diff --git a/pkg/workload/kv/kv.go b/pkg/workload/kv/kv.go
index d0689104d28d..f0e570065783 100644
--- a/pkg/workload/kv/kv.go
+++ b/pkg/workload/kv/kv.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ type kv struct {
 	seed                                 int64
 	writeSeq                             string
 	sequential                           bool
+	zipfian                              bool
 	splits                               int
 	secondaryIndex                       bool
 	useOpt                               bool
@@ -97,6 +98,8 @@ var kvMeta = workload.Meta{
 		g.flags.IntVar(&g.readPercent, `read-percent`, 0,
 			`Percent (0-100) of operations that are reads of existing keys.`)
 		g.flags.Int64Var(&g.seed, `seed`, 1, `Key hash seed.`)
+		g.flags.BoolVar(&g.zipfian, `zipfian`, false,
+			`Pick keys in a zipfian distribution instead of randomly.`)
 		g.flags.BoolVar(&g.sequential, `sequential`, false,
 			`Pick keys sequentially instead of randomly.`)
 		g.flags.StringVar(&g.writeSeq, `write-seq`, "",
@@ -130,6 +133,9 @@ func (w *kv) Hooks() workload.Hooks {
 			if w.sequential && w.splits > 0 {
 				return errors.New("'sequential' and 'splits' cannot both be enabled")
 			}
+			if w.sequential && w.zipfian {
+				return errors.New("'sequential' and 'zipfian' cannot both be enabled")
+			}
 			return nil
 		},
 	}
@@ -235,6 +241,8 @@ func (w *kv) Ops(urls []string, reg *workload.HistogramRegistry) (workload.Query
 		}
 		if w.sequential {
 			op.g = newSequentialGenerator(seq)
+		} else if w.zipfian {
+			op.g = newZipfianGenerator(seq)
 		} else {
 			op.g = newHashGenerator(seq)
 		}
@@ -406,6 +414,51 @@ func (g *sequentialGenerator) sequence() int64 {
 	return atomic.LoadInt64(&g.seq.val)
 }
 
+type zipfGenerator struct {
+	seq    *sequence
+	random *rand.Rand
+	zipf   *zipf
+}
+
+// Creates a new zipfian generator.
+func newZipfianGenerator(seq *sequence) *zipfGenerator {
+	random := rand.New(rand.NewSource(timeutil.Now().UnixNano()))
+	return &zipfGenerator{
+		seq:    seq,
+		random: random,
+		zipf:   newZipf(1.1, 1, uint64(math.MaxInt64)),
+	}
+}
+
+// Get a random number seeded by v that follows the
+// zipfian distribution.
+func (g *zipfGenerator) zipfian(seed int64) int64 {
+	randomWithSeed := rand.New(rand.NewSource(seed))
+	return int64(g.zipf.Uint64(randomWithSeed))
+}
+
+// Get a zipf write key appropriately.
+func (g *zipfGenerator) writeKey() int64 {
+	return g.zipfian(g.seq.write())
+}
+
+// Get a zipf read key appropriately.
+func (g *zipfGenerator) readKey() int64 {
+	v := g.seq.read()
+	if v == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return g.zipfian(g.random.Int63n(v))
+}
+
+func (g *zipfGenerator) rand() *rand.Rand {
+	return g.random
+}
+
+func (g *zipfGenerator) sequence() int64 {
+	return atomic.LoadInt64(&g.seq.val)
+}
+
 func randomBlock(config *kv, r *rand.Rand) []byte {
 	blockSize := r.Intn(config.maxBlockSizeBytes-config.minBlockSizeBytes) + config.minBlockSizeBytes
 	blockData := make([]byte, blockSize)
diff --git a/pkg/workload/kv/zipfian.go b/pkg/workload/kv/zipfian.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e870c73bbd93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/workload/kv/zipfian.go
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+// Copyright 2009 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// W.Hormann, G.Derflinger:
+// "Rejection-Inversion to Generate Variates
+// from Monotone Discrete Distributions"
+// http://eeyore.wu-wien.ac.at/papers/96-04-04.wh-der.ps.gz
+
+package kv
+
+import (
+	"math"
+	"math/rand"
+)
+
+// A zipf generates Zipf distributed variates.
+// This was added here from math/rand so we could
+// have the Zipfian distribution give us a deterministic
+// result based on the read key so we don't read missing
+// entries.
+//
+// Our changes involve being supplied with
+// a seeded rand object during the time of retrieval instead
+// of a rand object during creation.
+type zipf struct {
+	imax         float64
+	v            float64
+	q            float64
+	s            float64
+	oneminusQ    float64
+	oneminusQinv float64
+	hxm          float64
+	hx0minusHxm  float64
+}
+
+func (z *zipf) h(x float64) float64 {
+	return math.Exp(z.oneminusQ*math.Log(z.v+x)) * z.oneminusQinv
+}
+
+func (z *zipf) hinv(x float64) float64 {
+	return math.Exp(z.oneminusQinv*math.Log(z.oneminusQ*x)) - z.v
+}
+
+// newZipf returns a Zipf variate generator.
+// The generator generates values k ∈ [0, imax]
+// such that P(k) is proportional to (v + k) ** (-s).
+// Requirements: s > 1 and v >= 1.
+func newZipf(s float64, v float64, imax uint64) *zipf {
+	z := new(zipf)
+	if s <= 1.0 || v < 1 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	z.imax = float64(imax)
+	z.v = v
+	z.q = s
+	z.oneminusQ = 1.0 - z.q
+	z.oneminusQinv = 1.0 / z.oneminusQ
+	z.hxm = z.h(z.imax + 0.5)
+	z.hx0minusHxm = z.h(0.5) - math.Exp(math.Log(z.v)*(-z.q)) - z.hxm
+	z.s = 1 - z.hinv(z.h(1.5)-math.Exp(-z.q*math.Log(z.v+1.0)))
+	return z
+}
+
+// Uint64 returns a value drawn from the Zipf distribution described
+// by the Zipf object.
+func (z *zipf) Uint64(random *rand.Rand) uint64 {
+	if z == nil {
+		panic("rand: nil Zipf")
+	}
+	k := 0.0
+
+	for {
+		r := random.Float64() // r in [0.0, 1.0]
+		ur := z.hxm + r*z.hx0minusHxm
+		x := z.hinv(ur)
+		k = math.Floor(x + 0.5)
+		if k-x <= z.s {
+			break
+		}
+		if ur >= z.h(k+0.5)-math.Exp(-math.Log(k+z.v)*z.q) {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return uint64(int64(k))
+}