diff --git a/base/reflection.jl b/base/reflection.jl
index 2df713a531fae..935809d66cc02 100644
--- a/base/reflection.jl
+++ b/base/reflection.jl
@@ -1003,12 +1003,15 @@ function datatype_fieldcount(t::DataType)
             return fieldcount(types)
         end
         return nothing
-    elseif isabstracttype(t) || (t.name === Tuple.name && isvatuple(t))
+    elseif isabstracttype(t)
         return nothing
     end
-    if isdefined(t, :types)
+    if t.name === Tuple.name
+        isvatuple(t) && return nothing
         return length(t.types)
     end
+    # Equivalent to length(t.types), but `t.types` is lazy and we do not want
+    # to be forced to compute it.
     return length(t.name.names)
 end
 
diff --git a/test/compiler/inference.jl b/test/compiler/inference.jl
index 358b165f1d7e8..870eeaaf0687b 100644
--- a/test/compiler/inference.jl
+++ b/test/compiler/inference.jl
@@ -5725,3 +5725,6 @@ let interp = CachedConditionalInterp();
         result.linfo.def.name === :func_cached_conditional
     end == 1
 end
+
+# fieldcount on `Tuple` should constant fold, even though `.fields` not const
+@test fully_eliminated(Base.fieldcount, Tuple{Type{Tuple{Nothing, Int, Int}}})