diff --git a/awx/main/models/events.py b/awx/main/models/events.py
index fb19de554b..fcbb81409a 100644
--- a/awx/main/models/events.py
+++ b/awx/main/models/events.py
@@ -565,7 +565,6 @@ class JobEvent(BasePlaybookEvent):
             summaries = dict()
             updated_hosts_list = list()
             for host in hostnames:
-                updated_hosts_list.append(host.lower())
                 host_id = host_map.get(host)
                 if host_id not in existing_host_ids:
                     host_id = None
@@ -582,6 +581,12 @@ class JobEvent(BasePlaybookEvent):
                 summary.failed = bool(summary.dark or summary.failures)
                 summaries[(host_id, host)] = summary
 
+                # do not count dark / unreachable hosts as updated
+                if not bool(summary.dark):
+                    updated_hosts_list.append(host.lower())
+                else:
+                    logger.warning(f'host {host.lower()} is dark / unreachable, not marking it as updated')
+
             JobHostSummary.objects.bulk_create(summaries.values())
 
             # update the last_job_id and last_job_host_summary_id
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/functional/models/test_events.py b/awx/main/tests/functional/models/test_events.py
index 48adc781e7..9b70b7fd13 100644
--- a/awx/main/tests/functional/models/test_events.py
+++ b/awx/main/tests/functional/models/test_events.py
@@ -165,7 +165,9 @@ class TestEvents:
             skipped=dict((hostname, len(hostname)) for hostname in self.hostnames[10:12]),
         )
         assert len(HostMetric.objects.filter(Q(deleted=False) & Q(deleted_counter=0) & Q(last_deleted__isnull=True))) == 6
-        assert len(HostMetric.objects.filter(Q(deleted=False) & Q(deleted_counter=1) & Q(last_deleted__isnull=False))) == 6
+
+        # one of those 6 hosts is dark, so will not be counted
+        assert len(HostMetric.objects.filter(Q(deleted=False) & Q(deleted_counter=1) & Q(last_deleted__isnull=False))) == 5
 
     def _generate_hosts(self, cnt, id_from=0):
         self.hostnames = [f'Host {i}' for i in range(id_from, id_from + cnt)]