diff --git a/tests/plugin/Makefile b/tests/plugin/Makefile
index f9a3546ea32..e74940eaac5 100644
--- a/tests/plugin/Makefile
+++ b/tests/plugin/Makefile
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ NAMES += bb
 NAMES += empty
 NAMES += insn
 NAMES += mem
+NAMES += hotblocks
 
 SONAMES := $(addsuffix .so,$(addprefix lib,$(NAMES)))
 
diff --git a/tests/plugin/hotblocks.c b/tests/plugin/hotblocks.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3654afbc887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/plugin/hotblocks.c
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019, Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>
+ *
+ * License: GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+ *   See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <glib.h>
+
+#include <qemu-plugin.h>
+
+static bool do_inline;
+static int stdout_fd;
+
+/* Plugins need to take care of their own locking */
+static GMutex lock;
+static GHashTable *hotblocks;
+static guint64 limit = 20;
+
+/*
+ * Counting Structure
+ *
+ * The internals of the TCG are not exposed to plugins so we can only
+ * get the starting PC for each block. We cheat this slightly by
+ * xor'ing the number of instructions to the hash to help
+ * differentiate.
+ */
+typedef struct {
+    uint64_t start_addr;
+    uint64_t exec_count;
+    int      trans_count;
+    unsigned long insns;
+} ExecCount;
+
+static gint cmp_exec_count(gconstpointer a, gconstpointer b)
+{
+    ExecCount *ea = (ExecCount *) a;
+    ExecCount *eb = (ExecCount *) b;
+    return ea->exec_count > eb->exec_count ? -1 : 1;
+}
+
+static void plugin_exit(qemu_plugin_id_t id, void *p)
+{
+    GString *report = g_string_new("collected ");
+    GList *counts, *it;
+    int i;
+
+    g_mutex_lock(&lock);
+    g_string_append_printf(report, "%d entries in the hash table\n",
+                           g_hash_table_size(hotblocks));
+    counts = g_hash_table_get_values(hotblocks);
+    it = g_list_sort(counts, cmp_exec_count);
+
+    g_string_append_printf(report, "pc, tcount, icount, ecount\n");
+
+    for (i = 0; i < limit && it->next; i++, it = it->next) {
+        ExecCount *rec = (ExecCount *) it->data;
+        g_string_append_printf(report, "%#016"PRIx64", %d, %ld, %"PRId64"\n",
+                               rec->start_addr, rec->trans_count,
+                               rec->insns, rec->exec_count);
+    }
+
+    g_mutex_unlock(&lock);
+    g_list_free(it);
+
+    dprintf(stdout_fd, "%s", report->str);
+    g_string_free(report, true);
+}
+
+static void plugin_init(void)
+{
+    hotblocks = g_hash_table_new(NULL, g_direct_equal);
+}
+
+static void vcpu_tb_exec(unsigned int cpu_index, void *udata)
+{
+    ExecCount *cnt;
+    uint64_t hash = (uint64_t) udata;
+
+    g_mutex_lock(&lock);
+    cnt = (ExecCount *) g_hash_table_lookup(hotblocks, (gconstpointer) hash);
+    /* should always succeed */
+    g_assert(cnt);
+    cnt->exec_count++;
+    g_mutex_unlock(&lock);
+}
+
+/*
+ * When do_inline we ask the plugin to increment the counter for us.
+ * Otherwise a helper is inserted which calls the vcpu_tb_exec
+ * callback.
+ */
+static void vcpu_tb_trans(qemu_plugin_id_t id, struct qemu_plugin_tb *tb)
+{
+    ExecCount *cnt;
+    uint64_t pc = qemu_plugin_tb_vaddr(tb);
+    unsigned long insns = qemu_plugin_tb_n_insns(tb);
+    uint64_t hash = pc ^ insns;
+
+    g_mutex_lock(&lock);
+    cnt = (ExecCount *) g_hash_table_lookup(hotblocks, (gconstpointer) hash);
+    if (cnt) {
+        cnt->trans_count++;
+    } else {
+        cnt = g_new0(ExecCount, 1);
+        cnt->start_addr = pc;
+        cnt->trans_count = 1;
+        cnt->insns = insns;
+        g_hash_table_insert(hotblocks, (gpointer) hash, (gpointer) cnt);
+    }
+
+    g_mutex_unlock(&lock);
+
+    if (do_inline) {
+        qemu_plugin_register_vcpu_tb_exec_inline(tb, QEMU_PLUGIN_INLINE_ADD_U64,
+                                                 &cnt->exec_count, 1);
+    } else {
+        qemu_plugin_register_vcpu_tb_exec_cb(tb, vcpu_tb_exec,
+                                             QEMU_PLUGIN_CB_NO_REGS,
+                                             (void *)hash);
+    }
+}
+
+QEMU_PLUGIN_EXPORT int qemu_plugin_install(qemu_plugin_id_t id, int argc,
+                                           char **argv)
+{
+    if (argc && strcmp(argv[0], "inline") == 0) {
+        do_inline = true;
+    }
+
+    /* to be used when in the exit hook */
+    stdout_fd = dup(STDOUT_FILENO);
+    assert(stdout_fd);
+
+    plugin_init();
+
+    qemu_plugin_register_vcpu_tb_trans_cb(id, vcpu_tb_trans);
+    qemu_plugin_register_atexit_cb(id, plugin_exit, NULL);
+    return 0;
+}
