diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index 079dcd340..e70b089a6 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -2495,13 +2495,13 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	bottom = top = 0;
 	if (bottomtop)
 		prepare_blame_range(&sb, bottomtop, lno, &bottom, &top);
+	if (lno < top || ((lno || bottom) && lno < bottom))
+		die("file %s has only %lu lines", path, lno);
 	if (bottom < 1)
 		bottom = 1;
 	if (top < 1)
 		top = lno;
 	bottom--;
-	if (lno < top || lno < bottom)
-		die("file %s has only %lu lines", path, lno);
 
 	ent = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*ent));
 	ent->lno = bottom;
diff --git a/t/annotate-tests.sh b/t/annotate-tests.sh
index 22db31e58..015acabf3 100644
--- a/t/annotate-tests.sh
+++ b/t/annotate-tests.sh
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ test_expect_success 'blame -L X (X == nlines)' '
 	check_count -L$n C 1
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'blame -L X (X == nlines + 1)' '
+test_expect_success 'blame -L X (X == nlines + 1)' '
 	n=$(expr $(wc -l <file) + 2) &&
 	test_must_fail $PROG -L$n file
 '
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ test_expect_success 'blame -L 0 empty (undocumented)' '
 	check_count -h HEAD^^ -f incremental -L0
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'blame -L 1 empty' '
+test_expect_success 'blame -L 1 empty' '
 	test_must_fail $PROG -L1 incremental HEAD^^
 '
 
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ test_expect_success 'blame -L 1 half' '
 	check_count -h HEAD^ -f incremental -L1 I 1
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'blame -L 2 half' '
+test_expect_success 'blame -L 2 half' '
 	test_must_fail $PROG -L2 incremental HEAD^
 '
 
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ test_expect_success 'blame -L 1 full' '
 	check_count -f incremental -L1 I 1
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'blame -L 2 full' '
+test_expect_success 'blame -L 2 full' '
 	test_must_fail $PROG -L2 incremental
 '