diff --git a/beets/config_default.yaml b/beets/config_default.yaml
index 66ab9526f..d35368ea5 100644
--- a/beets/config_default.yaml
+++ b/beets/config_default.yaml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ replace:
     '[<>:"\?\*\|]': _
     '\.$': _
     '\s+$': ''
+    '^\s+': ''
 path_sep_replace: _
 art_filename: cover
 max_filename_length: 0
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index ec2a6cd4f..43bfae013 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ Fixes:
   be written to a file.
 * :doc:`/plugins/duplicates`: Spurious reports are now avoided for tracks with
   missing values (e.g., no MBIDs). Thanks to Pedro Silva.
+* Fix default :ref:`replace` value so leading whitespace are also removed.
 
 .. _requests: http://www.python-requests.org/