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While Dolly Parton has amassed a sizable fortune from her own songs and films over the years, there’s a lot more to the country legend’s money than meets the eye.
Parton’s voice is one of the most distinctive in music, and she is unmistakable in her film and television appearances. She is famous, of course, for decades of chart-topping and genre-spanning singles.
As the “Jolene” diva discovered, being a timeless celebrity with innumerable masterpieces opens a new door: publishing rights.
According to a recent Forbes study, Parton is worth $350 million, with royalty revenues accounting for a big portion of that.
Parton, now 75, famously kept publication rights to “I Will Always Love You” when Whitney Houston famously performed the song for the film “The Bodyguard,” according to the site.
Parton is paid every time Houston’s version is broadcast on the radio, in a movie, or purchased in any manner, according to Forbes.
Her library also brings in an estimated $6 million to $8 million in royalty payments each year. In addition, the catalog is projected to be worth $150 million in total, with roughly 3,000 credits.
Her music collection, on the other hand, is said to be worth just around a third of her fortune.
Dollywood, a tourist park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is where the “9 to 5” celebrity makes the most money. She was one of the original co-founders of the park, which opened 35 years ago.
Dollywood, the most-visited tourist destination in Tennessee, takes in around $3 million each year and is valued at $165 million.
In addition, the artist owns an interest in many neighboring businesses, including the Splash Country water park (worth $20 million), the DreamMore Resort and Spa ($15 million), and eight eateries in the vicinity.
Parton has been in a number of films and television series, including “Hannah Montana,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and others. Not to mention her behind-the-scenes job creating music for films like “Dumplin'” – or both, like “Christmas on the Square,” her most recent made-for-TV picture.
Her career in Hollywood also includes creating Netflix originals like “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings.”
Parton has a few business interests in addition to her singing, acting, and theme park, including her first-ever perfume, “Scent from Above.”
Did you know Miley Cyrus’ godmother still collects royalties from evergreen songs like 9 to 5 and Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You? How did Dolly Parton become worth US$650 million?
- She’s had Netflix programs, starring in Steel Magnolias with Julia Roberts, and developed a Dollywood tourist attraction network in Tennessee that employs hundreds.
- She established the Imagination Library to provide books to young children and invested a million dollars in the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine’s development.
Dolly Parton, the legendary country singer, may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every concert while on tour, but that’s only the beginning of her fortune. The performer is worth an estimated US$650 million because of her real estate assets and musical abilities.
No “stupid blonde” in Dolly’s song.
Parton is far from the stereotype-referencing first track Dumb Blonde since she now has a variety of sources of money. She earns royalties not just from her own hits, but also from the countless times her songs have been covered by other singers, including a stunning US$10 million from Whitney Houston’s 1992 rendition of her song I Will Always Love You.
She still earns roughly US$0.08 for every radio play of a song she created, and around US$2 for each CD sold. With earnings of US$37 million in 2017, Forbes reported she was the sixth-highest paid woman in music at the time.
Dolly, the famous actress
Parton had a major part in the 1980 film 9 to 5, which grossed US$103 million (about US$330 million in today’s money), and the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, which grossed US$100 million. She may be in her seventies, but she is still a cinematic star, having starred in Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, a 2020 Netflix Christmas film, and Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, a 2019 series based on her songs.
Dollywood and its assets
Parton has revealed that her business advisors warned her that building her Dollywood amusement park in 1986 would be a “huge mistake.” “However, I had a gut sense that was the correct thing to do, so I went ahead and did it,” she told Reuters. “It’s safe to say it’s been the greatest and most profitable investment I’ve ever made.” The star’s local attraction attracts three million tourists each year and generates over US$118 million in revenue. With her resorts and themed dinner presentations, she has employed more than 4,000 people in Tennessee.
A reproduction of the modest two-room cottage she shared with her parents and 11 siblings as a youngster may be found inside the park. Between 2013 and 2019, the park underwent a $300 million expansion. Over the following ten years, she aims to build a new resort named HeartSong near her Dollywood’s Splash Country water park and DreamMore Resort. The savvy investor also owns Dolly Parton’s Stampede supper attraction and the Smoky Mountain Cabins.
In 1999, the “Backwoods Barbie” paid US$400,000 for her present house in Brentwood, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband Carl Dean.
Dolly the philanthropist
Parton founded The Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to help children and others in need, and by 1995, she had launched the Imagination Library, a book-gifting program for children from birth until they enter school. Many of her family, including her father, did not attend a school or learn to read and write, which encouraged her.
She hosted a telethon in 2016 that collected $9 million for people displaced by wildfires in her native area. Parton most recently donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in April 2020. The funds were used to support Covid-19 vaccination studies and antibody therapy research.
She subsequently discovered that her gift came at a crucial point in the research process and that it had aided in the creation of the Moderna vaccine. As she awaited her jab on March 2, she burst into song, substituting the word “Jolene” in one of her best-known songs with “vaccine.”
