diff --git a/block/blk-mq-sched.c b/block/blk-mq-sched.c
index da1de190a3b13ce2b62b3c1c1ec76df9fcf3e39d..2a689fddb127c982acd19282edf2877d706e4a5f 100644
--- a/block/blk-mq-sched.c
+++ b/block/blk-mq-sched.c
@@ -404,6 +404,13 @@ void blk_mq_sched_insert_requests(struct request_queue *q,
 	struct blk_mq_hw_ctx *hctx = blk_mq_map_queue(q, ctx->cpu);
 	struct elevator_queue *e = hctx->queue->elevator;
 
+	/*
+	 * blk_mq_sched_insert_requests() is called from flush plug
+	 * context only, and hold one usage counter to prevent queue
+	 * from being released.
+	 */
+	percpu_ref_get(&q->q_usage_counter);
+
 	if (e && e->type->ops.mq.insert_requests)
 		e->type->ops.mq.insert_requests(hctx, list, false);
 	else {
@@ -415,12 +422,14 @@ void blk_mq_sched_insert_requests(struct request_queue *q,
 		if (!hctx->dispatch_busy && !e && !run_queue_async) {
 			blk_mq_try_issue_list_directly(hctx, list);
 			if (list_empty(list))
-				return;
+				goto out;
 		}
 		blk_mq_insert_requests(hctx, ctx, list);
 	}
 
 	blk_mq_run_hw_queue(hctx, run_queue_async);
+ out:
+	percpu_ref_put(&q->q_usage_counter);
 }
 
 static void blk_mq_sched_free_tags(struct blk_mq_tag_set *set,