diff --git a/tsdb/head.go b/tsdb/head.go
index 4f4e4febfc..724437f453 100644
--- a/tsdb/head.go
+++ b/tsdb/head.go
@@ -379,6 +379,8 @@ type headMetrics struct {
 	snapshotReplayErrorTotal  prometheus.Counter // Will be either 0 or 1.
 	oooHistogram              prometheus.Histogram
 	mmapChunksTotal           prometheus.Counter
+	walReplayUnknownRefsTotal *prometheus.CounterVec
+	wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal *prometheus.CounterVec
 }
 
 const (
@@ -510,6 +512,14 @@ func newHeadMetrics(h *Head, r prometheus.Registerer) *headMetrics {
 			Name: "prometheus_tsdb_mmap_chunks_total",
 			Help: "Total number of chunks that were memory-mapped.",
 		}),
+		walReplayUnknownRefsTotal: prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+			Name: "prometheus_tsdb_wal_replay_unknown_refs_total",
+			Help: "Total number of unknown series references encountered during WAL replay.",
+		}, []string{"type"}),
+		wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal: prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+			Name: "prometheus_tsdb_wbl_replay_unknown_refs_total",
+			Help: "Total number of unknown series references encountered during WBL replay.",
+		}, []string{"type"}),
 	}
 
 	if r != nil {
@@ -577,6 +587,8 @@ func newHeadMetrics(h *Head, r prometheus.Registerer) *headMetrics {
 				}
 				return float64(val)
 			}),
+			m.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal,
+			m.wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal,
 		)
 	}
 	return m
diff --git a/tsdb/head_wal.go b/tsdb/head_wal.go
index 4fdb1bb8e4..4de091c291 100644
--- a/tsdb/head_wal.go
+++ b/tsdb/head_wal.go
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ import (
 
 	"go.uber.org/atomic"
 
+	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
+
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/exemplar"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/histogram"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/labels"
@@ -68,6 +70,12 @@ func (s *seriesRefSet) count() int {
 	return len(s.refs)
 }
 
+func counterAddNonZero(v *prometheus.CounterVec, value float64, lvs ...string) {
+	if value > 0 {
+		v.WithLabelValues(lvs...).Add(value)
+	}
+}
+
 func (h *Head) loadWAL(r *wlog.Reader, syms *labels.SymbolTable, multiRef map[chunks.HeadSeriesRef]chunks.HeadSeriesRef, mmappedChunks, oooMmappedChunks map[chunks.HeadSeriesRef][]*mmappedChunk, lastSegment int) (err error) {
 	// Track number of missing series records that were referenced by other records.
 	unknownSeriesRefs := &seriesRefSet{refs: make(map[chunks.HeadSeriesRef]struct{}), mtx: sync.Mutex{}}
@@ -450,6 +458,13 @@ Outer:
 			"metadata", unknownMetadataRefs.Load(),
 			"tombstones", unknownTombstoneRefs.Load(),
 		)
+
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownSeriesRefs.count()), "series")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownSampleRefs.Load()), "samples")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownExemplarRefs.Load()), "exemplars")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownHistogramRefs.Load()), "histograms")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownMetadataRefs.Load()), "metadata")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.walReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownTombstoneRefs.Load()), "tombstones")
 	}
 	if count := mmapOverlappingChunks.Load(); count > 0 {
 		h.logger.Info("Overlapping m-map chunks on duplicate series records", "count", count)
@@ -932,6 +947,11 @@ func (h *Head) loadWBL(r *wlog.Reader, syms *labels.SymbolTable, multiRef map[ch
 			"histograms", unknownHistogramRefs.Load(),
 			"mmap_markers", mmapMarkerUnknownRefs.Load(),
 		)
+
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownSeriesRefs.count()), "series")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownSampleRefs.Load()), "samples")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(unknownHistogramRefs.Load()), "histograms")
+		counterAddNonZero(h.metrics.wblReplayUnknownRefsTotal, float64(mmapMarkerUnknownRefs.Load()), "mmap_markers")
 	}
 
 	return nil