diff --git a/src/kibana/components/courier/fetch/request/segmented.js b/src/kibana/components/courier/fetch/request/segmented.js
index f615b96ef8f1..540e26bd12c3 100644
--- a/src/kibana/components/courier/fetch/request/segmented.js
+++ b/src/kibana/components/courier/fetch/request/segmented.js
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ define(function (require) {
       this._segments.push(seg);
 
       merged.took += seg.took;
-      merged.hits.total = Math.max(merged.hits.total, seg.hits.total);
+      merged.hits.total += seg.hits.total;
       merged.hits.max_score = Math.max(merged.hits.max_score, seg.hits.max_score);
       [].push.apply(merged.hits.hits, seg.hits.hits);
 
diff --git a/src/kibana/plugins/discover/controllers/discover.js b/src/kibana/plugins/discover/controllers/discover.js
index b057a8c2c5c1..195524772e68 100644
--- a/src/kibana/plugins/discover/controllers/discover.js
+++ b/src/kibana/plugins/discover/controllers/discover.js
@@ -360,7 +360,6 @@ define(function (require) {
           });
         }
 
-        $scope.hits += resp.hits.total;
         var rows = $scope.rows;
         var counts = rows.fieldCounts;
 
@@ -407,6 +406,8 @@ define(function (require) {
 
       segmented.on('mergedSegment', function (merged) {
         $scope.mergedEsResp = merged;
+        $scope.hits = merged.hits.total;
+
       });
 
       segmented.on('complete', function () {