Olive Branch, Mississippi Mayor Refuses to Lower Flag for Dolly Parton as Her Streams Hit 79.7 Million in a Single Day

Since Dolly Parton died of cancer Tuesday, Aug. 25, at age 80, the country music icon has triggered two very different American reactions: a fight over flag protocol in Mississippi, and a streaming explosion that briefly made her the most-listened-to artist on the planet.

President Trump ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff for one week following Parton's death, according to Fox News. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves followed with the same order for state flags. Both moves are standard practice for a president honoring a nationally beloved figure.

Not everyone in Mississippi is going along with it. Olive Branch Mayor Ken Adams posted his objection to the city's Facebook page Friday, Aug. 28, arguing that lowering the flag for every beloved public figure erodes what the gesture is supposed to mean.

"I believe lowering the American flag to half-staff should mean something very significant," Adams wrote, according to Fox News. "In my opinion, it should be reserved for our military heroes, fallen first responders, presidents and other major national leaders, or events that have had a tremendous impact on our country."

Adams was careful to separate his objection from any disrespect toward Parton herself, calling her "a great person" who "brought happiness to millions of people." His actual argument is a process one. Mississippi's home-rule structure gives mayors discretion over their own city flags, separate from what the president or governor decide for the country and state.

"The President can make the decision for the country. The Governor can make the decision for the State of Mississippi. I believe a mayor should have the ability to make a decision for his or her city," Adams wrote, per Fox News. "I also don't believe residents elected me to be a 'salute and execute' Mayor but to lead with conviction."

That's a coherent, good-faith position, not a shot at Parton's legacy. Whether other Mississippi mayors follow Adams's lead, or whether Gov. Reeves's office responds to a local official breaking from the state directive, is an open question no source has answered yet.

The streaming numbers

While the flag debate played out in Mississippi, Parton's music was setting records. The industry analytics firm Luminate tracked a surge in streams starting the day of her death.

An initial round of Luminate figures, carried identically by Breitbart, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and KRCG 13 in Missouri, put U.S. streams of Parton's catalog up 2,109% on the day she died, from 1.2 million on Monday to 26.3 million on Tuesday. Worldwide, those early figures showed a 1,280% jump, from 2.5 million to 35 million.

Those numbers were revised upward. The Associated Press's Maria Sherman, whose reporting was carried by ABC News and Audacy, released updated Luminate figures Friday afternoon showing U.S. streams actually climbed 2,458% on Tuesday, to 30.5 million, then rose again to 46.3 million by Wednesday. Worldwide streams jumped 1,549% to 41.8 million Tuesday. By Wednesday, Parton's on-demand audio streams alone hit 79.7 million, making her the most-streamed artist in the world that day, according to AP and Luminate.

"Jolene" led the surge both times. The updated figures show it going from 196,200 streams Monday to 3.3 million Tuesday and 4 million Wednesday. "9 to 5" followed a similar arc, climbing to 3.6 million streams by Wednesday. Her 1983 duet with the late Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream," hit 2.9 million streams Wednesday, and "I Will Always Love You" — the song Whitney Houston later made a global hit — reached 2.8 million.

Parton's 2019 gospel duet with Zach Williams, "There Was Jesus," and her 2024 collaboration with Beyoncé on "Tyrant" from "Cowboy Carter" both saw smaller but still dramatic jumps, according to the updated AP figures.

Outlets that ran the earlier version of the AP story picked it up before the update went out. It's the same underlying reporting as the revised numbers, simply updated by the same reporter as Luminate's data set filled in through Wednesday.

Trump's flag order runs through roughly Sept. 1, one week after Parton's death. Whether Olive Branch is the only Mississippi city to opt out, or whether other local officials elsewhere raise the same home-rule argument before the order expires, remains unanswered as of Saturday, Aug. 29.