diff --git a/init/main.c b/init/main.c
index 261ad7b3fe0b..559e86286500 100644
--- a/init/main.c
+++ b/init/main.c
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
 #include <linux/sfi.h>
 #include <linux/shmem_fs.h>
 #include <linux/slab.h>
+#include <linux/perf_event.h>
 
 #include <asm/io.h>
 #include <asm/bugs.h>
@@ -603,6 +604,7 @@ asmlinkage void __init start_kernel(void)
 				"enabled *very* early, fixing it\n");
 		local_irq_disable();
 	}
+	perf_event_init();
 	rcu_init();
 	radix_tree_init();
 	/* init some links before init_ISA_irqs() */
diff --git a/kernel/sched.c b/kernel/sched.c
index dc91a4d09ac3..605ab1b24d81 100644
--- a/kernel/sched.c
+++ b/kernel/sched.c
@@ -8108,8 +8108,6 @@ void __init sched_init(void)
 		zalloc_cpumask_var(&cpu_isolated_map, GFP_NOWAIT);
 #endif /* SMP */
 
-	perf_event_init();
-
 	scheduler_running = 1;
 }