Following the sad news, Swift issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter in which she described the Jolene hitmaker as the "gift that kept on giving".
"A world without Dolly doesn't feel possible, real, or right," she told the outlet. "But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one."
Sabrina, 27, shared a black-and-white gallery of photos of herself with Dolly, accompanied by a heartfelt caption that described Dolly as "an angel".
"oh dolly," the Please, Please Please singer wrote, alongside a broken heart emoji. "the only thing i could say after we first met was 'she really is an angel walking the earth' and 'we look like we could be sisters!'"
The singer, who featured Dolly in a duet of the late octogenarian's country hit Jolene on the deluxe version of her album, Short n' Sweet, went on to lament the loss of Dolly's "singular magic".
Meanwhile, Sir Paul McCartney said he would find it "hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly".
"The magnificent star Dolly Parton has died and it is so sad. She was such a wonderful woman," Paul, 84, wrote on Instagram in a caption accompanying a pair of monochrome photos of them together in their younger years.
"I first met her in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry where she had been playing with the country star Porter Wagoner and was about to start her solo career. She was so bubbly and full of life it is difficult to take in the news that she has passed. Her songwriting, her singing and her philanthropy were unrivaled in the world of country music and it is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly."
Dolly died "after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer", her family announced via a statement released hours after her passing.
"Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched," the statement read.
