diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index 440c3b3..a63ade2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@
 		top->exact_samples++;
 
 	if (perf_event__preprocess_sample(event, machine, &al, sample,
-					  symbol_filter) < 0 ||
+					  machine->symbol_filter) < 0 ||
 	    al.filtered)
 		return;
 
@@ -938,6 +938,8 @@
 	if (top->session == NULL)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	machines__set_symbol_filter(&top->session->machines, symbol_filter);
+
 	if (!objdump_path) {
 		ret = perf_session_env__lookup_objdump(&top->session->header.env);
 		if (ret)