diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
index 70c693563e64..843632d2e865 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
@@ -1005,7 +1005,7 @@ def validate_hist_bins(s):
     'legend.isaxes': [True, validate_bool],
 
     # the number of points in the legend line
-    'legend.numpoints': [2, validate_int],
+    'legend.numpoints': [1, validate_int],
     # the number of points in the legend line for scatter
     'legend.scatterpoints': [3, validate_int],
     'legend.fontsize': ['large', validate_fontsize],
diff --git a/matplotlibrc.template b/matplotlibrc.template
index b4e602b846c5..67cbd5319627 100644
--- a/matplotlibrc.template
+++ b/matplotlibrc.template
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ backend      : %(backend)s
 #legend.fancybox      : False  # if True, use a rounded box for the
                                # legend, else a rectangle
 #legend.isaxes        : True
-#legend.numpoints     : 2      # the number of points in the legend line
+#legend.numpoints     : 1      # the number of points in the legend line
 #legend.fontsize      : large
 #legend.borderpad     : 0.5    # border whitespace in fontsize units
 #legend.markerscale   : 1.0    # the relative size of legend markers vs. original