diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 40bd2c04df8ad7cb02e713e4f02a832850b0a43f..59ef2802fcf631fa0e7d6f2f97e59e6881f675d4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -1003,9 +1003,12 @@ void perf_evlist__close(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 	struct perf_evsel *evsel;
 	int ncpus = cpu_map__nr(evlist->cpus);
 	int nthreads = thread_map__nr(evlist->threads);
+	int n;
 
-	evlist__for_each_reverse(evlist, evsel)
-		perf_evsel__close(evsel, ncpus, nthreads);
+	evlist__for_each_reverse(evlist, evsel) {
+		n = evsel->cpus ? evsel->cpus->nr : ncpus;
+		perf_evsel__close(evsel, n, nthreads);
+	}
 }
 
 int perf_evlist__open(struct perf_evlist *evlist)