diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 3f98689dd68782ac10d4a11d3dc157caed8bc355..60baa3dadc4b692e007dc145c7e784565e55aeab 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -955,10 +955,10 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
 	 * Enable counters and exec the command:
 	 */
 	if (forks) {
-		evlist__start_workload(evsel_list);
 		err = enable_counters();
 		if (err)
 			return -1;
+		evlist__start_workload(evsel_list);
 
 		t0 = rdclock();
 		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ref_time);