Dolly Parton’s ‘Rockstar’ Album Did the Unthinkable Last Week

Dolly Parton topped Drake and Taylor Swift this week, and Morgan Wallen from earlier this year. Sales of her Rockstar album were No. 1 all-genre and among the best in country music in 2023.

• Parton's Rockstar debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, which includes sales, streams and more.
• Her previous best on that all-genre chart was No. 6, reached in 1987 and 2014.
• An overwhelming majority of Parton's 128,000 equivalent album units was pure sales.

A tweet from Billboard Charts points out that Rockstar is the No. 1 selling album of the week, ahead of albums by Swift and Korean boyband Enhypen.

Drake and Swift's strong streaming numbers gave them the edge on the Billboard 200 this week.

Outlets like Forbes point out that of Parton's 128K EAUs, 118,500 were pure sales. For comparison, when Wallen dropped One Thing at a Time last winter, 111,500 of his 501K unites were pure sales.

The success of Parton's Rockstar coincided with a massive media push that, over the last month, included dozens of interviews in print, online and on television, and a Thanksgiving Day performance during halftime of the NFL game on CBS.

Related: Dolly Parton's Sister Sounds Off After Thanksgiving Halftime Show

Some people wondered if Rockstar would land at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Parton fell short there, but she did top the Billboard Country Albums chart for the week, marking her first No. 1 for a non-holiday album since Pure & Simple in 2016.

For the week, Drake's For All the Dogs was No. 1 with 145K EAUs and Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version) was No. 2 with 138K.