diff --git a/browser/base/content/browser.js b/browser/base/content/browser.js
index 67bfdacef252..290e0cb8b7d8 100644
--- a/browser/base/content/browser.js
+++ b/browser/base/content/browser.js
@@ -3478,10 +3478,29 @@ const BrowserSearch = {
     if (!submission)
       return;
 
+    let newTab;
+    function newTabHandler(event) {
+      newTab = event.target;
+    }
+    gBrowser.tabContainer.addEventListener("TabOpen", newTabHandler);
+
     openLinkIn(submission.uri.spec,
                useNewTab ? "tab" : "current",
                { postData: submission.postData,
                  relatedToCurrent: true });
+
+    gBrowser.tabContainer.removeEventListener("TabOpen", newTabHandler);
+    if (newTab && !newTab.selected) {
+      let tabSelected = false;
+      function tabSelectHandler() {
+        tabSelected = true;
+      }
+      newTab.addEventListener("TabSelect", tabSelectHandler);
+      setTimeout(function () {
+        newTab.removeEventListener("TabSelect", tabSelectHandler);
+        Services.telemetry.getHistogramById("FX_CONTEXT_SEARCH_AND_TAB_SELECT").add(tabSelected);
+      }, 5000);
+    }
   },
 
   /**
diff --git a/toolkit/components/telemetry/TelemetryHistograms.h b/toolkit/components/telemetry/TelemetryHistograms.h
index 0e74bcdac946..1ad2c243754a 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/telemetry/TelemetryHistograms.h
+++ b/toolkit/components/telemetry/TelemetryHistograms.h
@@ -275,6 +275,13 @@ HISTOGRAM(THUNDERBIRD_CONVERSATIONS_TIME_TO_2ND_GLODA_QUERY_MS, 1, 10000, 30, EX
 HISTOGRAM(THUNDERBIRD_INDEXING_RATE_MSG_PER_S, 1, 100, 20, LINEAR, "Gloda: indexing rate (message/s)")
 #endif
 
+/**
+ * Firefox-specific telemetry.
+ */
+#ifdef MOZ_PHOENIX
+HISTOGRAM(FX_CONTEXT_SEARCH_AND_TAB_SELECT, 0, 1, 2, BOOLEAN, "Firefox: Background tab was selected within 5 seconds of searching from the context menu")
+#endif
+
 HISTOGRAM_BOOLEAN(INNERWINDOWS_WITH_MUTATION_LISTENERS, "Deleted or to-be-reused innerwindow which has had mutation event listeners.")
 HISTOGRAM(XUL_REFLOW_MS, 1, 3000, 10, EXPONENTIAL, "xul reflows")
 HISTOGRAM(XUL_INITIAL_FRAME_CONSTRUCTION, 1, 3000, 10, EXPONENTIAL, "initial xul frame construction")