diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index cad951bcab0..14c83c5d276 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Add mixer metricset for Istio Metricbeat module {pull}15696[15696]
 - Add mesh metricset for Istio Metricbeat module{pull}15535[15535]
 - Add support for Unix socket in Memcached metricbeat module. {issue}13685[13685] {pull}15822[15822]
+- Make the `system/cpu` metricset collect normalized CPU metrics by default. {issue}15618[15618] {pull}15729[15729]
 
 *Packetbeat*
 
diff --git a/metricbeat/docs/modules/system.asciidoc b/metricbeat/docs/modules/system.asciidoc
index a832eb5f854..74c9c06a794 100644
--- a/metricbeat/docs/modules/system.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/docs/modules/system.asciidoc
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ metricbeat.modules:
   processes: ['.*']
 
   # Configure the metric types that are included by these metricsets.
-  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages"]  # The other available options are normalized_percentages and ticks.
+  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages","normalized_percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
   core.metrics: ["percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
 
   # A list of filesystem types to ignore. The filesystem metricset will not
diff --git a/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml b/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
index 0f4bca5fad1..072f86f768f 100644
--- a/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
+++ b/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ metricbeat.modules:
   processes: ['.*']
 
   # Configure the metric types that are included by these metricsets.
-  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages"]  # The other available options are normalized_percentages and ticks.
+  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages","normalized_percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
   core.metrics: ["percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
 
   # A list of filesystem types to ignore. The filesystem metricset will not
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/system/_meta/config.reference.yml b/metricbeat/module/system/_meta/config.reference.yml
index a30b782ac63..a6023d23ddc 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/system/_meta/config.reference.yml
+++ b/metricbeat/module/system/_meta/config.reference.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
   processes: ['.*']
 
   # Configure the metric types that are included by these metricsets.
-  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages"]  # The other available options are normalized_percentages and ticks.
+  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages","normalized_percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
   core.metrics: ["percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
 
   # A list of filesystem types to ignore. The filesystem metricset will not
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/system/cpu/config.go b/metricbeat/module/system/cpu/config.go
index 169d59ca1f9..291ee7963ef 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/system/cpu/config.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/system/cpu/config.go
@@ -62,5 +62,5 @@ func (c Config) Validate() error {
 }
 
 var defaultConfig = Config{
-	Metrics: []string{percentages},
+	Metrics: []string{percentages, normalizedPercentages},
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml b/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
index b50ef683043..e7e28588380 100644
--- a/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
+++ b/x-pack/metricbeat/metricbeat.reference.yml
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ metricbeat.modules:
   processes: ['.*']
 
   # Configure the metric types that are included by these metricsets.
-  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages"]  # The other available options are normalized_percentages and ticks.
+  cpu.metrics:  ["percentages","normalized_percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
   core.metrics: ["percentages"]  # The other available option is ticks.
 
   # A list of filesystem types to ignore. The filesystem metricset will not