diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ac974ce16..d515e692f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ## Unreleased
 
 * [CHANGE] Minimum required Go version is now 1.16.
+* [CHANGE] Added `collectors.WithGoCollections` that allows to choose what collection of Go runtime metrics user wants: Equivalent of [`MemStats` structure](https://pkg.go.dev/runtime#MemStats) configured using `GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection`, new based on dedicated [runtime/metrics](https://pkg.go.dev/runtime/metrics) metrics represented by `GoRuntimeMetricsCollection` option, or both by specifying `GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection | GoRuntimeMetricsCollection` flag.
+* [CHANGE] :warning: Change in `collectors.NewGoCollector` metrics: Reverting addition of new ~80 runtime metrics by default. You can enable this back with `GoRuntimeMetricsCollection` option or `GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection | GoRuntimeMetricsCollection`  for smooth transition.
 
 ## 1.12.1 / 2022-01-29
 
diff --git a/prometheus/collectors/go_collector_latest.go b/prometheus/collectors/go_collector_latest.go
index a4657a4f7..58b0a5b6e 100644
--- a/prometheus/collectors/go_collector_latest.go
+++ b/prometheus/collectors/go_collector_latest.go
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ const (
 // WithGoCollections(GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection | GoRuntimeMetricsCollection) means both GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection
 // metrics and GoRuntimeMetricsCollection will be exposed.
 //
-// Use WithGoCollections(GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection) to have Go collector working in
-// the compatibility mode with client_golang pre v1.12 (move to runtime/metrics).
+// The current default is GoRuntimeMemStatsCollection, so the compatibility mode with
+// client_golang pre v1.12 (move to runtime/metrics).
 func WithGoCollections(flags uint32) goOption {
 	return func(o *goOptions) {
 		o.EnabledCollections = flags
diff --git a/prometheus/go_collector_latest.go b/prometheus/go_collector_latest.go
index 944794f1f..8528ea705 100644
--- a/prometheus/go_collector_latest.go
+++ b/prometheus/go_collector_latest.go
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func (c GoCollectorOptions) isEnabled(flag uint32) bool {
 	return c.EnabledCollections&flag != 0
 }
 
-const defaultGoCollections = goRuntimeMemStatsCollection | goRuntimeMetricsCollection
+const defaultGoCollections = goRuntimeMemStatsCollection
 
 // NewGoCollector is the obsolete version of collectors.NewGoCollector.
 // See there for documentation.
diff --git a/prometheus/go_collector_latest_test.go b/prometheus/go_collector_latest_test.go
index a7fcaddbd..88158df5b 100644
--- a/prometheus/go_collector_latest_test.go
+++ b/prometheus/go_collector_latest_test.go
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ func TestGoCollector(t *testing.T) {
 var sink interface{}
 
 func TestBatchHistogram(t *testing.T) {
-	goMetrics := collectGoMetrics(t, defaultGoCollections)
+	goMetrics := collectGoMetrics(t, goRuntimeMetricsCollection)
 
 	var mhist Metric
 	for _, m := range goMetrics {