diff --git a/plugins/inputs/internal/README.md b/plugins/inputs/internal/README.md
index 40e0482f8..90882d749 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/internal/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/internal/README.md
@@ -84,4 +84,5 @@ internal_write,output=file,host=tyrion,version=1.99.0 buffer_limit=10000i,write_
 internal_gather,input=internal,host=tyrion,version=1.99.0 metrics_gathered=19i,gather_time_ns=442114i 1480682800000000000
 internal_gather,input=http_listener,host=tyrion,version=1.99.0 metrics_gathered=0i,gather_time_ns=167285i 1480682800000000000
 internal_http_listener,address=:8186,host=tyrion,version=1.99.0 queries_received=0i,writes_received=0i,requests_received=0i,buffers_created=0i,requests_served=0i,pings_received=0i,bytes_received=0i,not_founds_served=0i,pings_served=0i,queries_served=0i,writes_served=0i 1480682800000000000
+internal_mqtt_consumer,host=tyrion,version=1.99.0 messages_received=622i,payload_size=37942i 1657282270000000000
 ```
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
index e0f8984e1..d4633e854 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
@@ -194,5 +194,15 @@ sensors,site=CLE,version=v1,device_name=device5 temp=390,rpm=45.0,ph=1.45
 
 - example when [[inputs.mqtt_consumer.topic_parsing]] is set
 
+- when [[inputs.internal]] is set:
+  - payload_size (int): get the cumulative size in bytes that have been received from incoming messages
+  - messages_received (int): count of the number of messages that have been received from mqtt
+  
+This will result in the following metric:
+
+```text
+internal_mqtt_consumer host=pop-os version=1.24.0 messages_received=622i payload_size=37942i 1657282270000000000
+```
+
 [mqtt]: https://mqtt.org
 [input data formats]: /docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
index 37fabded7..adc6ff029 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/common/tls"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/parsers"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/selfstat"
 )
 
 // DO NOT REMOVE THE NEXT TWO LINES! This is required to embed the sampleConfig data.
@@ -90,6 +91,8 @@ type MQTTConsumer struct {
 	topicTagParse string
 	ctx           context.Context
 	cancel        context.CancelFunc
+	payloadSize   selfstat.Stat
+	messagesRecv  selfstat.Stat
 }
 
 func (*MQTTConsumer) SampleConfig() string {
@@ -146,6 +149,8 @@ func (m *MQTTConsumer) Init() error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	m.payloadSize = selfstat.Register("mqtt_consumer", "payload_size", map[string]string{})
+	m.messagesRecv = selfstat.Register("mqtt_consumer", "messages_received", map[string]string{})
 	return nil
 }
 func (m *MQTTConsumer) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
@@ -240,6 +245,10 @@ func compareTopics(expected []string, incoming []string) bool {
 }
 
 func (m *MQTTConsumer) onMessage(acc telegraf.TrackingAccumulator, msg mqtt.Message) error {
+	payloadBytes := len(msg.Payload())
+	m.payloadSize.Incr(int64(payloadBytes))
+	m.messagesRecv.Incr(1)
+
 	metrics, err := m.parser.Parse(msg.Payload())
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer_test.go b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer_test.go
index 3b8780c78..83144f486 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer_test.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer_test.go
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ func TestPersistentClientIDFail(t *testing.T) {
 
 type Message struct {
 	topic string
+	qos   byte
 }
 
 func (m *Message) Duplicate() bool {
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ func (m *Message) Duplicate() bool {
 }
 
 func (m *Message) Qos() byte {
-	panic("not implemented")
+	return m.qos
 }
 
 func (m *Message) Retained() bool {