The smash hit and film helped transform Parton into a pop-culture star.
After a chance encounter with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda on a flight to New York helped Dolly Parton land a starring role in the 1980 female-empowerment comedy 9 to 5, the country music star found herself at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with the film’s theme song of the same name.
Parton wrote the tune to help pass time on set (as she found the pace of filming slower and less stimulating than that of a musical performer), and it topped the Hot Country Songs chart on Jan. 24, 1981, and the Hot 100 on Feb. 21. It became only the second song by a female artist to lead both lists, after Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.” in 1968. At the 24th annual Grammy Awards, “9 to 5” won for best country song and best country vocal performance, female.
