diff --git a/beets/library.py b/beets/library.py
index 40265231e..6450af9c7 100644
--- a/beets/library.py
+++ b/beets/library.py
@@ -452,6 +452,10 @@ class RegexpQuery(FieldQuery):
 
     def match(self, item):
         value = getattr(item, self.field) or ''
+        if value is None:
+            value = u''
+        elif not isinstance(value, basestring):
+            value = unicode(value)
         return self.regexp.search(value) is not None
 
 class BooleanQuery(MatchQuery):
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index eecd3df77..bc4815dcf 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Changelog
 * Fix album queries for ``artpath`` and other non-item fields.
 * Null values in the database can now be matched with the empty-string regular
   expression, ``^$``.
+* Regular expressions more reliably match non-string values.
 * :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`: Fix a bug where cover art filenames could lack
   a ``.jpg`` extension.
 * :doc:`/plugins/lyrics`: Fix an exception with non-ASCII lyrics.
diff --git a/test/test_query.py b/test/test_query.py
index 5a4debefc..6dc212a8a 100644
--- a/test/test_query.py
+++ b/test/test_query.py
@@ -302,6 +302,22 @@ class MemoryGetTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
         self.assert_matched(results, u'caf\xe9')
         self.assert_done(results)
 
+class MatchTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.item = _common.item()
+
+    def test_regex_match_positive(self):
+        q = beets.library.RegexpQuery('album', '^the album$')
+        self.assertTrue(q.match(self.item))
+
+    def test_regex_match_negative(self):
+        q = beets.library.RegexpQuery('album', '^album$')
+        self.assertFalse(q.match(self.item))
+
+    def test_regex_match_non_string_value(self):
+        q = beets.library.RegexpQuery('disc', '^6$')
+        self.assertTrue(q.match(self.item))
+
 class PathQueryTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
     def setUp(self):
         self.lib = beets.library.Library(':memory:')