diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7fe15b0e..06215db9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ http://localhost:8001/History/downloads.json will return that data as JSON:
             "total_bytes",
             ...
         ],
-        "table_rows_count": 576,
         "rows": [
             [
                 1,
diff --git a/datasette/views/table.py b/datasette/views/table.py
index 87f6d2c6..1b70b4f4 100644
--- a/datasette/views/table.py
+++ b/datasette/views/table.py
@@ -317,12 +317,7 @@ class TableView(RowTableShared):
                     )
                     params["search_{}".format(i)] = search_text
 
-        table_rows_count = None
         sortable_columns = set()
-        if not is_view:
-            table_rows_count = (await self.ds.execute(
-                database, "select count(*) from {}".format(escape_sqlite(table))
-            )).rows[0][0]
 
         sortable_columns = await self.sortable_columns_for_table(database, table, use_rowid)
 
@@ -760,7 +755,6 @@ class TableView(RowTableShared):
             "human_description_en": human_description_en,
             "rows": rows[:page_size],
             "truncated": results.truncated,
-            "table_rows_count": table_rows_count,
             "filtered_table_rows_count": filtered_table_rows_count,
             "expanded_columns": expanded_columns,
             "expandable_columns": expandable_columns,
diff --git a/docs/getting_started.rst b/docs/getting_started.rst
index 5b1d0647..f4186531 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.rst
+++ b/docs/getting_started.rst
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ JSON:
             "total_bytes",
             ...
         ],
-        "table_rows_count": 576,
         "rows": [
             [
                 1,
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index 07974e26..1ca1ba22 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -700,7 +700,6 @@ def test_page_size_zero(app_client):
     response = app_client.get('/fixtures/no_primary_key.json?_size=0')
     assert 200 == response.status
     assert [] == response.json['rows']
-    assert 201 == response.json['table_rows_count']
     assert 201 == response.json['filtered_table_rows_count']
     assert None is response.json['next']
     assert None is response.json['next_url']
@@ -800,7 +799,6 @@ def test_sortable_and_filtered(app_client):
         if 'd' in row['content']
     ]
     assert len(expected) == response.json['filtered_table_rows_count']
-    assert 201 == response.json['table_rows_count']
     expected.sort(key=lambda row: -row['sortable'])
     assert [
         r['content'] for r in expected