diff --git a/app/vlselect/main.go b/app/vlselect/main.go
index 52e8ef43bd..d2d9955eab 100644
--- a/app/vlselect/main.go
+++ b/app/vlselect/main.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/httpserver"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/timerpool"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/vmalertproxy"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
 
@@ -217,7 +218,7 @@ func selectHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, path string) bool {
 	ctxWithTimeout, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, d)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	if !incRequestConcurrency(ctxWithTimeout, w, r) {
+	if !incRequestConcurrency(w, r, d) {
 		return true
 	}
 	defer decRequestConcurrency()
@@ -262,39 +263,41 @@ func logRequestErrorIfNeeded(ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http
 	}
 }
 
-func incRequestConcurrency(ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
-	startTime := time.Now()
-	stopCh := ctx.Done()
+func incRequestConcurrency(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, queryDuration time.Duration) bool {
 	select {
 	case concurrencyLimitCh <- struct{}{}:
 		return true
 	default:
-		// Sleep for a while until giving up. This should resolve short bursts in requests.
-		concurrencyLimitReached.Inc()
-		select {
-		case concurrencyLimitCh <- struct{}{}:
-			return true
-		case <-stopCh:
-			switch ctx.Err() {
-			case context.Canceled:
-				remoteAddr := httpserver.GetQuotedRemoteAddr(r)
-				requestURI := httpserver.GetRequestURI(r)
-				logger.Infof("client has canceled the pending request after %.3f seconds: remoteAddr=%s, requestURI: %q",
-					time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), remoteAddr, requestURI)
-			case context.DeadlineExceeded:
-				concurrencyLimitTimeout.Inc()
-				err := &httpserver.ErrorWithStatusCode{
-					Err: fmt.Errorf("couldn't start executing the request in %.3f seconds, since -search.maxConcurrentRequests=%d concurrent requests "+
-						"are executed. Possible solutions: to reduce query load; to add more compute resources to the server; "+
-						"to increase -search.maxQueueDuration=%s; to increase -search.maxQueryDuration=%s; to increase -search.maxConcurrentRequests; "+
-						"to pass bigger value to 'timeout' query arg",
-						time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), *maxConcurrentRequests, maxQueueDuration, maxQueryDuration),
-					StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
-				}
-				httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
-			}
-			return false
+	}
+
+	startTime := time.Now()
+
+	concurrencyLimitReached.Inc()
+	t := timerpool.Get(min(queryDuration, *maxQueueDuration))
+	defer timerpool.Put(t)
+	select {
+	case concurrencyLimitCh <- struct{}{}:
+		return true
+	case <-r.Context().Done():
+		// The client has closed the connection while the request was queued.
+		remoteAddr := httpserver.GetQuotedRemoteAddr(r)
+		requestURI := httpserver.GetRequestURI(r)
+		logger.Infof("client has canceled the pending request after %.3f seconds: remoteAddr=%s, requestURI: %q",
+			time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), remoteAddr, requestURI)
+		return false
+	case <-t.C:
+		// Either -search.maxQueueDuration or the query execution deadline elapsed while waiting for a free slot.
+		concurrencyLimitTimeout.Inc()
+		err := &httpserver.ErrorWithStatusCode{
+			Err: fmt.Errorf("couldn't start executing the request in %.3f seconds, since -search.maxConcurrentRequests=%d concurrent requests "+
+				"are executed. Possible solutions: to reduce query load; to add more compute resources to the server; "+
+				"to increase -search.maxQueueDuration=%s; to increase -search.maxQueryDuration=%s; to increase -search.maxConcurrentRequests; "+
+				"to pass bigger value to 'timeout' query arg",
+				time.Since(startTime).Seconds(), *maxConcurrentRequests, maxQueueDuration, maxQueryDuration),
+			StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
 		}
+		httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
+		return false
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
index 5cfffe1d15..b7d38b2457 100644
--- a/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ according to the following docs:
 * FEATURE: [LogsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/): add [`json_array_concat` pipe](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#json_array_concat-pipe) for joining JSON array items stored in the given [log field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/keyconcepts/#data-model) into a string with the given delimiter. See [#712](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/712).
 * FEATURE: [data ingestion](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/data-ingestion/): adjust [`_stream` field](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/keyconcepts/#stream-fields) value according to the actual log fields. This simplifies importing of previously modified VictoriaLogs-exported data. See [#1122](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/1122).
 
+* BUGFIX: [vlselect](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/): respect `-search.maxQueueDuration` for queued requests. Previously, when the number of concurrent requests exceeded `-search.maxConcurrentRequests`, the extra requests could be queued for much longer than `-search.maxQueueDuration` (up to `-search.maxQueryDuration`) before being rejected, so a few slow queries could stall other requests for everyone. See [#1554](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/1554).
 * BUGFIX: [LogsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/): fix a `vlselect` crash in [cluster mode](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/cluster/) on some valid queries. This happened when a [`math` pipe](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#math-pipe) operand had the same name as a function (such as `abs`, `round` or `floor`), or when `from` was used as a separator in the [`split` pipe](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#split-pipe). See [#1518](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/1518).
 * BUGFIX: [LogsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/): allow [`filter` pipes](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#filter-pipe) without the `filter` prefix when the filter starts with a non-word token or the `not` keyword, such as `... | !foo`, `... | {host="x"}`, `... | >5`, `... | =foo` or `... | not foo`. These were unintentionally rejected with `unexpected pipe` in [v1.51.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/releases/tag/v1.51.0). A non-word token (and the `not` operator) cannot clash with a pipe name, so it is unambiguously a filter. See [#1522](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/1522).
 * BUGFIX: [LogsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/): reject `field*` wildcards in the comma-separated (no parens) form of [`uniq`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#uniq-pipe), [`top`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#top-pipe) and [`unroll`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#unroll-pipe) pipes, consistently with their parens form, which already rejects wildcards. Previously a query such as `uniq by foo*` was accepted but could not be parsed back from its string representation. See [#1487](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/pull/1487).