diff --git a/db/corrupt_data_handler.cc b/db/corrupt_data_handler.cc
index 441a596867..a444d13549 100644
--- a/db/corrupt_data_handler.cc
+++ b/db/corrupt_data_handler.cc
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ corrupt_data_handler::corrupt_data_handler(register_metrics rm) {
         _metrics.add_group("corrupt_data", {
                 sm::make_counter("entries_reported", _stats.corrupt_data_reported,
                                sm::description("Counts the number of corrupt data instances reported to the corrupt data handler. "
-                                               "A non-zero value indicates that the database suffered data corruption."))
+                                                "A non-zero value indicates that the database suffered data corruption.")).set_skip_when_empty()
                 });
     }
 }
diff --git a/db/hints/manager.cc b/db/hints/manager.cc
index 15a0911cce..e5762365db 100644
--- a/db/hints/manager.cc
+++ b/db/hints/manager.cc
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ void manager::register_metrics(const sstring& group_name) {
             sm::description("Number of unexpected errors during sending, sending will be retried later")),
 
         sm::make_counter("corrupted_files", _stats.corrupted_files,
-                        sm::description("Number of hints files that were discarded during sending because the file was corrupted.")),
+                        sm::description("Number of hints files that were discarded during sending because the file was corrupted.")).set_skip_when_empty(),
 
         sm::make_gauge("pending_drains",
                         sm::description("Number of tasks waiting in the queue for draining hints"),
diff --git a/db/rate_limiter.cc b/db/rate_limiter.cc
index 79c3dc61f3..f88051e328 100644
--- a/db/rate_limiter.cc
+++ b/db/rate_limiter.cc
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ void rate_limiter_base::register_metrics() {
                 sm::description("Number of times a lookup returned an already allocated entry.")),
 
         sm::make_counter("failed_allocations", _metrics.failed_allocations,
-                sm::description("Number of times the rate limiter gave up trying to allocate.")),
+                sm::description("Number of times the rate limiter gave up trying to allocate.")).set_skip_when_empty(),
 
         sm::make_counter("probe_count", _metrics.probe_count,
                 sm::description("Number of probes made during lookups.")),
diff --git a/db/row_cache.cc b/db/row_cache.cc
index 216906441d..4f8c4acbf5 100644
--- a/db/row_cache.cc
+++ b/db/row_cache.cc
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ cache_tracker::setup_metrics() {
         sm::make_counter("sstable_reader_recreations", sm::description("number of times sstable reader was recreated due to memtable flush"), _stats.underlying_recreations),
         sm::make_counter("sstable_partition_skips", sm::description("number of times sstable reader was fast forwarded across partitions"), _stats.underlying_partition_skips),
         sm::make_counter("sstable_row_skips", sm::description("number of times sstable reader was fast forwarded within a partition"), _stats.underlying_row_skips),
-        sm::make_counter("pinned_dirty_memory_overload", sm::description("amount of pinned bytes that we tried to unpin over the limit. This should sit constantly at 0, and any number different than 0 is indicative of a bug"), _stats.pinned_dirty_memory_overload),
+        sm::make_counter("pinned_dirty_memory_overload", sm::description("amount of pinned bytes that we tried to unpin over the limit. This should sit constantly at 0, and any number different than 0 is indicative of a bug"), _stats.pinned_dirty_memory_overload).set_skip_when_empty(),
         sm::make_counter("rows_processed_from_memtable", _stats.rows_processed_from_memtable,
             sm::description("total number of rows in memtables which were processed during cache update on memtable flush")),
         sm::make_counter("rows_dropped_from_memtable", _stats.rows_dropped_from_memtable,