The recording also registered on Billboard rather than succeeding only as an online video. It debuted at No. 18 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and that position established a new milestone for Parton. She became the first artist to score a Top 20 entry on that chart in each decade from the 1960s through the 2010s. The Pentatonix version of “Jolene” thus added a further decade to Parton’s long chart record while giving the collaboration an achievement separate from its rapidly accumulating video views. Its No. 18 arrival placed the remake among the country chart’s 20 highest-ranked songs at the time of its debut.

Further recognition came the next year at the 59th Grammy Awards. During the 2017 ceremony, Parton and Pentatonix received Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Jolene.” The honor turned the one-day studio partnership into a Grammy-winning project and accompanied both the song’s Billboard debut and the video’s large audience. More than four decades after Parton had first written and recorded the composition, the new version had produced major results in three distinct areas: a Top 20 country-chart entry, tens of millions of YouTube views and an award shared by Parton and the vocal ensemble.

Years after the September 2016 release, the performance continued to celebrate the qualities identified with Parton: her recognizable singing, songwriting that had endured since the 1970s and her ability to reach listeners from later generations. Its longevity also rested on the contrast at the center of the project. A country song first recorded in 1973 was rebuilt through Pentatonix’s harmonies, vocal bass and beatboxing, yet its melody and narrative remained intact. That balance left the collaboration as a memorable meeting between Parton’s established song and the group’s entirely vocal format.