diff --git a/lib/cartodb/backends/layer-stats/mapnik-layer-stats.js b/lib/cartodb/backends/layer-stats/mapnik-layer-stats.js
index d1e292de..a04d68bc 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/backends/layer-stats/mapnik-layer-stats.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/backends/layer-stats/mapnik-layer-stats.js
@@ -201,12 +201,17 @@ function _columnStats(ctx, columns) {
             );
             if (columns[name].type === 'string') {
                 const topN = ctx.metaOptions.columnStats.topCategories || 1024;
+                let includeNulls = true;
+                if (ctx.metaOptions.columnStats.hasOwnProperty('includeNulls')) {
+                    includeNulls = ctx.metaOptions.columnStats.includeNulls;
+                }
+
                 // TODO:  ctx.metaOptions.columnStats.maxCategories
                 //        => use PG stats to dismiss columns with more distinct values
                 queries.push(
                     queryPromise(
                         ctx.dbConnection,
-                        _getSQL(ctx, sql => queryUtils.getQueryTopCategories(sql, name, topN)),
+                        _getSQL(ctx, sql => queryUtils.getQueryTopCategories(sql, name, topN, includeNulls)),
                         res => ({ [name]: { categories: res.rows } })
                     )
                 );