The instant success of Dolly Parton's ambitious Rockstar project culminated with her highest-ever debut on the Billboard 200 album chart. It finished No. 3 in the tally of the most-consumed albums in America after its first week, placing behind Drake's freshly-expanded For All the Dogs album and Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version).
It's Parton's highest-ever placement on the all-genre chart in a career that now spans 49 albums. She'd stalled at No. 6 twice before: with the 1987 Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris collaboration Trio and the 2014 solo effort Blue Smoke.
Rockstar shifted 128,000 equivalent album units, a figure that factors in streams, downloads and the sales of physical copies. Forbes and other outlets report that a bulk of that figure for Parton came through physical media purchases. Billboard adds that "physical sales comprise a little more than 96,000 (78,000 on CD, 18,000 on vinyl and a negligible sum on cassette) and download album sales comprise a little over 22,000." Successful weeks for Drake, Swift and others can be heavily credited to streams.
In addition, Rockstar debuted atop Billboard's Top Album Sales chart, marking a first for Parton in the chart's 32-year history. Parton outsold the likes of Swift and Korean boy band Enhyphen.
The strong promotional push for the album, which has included a halftime show performance at the Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving day game, surely helped boost sales. An impressive list of collaborators that includes Miley Cyrus, Elton John, Stevie Nicks and both living Beatles likely boosted public interest, as well.
Parton recorded the 30-song album in part to "earn" her already-secured spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's also an early Christmas present for her husband, rocker-at-heart Carl Dean.
"I'm doing the rock 'n' roll album because of [Dean]" Parton told People. "I had often thought about doing a rock 'n' roll album for him with his favorite songs. And so when this all came about, I decided that I am going to go ahead and do it... It was just the perfect storm. Okay, it's time."
