diff --git a/commands/list/__tests__/list-command.test.js b/commands/list/__tests__/list-command.test.js
index 248132b8e7..ef780b49d2 100644
--- a/commands/list/__tests__/list-command.test.js
+++ b/commands/list/__tests__/list-command.test.js
@@ -233,6 +233,15 @@ package-2
         },
       ]);
     });
+
+    it("emits empty array with no results", async () => {
+      const testDir = await initFixture("basic");
+
+      collectUpdates.setUpdated(testDir);
+      await lernaLs(testDir)("--since", "deadbeef", "--json");
+
+      expect(JSON.parse(output.logged())).toEqual([]);
+    });
   });
 
   describe("in a Yarn workspace", () => {
diff --git a/commands/list/index.js b/commands/list/index.js
index cec692dec6..c30840e8d2 100644
--- a/commands/list/index.js
+++ b/commands/list/index.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class ListCommand extends Command {
 
   execute() {
     // piping to `wc -l` should not yield 1 when no packages matched
-    if (this.result.count) {
+    if (this.result.text.length) {
       output(this.result.text);
     }