diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 634806f55120..a8703b592c39 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3160,25 +3160,23 @@ static inline bool
 should_compact_retry(struct alloc_context *ac, int order, int alloc_flags,
 		     enum compact_result compact_result,
 		     enum compact_priority *compact_priority,
-		     int compaction_retries)
+		     int *compaction_retries)
 {
 	int max_retries = MAX_COMPACT_RETRIES;
 
 	if (!order)
 		return false;
 
+	if (compaction_made_progress(compact_result))
+		(*compaction_retries)++;
+
 	/*
 	 * compaction considers all the zone as desperately out of memory
 	 * so it doesn't really make much sense to retry except when the
 	 * failure could be caused by insufficient priority
 	 */
-	if (compaction_failed(compact_result)) {
-		if (*compact_priority > MIN_COMPACT_PRIORITY) {
-			(*compact_priority)--;
-			return true;
-		}
-		return false;
-	}
+	if (compaction_failed(compact_result))
+		goto check_priority;
 
 	/*
 	 * make sure the compaction wasn't deferred or didn't bail out early
@@ -3199,9 +3197,19 @@ should_compact_retry(struct alloc_context *ac, int order, int alloc_flags,
 	 */
 	if (order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)
 		max_retries /= 4;
-	if (compaction_retries <= max_retries)
+	if (*compaction_retries <= max_retries)
 		return true;
 
+	/*
+	 * Make sure there are attempts at the highest priority if we exhausted
+	 * all retries or failed at the lower priorities.
+	 */
+check_priority:
+	if (*compact_priority > MIN_COMPACT_PRIORITY) {
+		(*compact_priority)--;
+		*compaction_retries = 0;
+		return true;
+	}
 	return false;
 }
 #else
@@ -3218,7 +3226,7 @@ static inline bool
 should_compact_retry(struct alloc_context *ac, unsigned int order, int alloc_flags,
 		     enum compact_result compact_result,
 		     enum compact_priority *compact_priority,
-		     int compaction_retries)
+		     int *compaction_retries)
 {
 	struct zone *zone;
 	struct zoneref *z;
@@ -3620,9 +3628,6 @@ retry:
 	if (page)
 		goto got_pg;
 
-	if (order && compaction_made_progress(compact_result))
-		compaction_retries++;
-
 	/* Do not loop if specifically requested */
 	if (gfp_mask & __GFP_NORETRY)
 		goto nopage;
@@ -3657,7 +3662,7 @@ retry:
 	if (did_some_progress > 0 &&
 			should_compact_retry(ac, order, alloc_flags,
 				compact_result, &compact_priority,
-				compaction_retries))
+				&compaction_retries))
 		goto retry;
 
 	/* Reclaim has failed us, start killing things */