diff --git a/federationapi/internal/api.go b/federationapi/internal/api.go
index 778387bdc..99773a750 100644
--- a/federationapi/internal/api.go
+++ b/federationapi/internal/api.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func (a *FederationInternalAPI) doRequestIfNotBackingOffOrBlacklisted(
 			RetryAfter:  retryAfter,
 		}
 	}
-	stats.Success(false)
+	stats.Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 	return res, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/federationapi/internal/perform.go b/federationapi/internal/perform.go
index 6ddbacbef..1179801e6 100644
--- a/federationapi/internal/perform.go
+++ b/federationapi/internal/perform.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/api"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/consumers"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/statistics"
 	roomserverAPI "github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/api"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/version"
 )
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ func (r *FederationInternalAPI) PerformDirectoryLookup(
 	}
 	response.RoomID = dir.RoomID
 	response.ServerNames = dir.Servers
-	r.statistics.ForServer(request.ServerName).Success(false)
+	r.statistics.ForServer(request.ServerName).Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ func (r *FederationInternalAPI) performJoinUsingServer(
 		r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Failure()
 		return fmt.Errorf("r.federation.MakeJoin: %w", err)
 	}
-	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(false)
+	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 
 	// Set all the fields to be what they should be, this should be a no-op
 	// but it's possible that the remote server returned us something "odd"
@@ -229,7 +230,7 @@ func (r *FederationInternalAPI) performJoinUsingServer(
 		r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Failure()
 		return fmt.Errorf("r.federation.SendJoin: %w", err)
 	}
-	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(false)
+	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 
 	// If the remote server returned an event in the "event" key of
 	// the send_join request then we should use that instead. It may
@@ -461,7 +462,7 @@ func (r *FederationInternalAPI) performOutboundPeekUsingServer(
 		r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Failure()
 		return fmt.Errorf("r.federation.Peek: %w", err)
 	}
-	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(false)
+	r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 
 	// Work out if we support the room version that has been supplied in
 	// the peek response.
@@ -605,7 +606,7 @@ func (r *FederationInternalAPI) PerformLeave(
 			continue
 		}
 
-		r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(false)
+		r.statistics.ForServer(serverName).Success(statistics.SendDirect)
 		return nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/federationapi/queue/destinationqueue.go b/federationapi/queue/destinationqueue.go
index c4f938577..19d41fe3d 100644
--- a/federationapi/queue/destinationqueue.go
+++ b/federationapi/queue/destinationqueue.go
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) backgroundSend() {
 func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 	pdus []*queuedPDU,
 	edus []*queuedEDU,
-) (err error, relaySuccess bool) {
+) (err error, sendMethod statistics.SendMethod) {
 	// Create the transaction.
 	t, pduReceipts, eduReceipts := oq.createTransaction(pdus, edus)
 	logrus.WithField("server_name", oq.destination).Debugf("Sending transaction %q containing %d PDUs, %d EDUs", t.TransactionID, len(t.PDUs), len(t.EDUs))
@@ -411,11 +411,13 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 
 	relayServers := oq.statistics.KnownRelayServers()
 	if oq.statistics.AssumedOffline() && len(relayServers) > 0 {
+		sendMethod = statistics.SendViaRelay
+		relaySuccess := false
 		logrus.Infof("Sending to relay servers: %v", relayServers)
 		// TODO : how to pass through actual userID here?!?!?!?!
 		userID, userErr := gomatrixserverlib.NewUserID("@user:"+string(oq.destination), false)
 		if userErr != nil {
-			return userErr, false
+			return userErr, sendMethod
 		}
 		for _, relayServer := range relayServers {
 			_, relayErr := oq.client.P2PSendTransactionToRelay(ctx, *userID, t, relayServer)
@@ -429,6 +431,7 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 			err = nil
 		}
 	} else {
+		sendMethod = statistics.SendDirect
 		_, err = oq.client.SendTransaction(ctx, t)
 	}
 	switch errResponse := err.(type) {
@@ -450,7 +453,7 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 		oq.transactionIDMutex.Lock()
 		oq.transactionID = ""
 		oq.transactionIDMutex.Unlock()
-		return nil, relaySuccess
+		return nil, sendMethod
 	case gomatrix.HTTPError:
 		// Report that we failed to send the transaction and we
 		// will retry again, subject to backoff.
@@ -460,13 +463,13 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 		// to a 400-ish error
 		code := errResponse.Code
 		logrus.Debug("Transaction failed with HTTP", code)
-		return err, false
+		return err, sendMethod
 	default:
 		logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 			"destination":   oq.destination,
 			logrus.ErrorKey: err,
 		}).Debugf("Failed to send transaction %q", t.TransactionID)
-		return err, false
+		return err, sendMethod
 	}
 }
 
@@ -553,10 +556,11 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) blacklistDestination() {
 
 // handleTransactionSuccess updates the cached event queues as well as the success and
 // backoff information for this server.
-func (oq *destinationQueue) handleTransactionSuccess(pduCount int, eduCount int, relaySuccess bool) {
+func (oq *destinationQueue) handleTransactionSuccess(pduCount int, eduCount int, sendMethod statistics.SendMethod) {
 	// If we successfully sent the transaction then clear out
 	// the pending events and EDUs, and wipe our transaction ID.
-	oq.statistics.Success(relaySuccess)
+
+	oq.statistics.Success(sendMethod)
 	oq.pendingMutex.Lock()
 	defer oq.pendingMutex.Unlock()
 
diff --git a/federationapi/statistics/statistics.go b/federationapi/statistics/statistics.go
index 2803c891d..5395f70a3 100644
--- a/federationapi/statistics/statistics.go
+++ b/federationapi/statistics/statistics.go
@@ -89,6 +89,13 @@ func (s *Statistics) ForServer(serverName gomatrixserverlib.ServerName) *ServerS
 	return server
 }
 
+type SendMethod uint8
+
+const (
+	SendDirect SendMethod = iota
+	SendViaRelay
+)
+
 // ServerStatistics contains information about our interactions with a
 // remote federated host, e.g. how many times we were successful, how
 // many times we failed etc. It also manages the backoff time and black-
@@ -139,16 +146,16 @@ func (s *ServerStatistics) AssignBackoffNotifier(notifier func()) {
 // attempt, which increases the sent counter and resets the idle and
 // failure counters. If a host was blacklisted at this point then
 // we will unblacklist it.
-// `async` specifies whether the success was to the actual destination
+// `relay` specifies whether the success was to the actual destination
 // or one of their relay servers.
-func (s *ServerStatistics) Success(async bool) {
+func (s *ServerStatistics) Success(method SendMethod) {
 	s.cancel()
 	s.backoffCount.Store(0)
 	// NOTE : Sending to the final destination vs. a relay server has
 	// slightly different semantics.
-	if !async {
+	if method == SendDirect {
 		s.successCounter.Inc()
-		if s.statistics.DB != nil {
+		if s.blacklisted.Load() && s.statistics.DB != nil {
 			if err := s.statistics.DB.RemoveServerFromBlacklist(s.serverName); err != nil {
 				logrus.WithError(err).Errorf("Failed to remove %q from blacklist", s.serverName)
 			}
diff --git a/federationapi/statistics/statistics_test.go b/federationapi/statistics/statistics_test.go
index 24e654499..312c19a68 100644
--- a/federationapi/statistics/statistics_test.go
+++ b/federationapi/statistics/statistics_test.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func TestBackoff(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Start by checking that counting successes works.
-	server.Success(false)
+	server.Success(SendDirect)
 	if successes := server.SuccessCount(); successes != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected success count 1, got %d", successes)
 	}