diff --git a/lib/storage/storage.go b/lib/storage/storage.go
index 7d00f4d5f..f60aeea26 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage.go
@@ -1186,6 +1186,7 @@ func (s *Storage) SearchMetricNames(qt *querytracer.Tracer, tfss []*TagFilters,
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal metricName=%q: %w", metricName, err)
 		}
 	}
+	qt.Printf("loaded %d metric names", len(mns))
 	return mns, nil
 }