Dolly Parton’s latest album Rockstar is bringing her a new level of chart success. It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. It was her highest position on the all-genre albums chart. Additionally, it scored high on the publication’s Album Sales chart.
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According to Billboard, Rockstar is No. 1 on the Album Sales chart dated December 2. All told, the album sold 118,500 copies with digital and physical sales combined. This was Parton’s biggest sales week since the inception of the sales-based survey. Her second-largest sales week came in 1993 with Slow Dancing with the Moon. That album sold 50,500 copies in its second week.
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Physical sales made up the bulk of Parton’s massive week. It sold 96,000 physical copies. 78,000 of those were CDs. Additionally, fans bought 18,000 vinyl copies of the album and a “negligible” number of cassettes. Digital sales only made up 22,000 of the 100,000+ units sold.
[RELATED: Dolly Parton Gets Her First Top-Five Album on the Billboard 200 Chart with ‘Rockstar’]
In the age of streaming the number of physical copies sold may seem surprising. However, with this release, it is easy to explain. First and foremost, Parton is seeing a boom in popularity. It seems that even those who aren’t fans of her music are fans of her as a person. That popularity obviously counts for a large portion of the record sales. At the same time, Parton’s team put the new album on every shelf they could. It is available at big box retailers and record stores as well as places like Dollar General, Cracker Barrel, and the Home Shopping Network. This allowed people from all walks of life to see and buy the album whereas a more traditional release would have limited sales to those who went out looking for the album.
At the same time, Parton benefitted from the power of curiosity. Despite her pop crossover success and the addition of pop elements to her music, she is a country singer. In fact, some call her the Queen of Country Music. By releasing a rock ‘n’ roll album, she captured the curiosity of longtime fans and new listeners alike.
Additionally, Parton capitalized on variety with Rockstar. The album came in several variants, store-exclusive editions, boxed sets, and more.
The album is less than two weeks old and is already bringing the East Tennessee native a renewed level of success. Only time will what it will do in the coming weeks.
(Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for American Greetings)
