--- old/src/share/vm/compiler/compileBroker.cpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/compiler/compileBroker.cpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
@@ -1206,6 +1206,12 @@
     return;
   }
 
+  if (TieredCompilation) {
+    // Tiered policy requires MethodCounters to exist before adding a method to
+    // the queue. Create if we don't have them yet.
+    method->get_method_counters(thread);
+  }
+
   // Outputs from the following MutexLocker block:
   CompileTask* task     = NULL;
   bool         blocking = false;
--- old/src/share/vm/oops/method.cpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/oops/method.cpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
@@ -395,9 +395,7 @@
   methodHandle mh(m);
   ClassLoaderData* loader_data = mh->method_holder()->class_loader_data();
   MethodCounters* counters = MethodCounters::allocate(loader_data, CHECK_NULL);
-  if (mh->method_counters() == NULL) {
-    mh->set_method_counters(counters);
-  } else {
+  if (!mh->init_method_counters(counters)) {
     MetadataFactory::free_metadata(loader_data, counters);
   }
   return mh->method_counters();
--- old/src/share/vm/oops/method.hpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/oops/method.hpp	2014-09-17 16:06:58.000000000 -0700
@@ -340,6 +340,11 @@
     OrderAccess::release_store_ptr((volatile void *)&_method_counters, counters);
   }
 
+  bool init_method_counters(MethodCounters* counters) {
+    // Try to install a pointer to MethodCounters, return true on success.
+    return Atomic::cmpxchg_ptr(counters, (volatile void*)&_method_counters, NULL) == NULL;
+  }
+
 #ifdef TIERED
   // We are reusing interpreter_invocation_count as a holder for the previous event count!
   // We can do that since interpreter_invocation_count is not used in tiered.