src/cmd/go/internal/list/list.go          | 6 +++---
 src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_list.txt | 4 ++++

diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/list/list.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/list/list.go
index 92020da946ad74144dba45d56e7b0959b14c5341..f15e09b7edf12f91943f0ea2beb997979e84d087 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/list/list.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/list/list.go
@@ -723,15 +723,15 @@
 		b.IsCmdList = true
 		b.NeedExport = *listExport
 		b.NeedCompiledGoFiles = *listCompiled
+		if cfg.Experiment.CoverageRedesign && cfg.BuildCover {
+			load.PrepareForCoverageBuild(pkgs)
+		}
 		a := &work.Action{}
 		// TODO: Use pkgsFilter?
 		for _, p := range pkgs {
 			if len(p.GoFiles)+len(p.CgoFiles) > 0 {
 				a.Deps = append(a.Deps, b.AutoAction(work.ModeInstall, work.ModeInstall, p))
 			}
-		}
-		if cfg.Experiment.CoverageRedesign && cfg.BuildCover {
-			load.PrepareForCoverageBuild(pkgs)
 		}
 		b.Do(ctx, a)
 	}
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_list.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_list.txt
index 6b8aaf45d1e123e7b7b3d7036d7bb4f6ccc79a87..1b1f32666221557fdc67b2b0fe6a8390b873e9f2 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_list.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_list.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@
 # Build IDs should match here.
 cmp $WORK/toolbuildid.txt $WORK/listbuildid.txt
 
+# Make sure that the build succeeds regardless of covermode.
+go list -export -covermode=atomic m/example
+go list -export -covermode=count m/example
+
 -- go.mod --
 module m