How Much Does Dolly Parton Earn in a Year?
Dolly Parton is an American institution, and no one can say otherwise. The legendary country artist has not only had a huge impact on the music scene but also on American society writ large with her open-minded nature and charitable work. So given her wild success, how much does Dolly Parton typically earn within a year?
What does Dolly Parton earn in a year?
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Dolly Parton is an incredible success story. She’s not only become the queen of country music, but she’s also been on television, in movies, and even had her work adapted for the stage. In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame — 13 years before that in 1986 she was added to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
She’s been honored by five other inductions — the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans, The Happiness Hall of Fame, and the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame. Suffice it to say, she’s monumental.
So it’s no surprise that Parton’s net worth clocks in at a wildly impressive $600 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
So how much does Dolly Parton earn in a single year? According to Forbes, Dolly Parton earned $37 million in 2017 alone. It’s hard to imagine that number decreasing by any massive margin, but the numbers for 2020 are not yet available.
How growing up poor changed her outlook
“I think being poor has been good for me. I saw how my mom and dad struggled, and how they could stretch a dollar farther than you could begin to imagine.”
“Even now, if I am thinking about spending a lot of money on clothing or furniture, I think ‘I can’t spend so much money on one thing; my poor old Daddy could have raised his family five years on that!’” Parton told Money.
“So I know the struggles of poor people, and have always kept that with me. I often say I had to get rich in order to sing as if I was poor,” she added.
How Dolly Parton helps charities
When it comes to income, Dolly Parton knows that earning money isn’t just about hoarding, but about helping those in need. She explained to Money that her first act upon earning a substantial sum was to help her parents.
“It seems like the more I give the more I get, and that is the way it is supposed to go in life. Money is like the tide: It rolls in and it rolls out. If you clutch it, you are not going to keep it. With the first money I ever made I bought my Mommy and Daddy a car, and helped them fix their house up,” she told Money.
Parton has done incredible work in the world of charity — she’s been involved with the United Way, the Make-a-Wish program, and the Save the Music Foundation.
What’s more, Parton has spent much of her charitable efforts on increasing literacy among children, especially with her Imagination Library program.
“One of the things I’m proudest of is the Imagination Library, which gives books to kids from the time they are born to when they start school. So many of my relatives didn’t get a chance to go to school, and my own Daddy couldn’t read or write. It started in my hometown, and now we are all over the world. It gives me real pride because it reminds me of Daddy,” she told Money.
