diff --git a/retrieval/scrape.go b/retrieval/scrape.go
index 8d1173cd5..7a2129c59 100644
--- a/retrieval/scrape.go
+++ b/retrieval/scrape.go
@@ -904,9 +904,9 @@ loop:
 	if err == nil {
 		err = p.Err()
 	}
-	if err == nil && sampleLimitErr != nil {
+	if sampleLimitErr != nil {
+		// We only want to increment this once per scrape, so this is Inc'd outside the loop.
 		targetScrapeSampleLimit.Inc()
-		err = sampleLimitErr
 	}
 	if numOutOfOrder > 0 {
 		level.Warn(sl.l).Log("msg", "Error on ingesting out-of-order samples", "num_dropped", numOutOfOrder)
diff --git a/retrieval/scrape_test.go b/retrieval/scrape_test.go
index b3a0466ab..0e34bf629 100644
--- a/retrieval/scrape_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/scrape_test.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
+	dto "github.com/prometheus/client_model/go"
+
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/config"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/labels"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/timestamp"
@@ -627,6 +629,56 @@ func TestScrapeLoopAppend(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestScrapeLoopAppendSampleLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	resApp := &collectResultAppender{}
+	app := &limitAppender{Appender: resApp, limit: 1}
+
+	sl := newScrapeLoop(context.Background(),
+		nil, nil, nil,
+		nopMutator,
+		nopMutator,
+		func() storage.Appender { return app },
+	)
+
+	// Get the value of the Counter before performing the append.
+	beforeMetric := dto.Metric{}
+	err := targetScrapeSampleLimit.Write(&beforeMetric)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	beforeMetricValue := beforeMetric.GetCounter().GetValue()
+
+	now := time.Now()
+	_, _, err = sl.append([]byte("metric_a 1\nmetric_b 1\nmetric_c 1\n"), now)
+	if err != errSampleLimit {
+		t.Fatalf("Did not see expected sample limit error: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	// Check that the Counter has been incremented a simgle time for the scrape,
+	// not multiple times for each sample.
+	metric := dto.Metric{}
+	err = targetScrapeSampleLimit.Write(&metric)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	value := metric.GetCounter().GetValue()
+	if (value - beforeMetricValue) != 1 {
+		t.Fatal("Unexpected change of sample limit metric: %f", (value - beforeMetricValue))
+	}
+
+	// And verify that we got the samples that fit under the limit.
+	want := []sample{
+		{
+			metric: labels.FromStrings(model.MetricNameLabel, "metric_a"),
+			t:      timestamp.FromTime(now),
+			v:      1,
+		},
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(want, resApp.result) {
+		t.Fatalf("Appended samples not as expected. Wanted: %+v Got: %+v", want, resApp.result)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestScrapeLoop_ChangingMetricString(t *testing.T) {
 	// This is a regression test for the scrape loop cache not properly maintaining
 	// IDs when the string representation of a metric changes across a scrape. Thus