Dolly Parton Did It All. But What Will We Remember Most?

Few entertainers have left a legacy as Dolly Parton did. She wrote some of the most recognizable songs in music history, became a Hollywood star, built a business empire, gave millions of books to children, and somehow managed to become one of the most universally beloved personalities in entertainment. Following her passing in August 2026, the outpouring of tributes was a reminder that Dolly meant different things to different people.

When someone leaves such a memorable legacy, the question of what they will be most remembered for eventually comes up. In our recent wave of research-on-research, we asked consumers what they think Dolly Parton will be most remembered for.

Let’s dive into the results.

Overall

Overall, music and songwriting were the most frequently selected aspects of Dolly Parton’s legacy, accounting for 39% of all responses. Her personality and public image followed at 21%, closely matched by her philanthropy and charitable work at 20%. These three categories represented the overwhelming majority of responses, suggesting that most people primarily associate her legacy with her artistic contributions, personal identity, and generosity.

Gender

Men and women were equally likely to identify Dolly Parton’s music and songwriting as her most memorable contribution, with 42% of each group selecting this category. Her personality and public image ranked second among men at 25%, compared with 22% among women. Philanthropy and charitable work showed the opposite pattern, receiving 25% of female responses versus 19% of male responses, a six-percentage-point difference.

Age

Age plays a definite role in how people will remember Dolly Parton and her legacy. Younger respondents (those aged 18-34) are more likely to remember her for her personality and public image. Older respondents (over 45) are more likely to remember Dolly for her music or philanthropy.

Income

When segmenting the data by income, we see that music and songwriting remained the leading response across every household income bracket, with relatively modest differences between groups. Views of her personality and public image also remained fairly close, ranging from 21% among those earning under $20,000 to 25% in the two highest income brackets.

Philanthropy and charitable work showed a more noticeable relationship with income, rising from 19% among those earning under $20,000 to 27% among those earning $100,000 or more.

Political Affiliation

Across political affiliations, music and songwriting remained the most frequently selected aspect of Parton’s legacy. 44% of both Republicans and Independents say this is how they will remember Dolly Parton. Democrats were somewhat less likely to select music and songwriting, at 39%, though it remained their leading response.

The most noticeable distinction involved philanthropy and charitable work, which was selected by 27% of Democrats compared with 20% of Republicans and Independents.

Ethnicity

Music and songwriting led across all racial and ethnic groups, receiving 44% among Caucasians, up to 8 points higher than among other ethnicities.

Hispanics have the largest percentage that will remember Dolly Parton for her personality and public image, up to 9 points higher than others.

Dollywood showed one of the largest differences, selected by 14% of Asians respondents versus 4% of Caucasians respondents

Panel

We observed some of the largest differences when we segmented the data by panel source. While a majority across every panel stated that Dolly Parton would be most remembered for her music and songwriting, the number of respondents varied greatly. There was a 24-point difference between Panel G and Panel M.

There was also variation in results across those who selected Dolly’s personality and public image, where results varied by up to 7 points. There was also a 9-point difference among panels of those who will remember Dolly for her philanthropy and charitable work.

This data is a great example of how panel selection can bias the results. You can mitigate panel source bias by strategically blending sample. To learn how EMI does this, click the button below.