Nashville Singers Are Reportedly Locked In A Battle Royale Over Dolly Parton's Country Queen Title

There's a Dolly Parton-shaped hole in Hollywood. Can anyone other than Dolly, herself, fill it? Hollywood spent last week reacting to the legend's heartbreaking death at age 80. Now that the dust has started to settle, folks in the music industry are reportedly wondering who will be crowned the new Queen of Country Music. Suffice it to say, those are some big, tall, very sparkly shoes to fill.

Names like Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, and Ella Langley are being floated for the Queen of Country Music title thanks to their commitment to the genre. Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Miley Cyrus are being considered for their star power, too. "Everybody keeps asking who the next Dolly is," an entertainment industry insider told journalist Rob Shuter for the Daily Mail. According to them, though, "There isn't one. The talent exists. The culture that created her doesn't." 

These days, it's rare to see everyone come together over anything. Yet, so many came together to mourn Parton. The star deliberately steered clear of sharing her opinions. She notoriously playfully dodged questions, kept her private life private, and refused to make career moves that would push away fans. The result? Everyone loved her. But, can another star get everyone to love them, or are those days behind us? As country singers in Nashville reportedly clamor to fill the space Parton left behind, we may soon discover that the country music superstar's death was the end of more than one era.

By design, we aren't just deeply divided by our opinions anymore. We're also divided by what we see in the first place. Gone are the days when we all tuned in to a TV show on the same channel at the same time or the days of listening to the same song on the radio station. "A celebrity can have 20 million followers and still be invisible to half the country," a music industry source told the Daily Mail, noting, "We don't manufacture universal stars anymore because we don't have a universal culture anymore."

"It seems like Dolly Parton was the one thing that everyone agreed on," musicologist Cameron Bennett told CBC News. And Parton was careful to curate this image. "Of course I have my opinion on everybody and everything," she told ABC News in 2018. She noted, however, "I learned a long time ago, keep your damn mouth shut if you want to stay in show business... I'm not in politics, I'm an entertainer." 

Still, Parton put her money where her mouth was — or rather, where it wasn't. She was known for her charitable endeavors that kept fans from wondering if their favorite star was also a good person. But, this strategy isn't likely to cut it with someone new.  In 2026, it seems as though it may be too late for another star that we can all agree on.