Hello Dolly is an optional WordPress plugin that displays a randomly selected lyric from the song Hello, Dolly! in the upper-right corner of WordPress admin pages when it is active. It does not add a feature to your public website, and you can safely delete it if you do not want the dashboard display.
What Hello Dolly does
Hello Dolly is a small sample plugin authored by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. WordPress.org describes it as a symbolic, playful expression of “hope and enthusiasm”; WordPress documentation identifies it as the first official WordPress plugin. It is included with WordPress as a default example, not because a site needs it to work.
When activated, the plugin chooses a lyric and displays it in the administration interface. It does not change pages visitors see. It is not required for publishing, themes, comments, security, performance, or WordPress core updates.
Current plugin details
The WordPress.org directory lists Hello Dolly as version 1.7.2, requiring WordPress 4.6 or later and tested up to WordPress 6.9.9. As of September 30, 2026, its listing showed more than 600,000 active installations, translations into 55 locales, and a 4.4/5 rating from 177 reviews. Installation, translation, rating, and review figures are changing directory metadata, not guarantees about a particular site.
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The plugin is implemented in a single PHP file. WordPress’s plugin handbook uses Hello Dolly as an example of a plugin that can consist of one file placed directly in the plugins folder.
Should you keep, deactivate, or delete it?
| Choice | Effect | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Keep active | Displays a random lyric on admin pages. | You enjoy the novelty, or use it as a historical or educational example. |
| Deactivate | Stops the lyric display but leaves the plugin installed. | You want to suppress it temporarily or keep the file for later reference. |
| Delete | Removes the plugin file. | You do not need it and prefer to remove unused plugins. |
For a typical site that does not use Hello Dolly as a teaching example, deletion is a reasonable choice. A WordPress.org support reply says it can be safely deleted and reports that it creates no database tables, so there is no plugin table data to clean up separately.
Rank #2
Does Hello Dolly slow down your site?
The plugin’s documented role is limited to selecting and displaying a lyric in the admin interface, so it has no meaningful role in normal front-end operation. No dated performance benchmark or measured speed impact is published for Hello Dolly, so a precise speed claim is not established. Removing it is sensible as unused-plugin cleanup, but there is no evidence here to support a measurable speed improvement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to remove Hello Dolly
From the WordPress dashboard
- Open Plugins in the WordPress dashboard.
- Find Hello Dolly and click Deactivate.
- After it is inactive, click Delete and confirm removal.
With WP-CLI
To uninstall and delete it, run:
wp plugin uninstall hello
WP-CLI will skip an active plugin unless it is deactivated or you request deactivation. The separate command wp plugin delete hello deletes the plugin files without deactivating it or running an uninstall routine; use the uninstall command for the ordinary removal path.
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