When Elvis Presley passed in 1977, record stores sold out of their remaining copies of old Presley albums within hours. His contemporary single “way down”, which had already peaked at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and had fallen to #53, did rebound upon his death, but only to #16.
John Lennon had just released his latest album Double Fantasy on December 8th, 1980. It sold modestly, until Lennon’s assassination that night catapulted the album and its lead single “(Just Like) Starting Over” to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.
Both Presley and Lennon died unexpectedly. Both Presley and Lennon had current hits on the Hot 100 at the time of their deaths, the sales of which Billboard charted.
What we didn’t know is how often fans went back and listened to those old records from their favorite artists upon learning they had left us, especially for legendary artists whose hitmaking years were behind them.
In today’s streaming era, we do know.
Legendary artists with short-lived streaming tributes
Tina Turner is universally respected for escaping Rock ‘n’ Roll’s most infamous abusive marriage and professional partnership, as well as her unexpected 1980s comeback. When Turner left us in 2023, two of her songs emerged on the Spotify 200 the day after her death. Those two songs accounted for only 1% of the day’s Spotify 200 streams and were gone from the chart the following day.
Later that year, Jimmy Buffet stepped on life’s Pop Top. Buffet is more polarizing than Turner: Parrot heads don’t merely love his music; they long for its lifestyle. Detractors find his music and subculture it created shallow and kitschy.
The day following his passing, 11 of his biggest solo hits and collaborations appeared among Spotify’s 200 most-played songs in the U.S., accounting for 6% of all Spotify 200 streams that day. Even his biggest hit, “Margaritaville,” reached #6 on Spotify that day, but slid out of Spotify’s chart after only three more days.
Many other artists’ passing, from Little Richard to Rush’s Neil Peart, to Toby Keith, failed to launch any of their songs into the Spotify 200.
Dolly Parton smashes streaming records
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Streaming on Spotify in the U.S. reflected our universal love for Dolly.
When news broke of Dolly Parton’s death on Tuesday afternoon, August 25th, 2026, fans began streaming her songs instantly: Even though half the day was already over in most of the U.S., “Jolene” and “9 to 5” garnered enough streams during the rest of the day to be the #2 and #3 most-streamed songs on Spotify in the U.S. “Islands In the Stream” reached #8.
The following day, those three songs would be Spotify’s Top three songs, a first for an artist’s passing in the streaming era.
Overall, 15 Dolly Parton classics reached the Spotify 200 the day after her death, Fans collectively played those songs almost 12 million times—that’s 13% of all streams in the Spotify 200 for the day. That’s the highest of any artist’s death in the streaming era.
A week and a half later, “Jolene” was still #30 in the Spotify 200.
A week after her death, Dolly’s #1 hit “9 to 5” surpassed “Jolene” and its streams began growing again. On Friday, August 4, 2026, it was still #19.
There’s another artist whose death generated substantial tribute streaming who might surprise you.
The second biggest death of the streaming era
Ozzy Osbourne also left us on a Tuesday. The following Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 16 of his solo songs, collaborations, and Black Sabbath classics reached the Spotify 200. That’s one more song than Dolly Parton, but with slightly fewer total plays. Additionally, while “Crazy Train” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home” reached the Top 10, they peaked at #7 and #9, respectively.
Osbourne fans would keep “Crazy Train” in the Spotify 200 for almost three weeks, far surpassing Jimmy Buffet’s tribute streams. However, it spent the last two of those weeks below #40.
In comparison, “9 to 5” (and Jolene) not only peaked higher than did “Crazy Train,” fans played “9 to 5” more often than did “Crazy Train” a week later.
It might seem surprising that Osbourne’s death generated more streaming than Jimmy Buffet, Tina Turner, or Toby Keith. Between making Heavy Metal a genre with Black Sabbath in the 1970s, scoring Album Rock hits as a solo artist in the 1980s, launching the Heavy Metal tour Ozzfest in the 1990s, and becoming a TV celebrity with The Osbournes in the 2000s, Ozzy remined relevant for generations.
Appealing to fans from nine to 98 is exactly why Dolly set streaming records upon her death.
Doly Parton on the Hot 100
Now that the vast majority of music consumption happens on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, tribute streaming is now directly reflected on the Hot 100.
In 1974, “Jolene” was Parton’s second #1 as a solo artist on the Billboard Country chart. Despite the song’s appeal today, “Jolene” had little impact beyond Country. On the Hot 100, it debuted at #92 and only reached #60.
For the chart week ending September 5th, 2026, “Jolene” re-entered the Hot 100 52 years later at #16. It’s one of five Parton songs charting again on the Hot 100 after her death and it’s the highest of the five:
“9 to 5” was already a #1 Pop hit in 1980, also reaching #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary and Hot Country charts. It re-entered the Hot 100 at #18.
Other Parton songs that re-entered the Hot 100 thanks to fans streaming them include:
“Islands in the Stream”, her #1 duet with Kenny Rogers, re-entering at #26
“I Will Always Love You” debuted at #27. It’s the song’s first time on the Hot 100.
“Here You Come Again” which re-entered at #44. It originally peaked at #3 on the Hot 100, #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and #1 on the Billboard Hot Country chart in 1977.
Back when honoring our lost artists involved pulling out those old albums, we simply had no way to track that tribute listening.
The Future of Tribute Streaming
Now that we can track it, we can sadly expect to see new record-setting tribute streaming in coming years. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Smokey Robinson are all in their eighties. Phil Collins and Elton John are in their seventies. Willie Nelson is 93.
It’s fathomable that Paul McCarnety’s passing could cause The Beatles to posthumously repeat their 1964 feat of owning the Top 5 slots on the Billboard Hot 100.
Let’s enjoy the music while they’re all still with us.
Data sources for this article
Daily Spotify Charts (2019-2026 for the USA): https://charts.spotify.com/charts/overview/us
The Billboard Hot 100: https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100