diff --git a/src/js/_enqueues/admin/tags-suggest.js b/src/js/_enqueues/admin/tags-suggest.js
index 0381f0053cb22..f93396a77e7b4 100644
--- a/src/js/_enqueues/admin/tags-suggest.js
+++ b/src/js/_enqueues/admin/tags-suggest.js
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@
 				$.get( window.ajaxurl, {
 					action: 'ajax-tag-search',
 					tax: taxonomy,
-					q: term
+					q: term,
+					number: 20
 				} ).always( function() {
 					$element.removeClass( 'ui-autocomplete-loading' ); // UI fails to remove this sometimes?
 				} ).done( function( data ) {
diff --git a/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php b/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php
index a6ba2b678ca9b..f600ef3d1b642 100644
--- a/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php
+++ b/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ function wp_ajax_ajax_tag_search() {
 			'name__like' => $s,
 			'fields'     => 'names',
 			'hide_empty' => false,
+			'number'     => isset( $_GET['number'] ) ? (int) $_GET['number'] : 0,
 		)
 	);