diff --git a/mm/memory_hotplug.c b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
index 0fb05b258f0c..93aba78dc8b6 100644
--- a/mm/memory_hotplug.c
+++ b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
@@ -429,7 +429,9 @@ int online_pages(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long nr_pages)
 
 	if (need_zonelists_rebuild)
 		build_all_zonelists();
-	vm_total_pages = nr_free_pagecache_pages();
+	else
+		vm_total_pages = nr_free_pagecache_pages();
+
 	writeback_set_ratelimit();
 
 	if (onlined_pages)