The Essential Dolly Parton, utgiven 13 januari 2011, är ett 2CD-samlingsalbum med 37 spår som spänner över hela Dolly Partons karriar. CD 1 täcker hennes tidiga country-rötter från Dumb Blonde och Jolene till I Will Always Love You. CD 2 följer karriaren från Here You Come Again och 9 to 5 till Islands in the Stream och Shine.

CD 1

1. Dumb Blonde
2. Just Because I'm a Woman
3. My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy
4. Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)
5. Joshua
6. Coat of Many Colors
7. Touch Your Woman
8. My Tennessee Mountain Home
9. Jolene
10. Please Don't Stop Loving Me
11. I Will Always Love You
12. Love Is Like a Butterfly
13. The Bargain Store
14. The Seeker
15. We Used To
16. All I Can Do
17. Light of a Clear Blue Morning
18. It's All Wrong, But It's All Right

CD 2

1. Here You Come Again
2. Two Doors Down
3. Heartbreaker
4. I Really Got the Feeling
5. You're the Only One
6. Starting Over Again
7. Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You)
8. 9 to 5
9. But You Know I Love You
10. Single Women
11. Heartbreak Express
12. Islands in the Stream
13. Save the Last Dance for Me
14. Tennessee Homesick Blues
15. God Won't Get You
16. To Know Him Is to Love Him
17. Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That
18. Rockin' Years
19. Shine