diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index d19058a7b84cfbd45547c8e2f004c82d7462580d..8a3dfac161e298bbab7f0912fd7429a52fbb1dd6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -754,6 +754,9 @@ static struct perf_record record = {
 		.user_freq	     = UINT_MAX,
 		.user_interval	     = ULLONG_MAX,
 		.freq		     = 1000,
+		.target		     = {
+			.uses_mmap   = true,
+		},
 	},
 	.write_mode = WRITE_FORCE,
 	.file_new   = true,
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-test.c b/tools/perf/builtin-test.c
index 9d9abbbe23be4ab932bd88028bbee3d1ceef8a43..4eaa665fd32b9739c2aec448417dc8176fb56495 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-test.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-test.c
@@ -1167,6 +1167,7 @@ static int test__PERF_RECORD(void)
 	struct perf_record_opts opts = {
 		.target = {
 			.uid = UINT_MAX,
+			.uses_mmap = true,
 		},
 		.no_delay   = true,
 		.freq	    = 10,
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index 553560a8b1beee45c4c645ab7936393a46ae93f3..3e981a710c4d2f9323317d34ae128e2f29a6c826 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -1162,6 +1162,9 @@ int cmd_top(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __used)
 		.freq		     = 1000, /* 1 KHz */
 		.mmap_pages	     = 128,
 		.sym_pcnt_filter     = 5,
+		.target		     = {
+			.uses_mmap   = true,
+		},
 	};
 	char callchain_default_opt[] = "fractal,0.5,callee";
 	const struct option options[] = {
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 87889f325678723cf409fb05b852bc6e12d9739d..4ac5f5ae4ce903a9284d6b4f105493da2bc454c5 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -611,6 +611,8 @@ int perf_evlist__create_maps(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 
 	if (perf_target__has_task(target))
 		evlist->cpus = cpu_map__dummy_new();
+	else if (!perf_target__has_cpu(target) && !target->uses_mmap)
+		evlist->cpus = cpu_map__dummy_new();
 	else
 		evlist->cpus = cpu_map__new(target->cpu_list);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/target.h b/tools/perf/util/target.h
index c43f632955fa22c28ae546401b2183222518f252..a4be8575fda56ea77b3b9fad73f6aab9a2995ac2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/target.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/target.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ struct perf_target {
 	const char   *uid_str;
 	uid_t	     uid;
 	bool	     system_wide;
+	bool	     uses_mmap;
 };
 
 enum perf_target_errno {