diff --git a/beets/autotag/mb.py b/beets/autotag/mb.py
index d246e1d9f..cb7d8e26f 100644
--- a/beets/autotag/mb.py
+++ b/beets/autotag/mb.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import beets.autotag.hooks
 import beets
 from beets import util
 from beets import config
+from collections import Counter
 from urllib.parse import urljoin
 
 VARIOUS_ARTISTS_ID = '89ad4ac3-39f7-470e-963a-56509c546377'
@@ -454,9 +455,17 @@ def album_info(release):
         first_medium = release['medium-list'][0]
         info.media = first_medium.get('format')
 
-    genres = release.get('genre-list')
-    if config['musicbrainz']['genres'] and genres:
-        info.genre = ';'.join(g['name'] for g in genres)
+    if config['musicbrainz']['genres']:
+        sources = [
+            release['release-group'].get('genre-list', []),
+            release.get('genre-list', []),
+        ]
+        genres = Counter()
+        for source in sources:
+            for genreitem in source:
+                genres[genreitem['name']] += int(genreitem['count'])
+        info.genre = '; '.join(g[0] for g in sorted(genres.items(),
+                                                    key=lambda g: -g[1]))
 
     extra_albumdatas = plugins.send('mb_album_extract', data=release)
     for extra_albumdata in extra_albumdatas:
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 800230e46..1a0424811 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -9,11 +9,17 @@ This release now requires Python 3.6 or later (it removes support for Python
 
 For packagers:
 
-+* We fixed a flaky test, named `test_album_art` in the `test_zero.py` file,
+* We fixed a flaky test, named `test_album_art` in the `test_zero.py` file,
   that some distributions had disabled. Disabling this test should no longer
   be necessary.
   :bug:`4037` :bug:`4038`
 
+Major new features:
+
+* Include the genre tags from the release group when the musicbrainz genre
+  option is set, and sort them by the number of votes.  Thanks to
+  :user:`aereaux`.
+
 1.5.0 (August 19, 2021)
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/docs/reference/config.rst b/docs/reference/config.rst
index aabe732c2..cc85cd269 100644
--- a/docs/reference/config.rst
+++ b/docs/reference/config.rst
@@ -753,10 +753,10 @@ Default: ``[]``
 genres
 ~~~~~~
 
-Use MusicBrainz genre tags to populate the ``genre`` tag.  This will make it a
-semicolon-separated list of all the genres tagged for the release on
-MusicBrainz.
-
+Use MusicBrainz genre tags to populate (and replace if it's already set) the
+``genre`` tag.  This will make it a list of all the genres tagged for the
+release and the release-group on MusicBrainz, separated by "; " and sorted by
+the total number of votes.
 Default: ``no``
 
 .. _match-config: