How it started
The Dolly Parton Challenge was the first global viral meme challenge of 2020.
It all started from Dolly’s tweet posted on the 21st January 2020
It had acquired 250,000 likes and 37,000 retweets, and 1,800 comments.
What most people do not know is that the term “Dolly Parton Challenge” has been around for some years already. Indeed, I found mentions as far back as 2013.
Viral success factors behind the Dolly Parton Challenge
I have always used the model suggested by Steve Olenski to understand the unique mix of factors that contributed to a post becoming viral – “Elements of a viral marketing campaign” published in 2015. I made a subjective assessment of this campaign.
- Firstly it was very strong in its simplicity thus enabling others to easily join in and create their own meme versions.
- Secondly, it provided us with a “unique view of the times” because we are invited to compare what LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder mean to us, in a personal way.
Hashtags and Emoticons
Many people created their own versions of Dolly’s challenge.
The hashtags #DollyPartonChallenge and #DollyPartonMemeChallenge were trending, plus a collection of badly spelled versions.
Did you create your own meme version?
If you did then contributed to the growing number of personalized versions. The overall the social media potential reach stood at 2.5 billion accounts, with 81% of the posts from X (Twitter), then Instagram and Reddit followed closely behind. I did join in, and see below my post:
Previously we had the “10 Year Challenge” meme (#10YearChallenge). When it was over the results showed that just under 1,500,000 posts were made per day at its peak.
What will be next?
- Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday: How a Jingle Became a Viral Social Trend - August 3, 2025
- The Future of AI Avatars in Marketing - June 23, 2025
- Avatars Are More Than a Trend - April 20, 2025
Hi Clive, I had wondered about this and started to make one but wasn’t that happy with it. I like yours a lot! It’s amazing how something so simple can go so viral. Of course, being a celebrity sure helps! Thanks for sharing about this one Clive!
Hi Lisa, always good to hear from you. As I love taking selfies and using Photoshop I jumped in quick. You are right about how such things can go viral, but as I said in my blog, if it gives people a sense of self expression, and is relatively simple to jump on board, then it will fly. There are so many parallels with last yea’s #10yearchallenge.