diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/tag-list.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/tag-list.js.es6
index efa958d71a2..decb1cea5df 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/tag-list.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/tag-list.js.es6
@@ -1,22 +1,23 @@
+import computed from "ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators";
+
 export default Ember.Component.extend({
   classNameBindings: [':tag-list', 'categoryClass'],
 
   isPrivateMessage: false,
   sortedTags: Ember.computed.sort('tags', 'sortProperties'),
 
-  title: function() {
-    if (this.get('titleKey')) { return I18n.t(this.get('titleKey')); }
-  }.property('titleKey'),
+  @computed("titleKey")
+  title(titleKey) {
+    return titleKey && I18n.t(titleKey);
+  },
 
-  category: function() {
-    if (this.get('categoryId')) {
-      return Discourse.Category.findById(this.get('categoryId'));
-    }
-  }.property('categoryId'),
+  @computed("categoryId")
+  category(categoryId) {
+    return categoryId && Discourse.Category.findById(categoryId);
+  },
 
-  categoryClass: function() {
-    if (this.get('category')) {
-      return "tag-list-" + this.get('category.fullSlug');
-    }
-  }.property('category')
+  @computed("category.fullSlug")
+  categoryClass(slug) {
+    return slug && `tag-list-${slug}`;
+  }
 });
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/tags-index.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/tags-index.js.es6
index cce4fa05b10..acf1c58d466 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/tags-index.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/tags-index.js.es6
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import computed from 'ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators';
 
 export default Ember.Controller.extend({
-  sortProperties: ['count:desc', 'id'],
+  sortProperties: ['totalCount:desc', 'id'],
   sortedByCount: true,
   sortedByName: false,
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export default Ember.Controller.extend({
   actions: {
     sortByCount() {
       this.setProperties({
-        sortProperties: ['count:desc', 'id'],
+        sortProperties: ['totalCount:desc', 'id'],
         sortedByCount: true,
         sortedByName: false
       });
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category-list.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category-list.js.es6
index 987e5020530..9511c49c589 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category-list.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category-list.js.es6
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ CategoryList.reopenClass({
         c.topics = c.topics.map(t => Discourse.Topic.create(t));
       }
 
-
       switch(statPeriod) {
         case "week":
         case "month":
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/tag.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/tag.js.es6
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..572463e5bde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/tag.js.es6
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import RestModel from "discourse/models/rest";
+import computed from "ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators";
+
+export default RestModel.extend({
+  @computed("count", "pm_count")
+  totalCount(count, pmCount) {
+    return count + pmCount;
+  }
+});
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/tags-index.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/tags-index.js.es6
index dcbe6f19290..7b7bffedb9a 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/tags-index.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/tags-index.js.es6
@@ -1,6 +1,22 @@
+import Tag from "discourse/models/tag";
+
 export default Discourse.Route.extend({
   model() {
-    return this.store.findAll('tag');
+    return this.store.findAll("tag").then(result => {
+      if (result.extras) {
+        if (result.extras.categories) {
+          result.extras.categories.forEach(category => {
+            category.tags = category.tags.map(t => Tag.create(t));
+          });
+        }
+        if (result.extras.tag_groups) {
+          result.extras.tag_groups.forEach(tagGroup => {
+            tagGroup.tags = tagGroup.tags.map(t => Tag.create(t));
+          });
+        }
+      }
+      return result;
+    });
   },
 
   titleToken() {
@@ -10,7 +26,7 @@ export default Discourse.Route.extend({
   setupController(controller, model) {
     this.controllerFor('tags.index').setProperties({
       model,
-      sortProperties: this.siteSettings.tags_sort_alphabetically ? ['id'] : ['count:desc', 'id']
+      sortProperties: this.siteSettings.tags_sort_alphabetically ? ['id'] : ['totalCount:desc', 'id']
     });
   },
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/components/tag-list.hbs b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/components/tag-list.hbs
index cd09db7bc35..7be97e2439f 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/components/tag-list.hbs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/components/tag-list.hbs
@@ -9,11 +9,7 @@
 {{/if}}
 {{#each sortedTags as |tag|}}
   <div class='tag-box'>
-    {{#if tag.count}}
-      {{discourse-tag tag.id isPrivateMessage=isPrivateMessage tagsForUser=tagsForUser}} <span class='tag-count'>x {{tag.count}}</span>
-    {{else}}
-      {{discourse-tag tag.id}}
-    {{/if}}
+    {{discourse-tag tag.id isPrivateMessage=isPrivateMessage tagsForUser=tagsForUser}} {{#if tag.pm_count}}{{d-icon "envelope"}}{{/if}}{{#if tag.totalCount}} <span class='tag-count'>x {{tag.totalCount}}</span>{{/if}}
   </div>
 {{/each}}
 <div class="clearfix" />
diff --git a/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb b/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
index f566dc453ce..0d67cb80770 100644
--- a/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/tags_controller.rb
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ class TagsController < ::ApplicationController
 
       format.json do
         ungrouped_tags = Tag.where("tags.id NOT IN (select tag_id from tag_group_memberships)")
-        ungrouped_tags = ungrouped_tags.where("tags.topic_count > 0") unless guardian.can_admin_tags?
+
+        # show all the tags to admins
+        unless guardian.can_admin_tags? && guardian.is_admin?
+          ungrouped_tags = ungrouped_tags.where("tags.topic_count > 0")
+        end
 
         if SiteSetting.tags_listed_by_group
           grouped_tag_counts = TagGroup.allowed(guardian).order('name ASC').includes(:tags).map do |tag_group|
@@ -210,7 +214,7 @@ class TagsController < ::ApplicationController
     end
 
     def self.tag_counts_json(tags)
-      tags.map { |t| { id: t.name, text: t.name, count: t.topic_count } }
+      tags.map { |t| { id: t.name, text: t.name, count: t.topic_count, pm_count: t.pm_topic_count } }
     end
 
     def set_category_from_params
diff --git a/app/models/tag.rb b/app/models/tag.rb
index 8fcba761387..62aee017d37 100644
--- a/app/models/tag.rb
+++ b/app/models/tag.rb
@@ -20,22 +20,40 @@ class Tag < ActiveRecord::Base
   after_commit :trigger_tag_destroyed_event, on: :destroy
 
   def self.ensure_consistency!
-    update_topic_counts # topic_count counter cache can miscount
+    update_topic_counts
   end
 
   def self.update_topic_counts
-    Category.exec_sql <<~SQL
+    Tag.exec_sql <<~SQL
       UPDATE tags t
-      SET topic_count = x.topic_count
-      FROM (
-        SELECT COUNT(topics.id) AS topic_count, tags.id AS tag_id
-        FROM tags
-        LEFT JOIN topic_tags ON tags.id = topic_tags.tag_id
-        LEFT JOIN topics ON topics.id = topic_tags.topic_id AND topics.deleted_at IS NULL AND topics.archetype != 'private_message'
-        GROUP BY tags.id
-      ) x
-      WHERE x.tag_id = t.id
-        AND x.topic_count <> t.topic_count
+         SET topic_count = x.topic_count
+        FROM (
+             SELECT COUNT(topics.id) AS topic_count, tags.id AS tag_id
+               FROM tags
+          LEFT JOIN topic_tags ON tags.id = topic_tags.tag_id
+          LEFT JOIN topics ON topics.id = topic_tags.topic_id
+                          AND topics.deleted_at IS NULL
+                          AND topics.archetype != 'private_message'
+           GROUP BY tags.id
+        ) x
+       WHERE x.tag_id = t.id
+         AND x.topic_count <> t.topic_count
+    SQL
+
+    Tag.exec_sql <<~SQL
+      UPDATE tags t
+         SET pm_topic_count = x.pm_topic_count
+        FROM (
+             SELECT COUNT(topics.id) AS pm_topic_count, tags.id AS tag_id
+               FROM tags
+          LEFT JOIN topic_tags ON tags.id = topic_tags.tag_id
+          LEFT JOIN topics ON topics.id = topic_tags.topic_id
+                          AND topics.deleted_at IS NULL
+                          AND topics.archetype = 'private_message'
+           GROUP BY tags.id
+        ) x
+       WHERE x.tag_id = t.id
+         AND x.pm_topic_count <> t.pm_topic_count
     SQL
   end
 
@@ -54,7 +72,7 @@ class Tag < ActiveRecord::Base
     tag_names_with_counts = Tag.exec_sql <<~SQL
       SELECT tags.name as tag_name, SUM(stats.topic_count) AS sum_topic_count
         FROM category_tag_stats stats
-  INNER JOIN tags ON stats.tag_id = tags.id AND stats.topic_count > 0
+        JOIN tags ON stats.tag_id = tags.id AND stats.topic_count > 0
        WHERE stats.category_id in (#{scope_category_ids.join(',')})
        #{filter_sql}
     GROUP BY tags.name
@@ -71,23 +89,24 @@ class Tag < ActiveRecord::Base
     user_id = allowed_user.id
 
     tag_names_with_counts = Tag.exec_sql <<~SQL
-      SELECT tags.name,
-          COUNT(topics.id) AS topic_count
-      FROM tags
-      INNER JOIN topic_tags ON tags.id = topic_tags.tag_id
-      INNER JOIN topics ON topics.id = topic_tags.topic_id
-      AND topics.deleted_at IS NULL
-      AND topics.archetype = 'private_message'
-      WHERE topic_tags.topic_id IN
-      (SELECT topic_id
-        FROM topic_allowed_users
-        WHERE user_id = #{user_id}
-        UNION ALL SELECT tg.topic_id
-        FROM topic_allowed_groups tg
-        JOIN group_users gu ON gu.user_id = #{user_id}
-        AND gu.group_id = tg.group_id)
-      GROUP BY tags.name
-      LIMIT #{limit}
+      SELECT tags.name, COUNT(topics.id) AS topic_count
+        FROM tags
+        JOIN topic_tags ON tags.id = topic_tags.tag_id
+        JOIN topics ON topics.id = topic_tags.topic_id
+                   AND topics.deleted_at IS NULL
+                   AND topics.archetype = 'private_message'
+       WHERE topic_tags.topic_id IN (
+          SELECT topic_id
+            FROM topic_allowed_users
+           WHERE user_id = #{user_id}
+           UNION
+          SELECT tg.topic_id
+            FROM topic_allowed_groups tg
+            JOIN group_users gu ON gu.user_id = #{user_id}
+                               AND gu.group_id = tg.group_id
+       )
+       GROUP BY tags.name
+       LIMIT #{limit}
     SQL
 
     tag_names_with_counts.map { |t| { id: t['name'], text: t['name'], count: t['topic_count'] } }
@@ -120,11 +139,12 @@ end
 #
 # Table name: tags
 #
-#  id          :integer          not null, primary key
-#  name        :string           not null
-#  topic_count :integer          default(0), not null
-#  created_at  :datetime         not null
-#  updated_at  :datetime         not null
+#  id             :integer          not null, primary key
+#  name           :string           not null
+#  topic_count    :integer          default(0), not null
+#  created_at     :datetime         not null
+#  updated_at     :datetime         not null
+#  pm_topic_count :integer          default(0), not null
 #
 # Indexes
 #
diff --git a/db/migrate/20180514133440_add_pm_topic_count_to_tags.rb b/db/migrate/20180514133440_add_pm_topic_count_to_tags.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9bcf5724eb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20180514133440_add_pm_topic_count_to_tags.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddPmTopicCountToTags < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.1]
+  def change
+    add_column :tags, :pm_topic_count, :integer, null: false, default: 0
+  end
+end