3 nonfiction on the New York Times Best Seller List and debuts at No. 6 nonfiction in Publisher's Weekly and No. 11 all titles at Barnes & Noble.

Dolly Joins Lauper's Homeless LGBTQ Youth Fundraiser
Cyndi Lauper announced Monday that Dolly, Cher, Phoebe Bridgers, Brandi Carlisle, Adam Lambert, and Jackson Browne will perform on her annual "Home for the Holidays" benefit concert for homeless LGBTQ youths. The virtual concert will premiere on TikTok at 8 p.m. Eastern Friday and then repeat at 8 p.m. Eastern Sunday on YouTube and Facebook.


Dec. 5:
Dolly Puts Out Surprise Single, 'I Still Believe'


Dolly on Friday released a surprise bonus track to her holiday album. The song, "I Still Believe,", resulted in retailers issuing a special second downloadable version of the album called A Holly Dolly Christmas Bonus Version" that adds the track, which is also available for sale separately at your favorite music download service, including Amazon here. The song is also available for listening on your favorite streaming service, including YouTube here and in the media player above. She will premiere the song on television during Sunday night's CBS Special A Holly Dolly Christmas, which People magazine previewed here. Check out the network's commercial for the special here or in the media player below, and be sure to watch Dolly's takeover of its sister network CMT all day and night Saturday!

Dolly Continues Interviews, Promotions For CD, Special, Book
In other Dolly holiday promotion, she has a fairly observant interview with The Australian here, an interview with Apple Music Country's LGBTQ podcast Proud Radio which premieres on the service at 5 p.m. Eastern Sunday and about which AOL writes here, Ireland's Late, Late Show Country Special announced her as a guest Dec. 11, The New York Times offered yet another interview, this one a Q&A on her reading habits for its book review section, here, Billboard provided an interview on her songwriting in its "Women In Music" issue in honor of her selection as this year's Hitmakers Award recipient here, she announced on Instagram here she is working with other artists on the "Jingle Challenge" to try and send 10,000 holiday messages to children at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital in Nashville, and the Tennessee Titans announced she will serve as their honorary "12th Titan" for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns (although she won't attend in person, she will provide a pre-recorded video address for fans).

U.K. Chart Updates
Across the pond, A Holly Dolly Christmas remains on the top 100 pop British albums for a fourth week, rising nine places to a new peak at No. 16, while gaining six in its eighth week on the overall sales chart to No. 14, five to No. 14 physical sales, and 12 to No. 12 downloads, re-entering the vinyl sales chart at No. 17 for a second week. On the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Very Best Of Dolly Parton Vol. 1 rises three to No. 6 in its 151st week, while The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe slips one to No. 9, Linda Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) re-enters the top 20 at No. 20, and Emmylou Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Linda Ronstadt) falls one to No. 13.

Clinton Backs Dolly Getting Medal Of Freedom, Too
Hillary Clinton has added her encouragement to the chorus of officials asking President-Elect Joe Biden to honor Dolly with the Presidential Medal of Freedom early in his term, Oregon Live reported here.


Dec. 2:
Obama Says Biden Should Give Dolly Medal


Major Dolly fan Stephen Colbert interviewed former President Barack Obama this week and asked him why Dolly had not received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, during his term. He replied: "That's a mistake. I'm, shocked . . .Actually, that was a screwup. I'm surprised. I think I assumed that she had already gotten one, and that was incorrect." He added: "She deserves one. I'll call Biden," indicating he will encourage President-Elect Joe Biden to honor her with the medal during his term. Read more from The Hill here and watch the clip here on YouTube or in the media player above.

'Holly Dolly Christmas' Continues Chart Dominance
Dolly this week sees her A Holly Dolly Christmas rise to recapture its previous peak at No. 16 on the all-genre top 200 albums chart, the Dec. 5 Billboard charts showed. The project remains steady at No. 3 current album sales and advances one to No. 3 overall album sales, slipping one to No. 4 country albums and two spots to No. 3 Christmas albums, while it gains two to No. 2 independent label albums and 10 places to No. 23 Canadian albums. It debuts at No. 25 vinyl albums, while Dolly rises three to No. 21 Artist 100. "Cuddle Up And Cozy Down Christmas" with Michael Buble gains three to No. 24 Adult Contemporary singles and advances five to No. 27 Canadian Adult Contemporary singles but falls off the holiday digital singles chart, down from No. 26. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers re-enters the top 100 album sales chart for the first time this season at No. 100 while it falls four to No. 39 Christmas albums. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" tumbles 27 to No. 49 on the Christmas digital song sales chart. Dolly and Zach Williams' "There Was Jesus" loses five to No. 8 Hot Christian Songs, down two to No. 8 Christian streaming songs, two to No. 6 Christian digital song sales chart, and three to No. 8 Adult Contemporary Christian Singles chart.

New Dolly Interview Published
Dolly has a new interview in Sounds Like Nashville about everything currently going on in her career. Read it here, and The Guardian offered an opinion piece about what a wonderful human being she is here. And don't forget her appearance on NBC Wednesday night for the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony!

Get PBS Special On Exclusive DVD
Various PBS stations nationwide this week are showing Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You hosted by Pam Tillis and featuring several classic Dolly performances as part of the network's "My Music" series as part of pledge week, and the network has produced an exclusive DVD of the special not available in stores which is only sold as a thank you gift for PBS donors. In most markets, a gift of $150 will be eligible for the DVD and the previously-released two-disc set Dolly Parton And Friends featuring episodes of her 1976-77 variety series. You may wish to check the donations page of your local PBS station to see if they are offering the package as a thank you gift for contributions.


Dec. 1:
'New York Times' Style Mag Profiles Dolly, Barbra, Patti
The New York Times' style magazine T profiles "three divas" as its cover story this month: Dolly, Barbra Streisand and Patti LaBelle. Check out the in-depth interview with Dolly and new photos here and a side piece on each of the three artists' most memorable performances (Dolly's were with her family on the Thanksgiving episode of her ABC 1987-88 Dolly series and her first-ever public performances with Kenny Rogers and Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris on her 1976-77 syndicated series Dolly!) here.

CMT Gives More Dolly Take-Over Details
That Dolly was doing a CMT takeover this weekend was first reported here a little over a week ago and more detail with the scheduling of a Dolly movie marathon reported here half a week ago, but now the full details have been announced by the channel here. As was expected, Dolly was interviewed by Katie Cook for CMT Hot 20 Countdown airing at 9 a.m. Saturday. Newly known is she is the weekend's sole guest, with interview clips and stories throughout the entire episode. CMT will also show classic music videos of hers throughout the day and teases for her CBS special Sunday night. Also, some of the Dolly films will repeat the night of Dec. 10.

'LA Times' Looks At Old Dolly Death Ballads
The Los Angeles Times offered a great deep dive into Dolly's "sad ass songs" of her early years when she was strongly influenced by the Old World death ballads that she learned from her mountain family members as a child and how her new lyrics memoir Songteller brings some of them to the forefront. Read it here.

BBC Radio 2 Announces Dolly Holiday Special
BBC Radio 2 has announced Dolly will present an hour-long radio special Dolly's Christmas Good List at 9 p.m. U.K. time Saturday, Dec. 19, where she speaks with Claudia Winkelman about life, career, and loves as seen through memories of Christmas, from her childhood in Tennessee to the height of superstardom. She also selects her favorite festive songs and why she holds them dear and plays tracks from her new holiday CD.

Little Fan Charms 'Ellen' With 'Jolene'
Ellen had a little girl Dolly fan on her program Monday singing "Jolene." Check out the clip here.