diff --git a/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim b/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
index 3d03f013b..7260b4af4 100644
--- a/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
+++ b/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ suite "GossipSub internal":
 
       let topic = "foobar"
       gossipSub.gossipsub[topic] = initHashSet[string]()
+      gossipSub.topics[topic] = Topic() # has to be in topics to rebalance
 
       var conns = newSeq[Connection]()
       for i in 0..<15:
@@ -97,6 +98,7 @@ suite "GossipSub internal":
         conn.peerInfo = peerInfo
         gossipSub.peers[peerInfo.id] = newPubSubPeer(peerInfo, GossipSubCodec)
         gossipSub.peers[peerInfo.id].handler = handler
+        gossipSub.peers[peerInfo.id].topics &= topic
         gossipSub.gossipsub[topic].incl(peerInfo.id)
 
       check gossipSub.gossipsub[topic].len == 15