diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c b/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
index d895df037707..efbd9cd60c63 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/perf-record.c
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ 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;
 	}
 
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@ 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;
 	}
 
@@ -152,6 +154,7 @@ 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;
 	}
 
@@ -164,6 +167,7 @@ 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;
 	}