Dolly Parton already knows how she will spend her 75th birthday on Jan. 19, 2021: As she does every year to mark the occasion, she will write a song. “It’s a commemorative thing to write something on my birthday — it’s what I do and what I am,” she says. “I just think it’s my gift to myself.”
Her songs have also been her gift to the world. As one of the most revered singer-songwriters of the modern era, Parton has taken 26 titles to No. 1 on Billboard’s country charts and scored 44 top 10 country albums. From her first No. 1 single, 1971’s “Joshua,” to her most recent chart-topping album, October’s A Holly Dolly Christmas, Parton has contributed dozens of classics to the contemporary canon, including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You.”
The joy that this year's Billboard Women in Music Hitmaker takes in her craft hasn’t changed one bit, though. “It’s something I love to do,” she says. “I love thinking I’m putting something in the world today that wasn’t there yesterday — and hopefully will be there forever.”