diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c b/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
index 1c4feec1adff..6e7f053006b4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ static int test__PERF_RECORD(struct test_suite *test __maybe_unused, int subtest
 	if (err < 0) {
 		pr_debug("sched__get_first_possible_cpu: %s\n",
 			 str_error_r(errno, sbuf, sizeof(sbuf)));
+		evlist__cancel_workload(evlist);
 		goto out_delete_evlist;
 	}
 
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@ static int test__PERF_RECORD(struct test_suite *test __maybe_unused, int subtest
 	if (sched_setaffinity(evlist->workload.pid, cpu_mask_size, &cpu_mask) < 0) {
 		pr_debug("sched_setaffinity: %s\n",
 			 str_error_r(errno, sbuf, sizeof(sbuf)));
+		evlist__cancel_workload(evlist);
 		goto out_delete_evlist;
 	}
 
@@ -137,6 +139,7 @@ static int test__PERF_RECORD(struct test_suite *test __maybe_unused, int subtest
 	if (err < 0) {
 		pr_debug("perf_evlist__open: %s\n",
 			 str_error_r(errno, sbuf, sizeof(sbuf)));
+		evlist__cancel_workload(evlist);
 		goto out_delete_evlist;
 	}
 
@@ -149,6 +152,7 @@ static int test__PERF_RECORD(struct test_suite *test __maybe_unused, int subtest
 	if (err < 0) {
 		pr_debug("evlist__mmap: %s\n",
 			 str_error_r(errno, sbuf, sizeof(sbuf)));
+		evlist__cancel_workload(evlist);
 		goto out_delete_evlist;
 	}