diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index 0a26b56afcc5d9..113c298ed38ba1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -1223,8 +1223,10 @@ parse_callchain_opt(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset)
 
 static int perf_top_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb __maybe_unused)
 {
-	if (!strcmp(var, "top.call-graph"))
-		var = "call-graph.record-mode"; /* fall-through */
+	if (!strcmp(var, "top.call-graph")) {
+		var = "call-graph.record-mode";
+		return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "top.children")) {
 		symbol_conf.cumulate_callchain = perf_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;