diff --git a/lisp/vc/vc-hg.el b/lisp/vc/vc-hg.el
index 5bab9aa529e..78480fd8062 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/vc-hg.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/vc-hg.el
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ This requires hg 4.4 or later, for the \"-L\" option of \"hg log\"."
 (defun vc-hg-annotate-command (file buffer &optional revision)
   "Execute \"hg annotate\" on FILE, inserting the contents in BUFFER.
 Optional arg REVISION is a revision to annotate from."
-  (apply #'vc-hg-command buffer 0 file "annotate" "-dq" "-n"
+  (apply #'vc-hg-command buffer 'async file "annotate" "-dq" "-n"
 	 (append (vc-switches 'hg 'annotate)
                  (if revision (list (concat "-r" revision))))))