diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index a8d18a3d2164..214affaf1cf6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -1101,6 +1101,29 @@ int perf_evlist__mmap(struct perf_evlist *evlist, unsigned int pages,
 	return perf_evlist__mmap_ex(evlist, pages, overwrite, 0, false);
 }
 
+static int perf_evlist__propagate_maps(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+				       struct target *target)
+{
+	struct perf_evsel *evsel;
+
+	evlist__for_each(evlist, evsel) {
+		/*
+		 * We already have cpus for evsel (via PMU sysfs) so
+		 * keep it, if there's no target cpu list defined.
+		 */
+		if (evsel->cpus && target->cpu_list)
+			cpu_map__put(evsel->cpus);
+
+		if (!evsel->cpus || target->cpu_list)
+			evsel->cpus = cpu_map__get(evlist->cpus);
+
+		if (!evsel->cpus)
+			return -ENOMEM;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 int perf_evlist__create_maps(struct perf_evlist *evlist, struct target *target)
 {
 	evlist->threads = thread_map__new_str(target->pid, target->tid,
@@ -1117,7 +1140,7 @@ int perf_evlist__create_maps(struct perf_evlist *evlist, struct target *target)
 	if (evlist->cpus == NULL)
 		goto out_delete_threads;
 
-	return 0;
+	return perf_evlist__propagate_maps(evlist, target);
 
 out_delete_threads:
 	thread_map__put(evlist->threads);