diff --git a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/builder/multithreaded/ConcurrencyDependencyGraph.java b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/builder/multithreaded/ConcurrencyDependencyGraph.java
index 37c05e666903..faa48481ed9a 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/builder/multithreaded/ConcurrencyDependencyGraph.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/builder/multithreaded/ConcurrencyDependencyGraph.java
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ public List<MavenProject> getRootSchedulableBuilds() {
                 result.add(projectBuild.getProject());
             }
         }
+        if (result.isEmpty() && projectBuilds.size() > 0) {
+            // Must return at least one project
+            result.add(projectBuilds.get(0).getProject());
+        }
         return new ArrayList<>(result);
     }