diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 59f7073b973..5f92e7e4c67 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         options:
-          - '-mb braces'
           - '--ie -c'
-          - '-mc'
+          - '-mb braces'
+          - '--toplevel -mc'
           - '-p acorn -mco spidermonkey'
           - '-mc passes=3,pure_getters,unsafe'
         script:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c008c96afce..e86f33d0589 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -533,8 +533,8 @@ if (result.error) throw result.error;
     Pass an object to specify custom [mangle property options](#mangle-properties-options).
 
 - `module` (default: `true`) — process input as ES module, i.e. implicit
-  `"use strict";` and support for top-level `await`, alongside with `toplevel`
-  enabled.
+  `"use strict";` and support for top-level `await`. When explicitly specified,
+  also enables `toplevel`.
 
 - `nameCache` (default: `null`) — pass an empty object `{}` or a previously
   used `nameCache` object if you wish to cache mangled variable and
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ to be `false` and all symbol names will be omitted.
 - `merge_vars` (default: `true`) — combine and reuse variables.
 
 - `module` (default: `false`) — set to `true` if you wish to process input as
-  ES module, i.e. implicit `"use strict";` alongside with `toplevel` enabled.
+  ES module, i.e. implicit `"use strict";`.
 
 - `negate_iife` (default: `true`) — negate "Immediately-Called Function Expressions"
   where the return value is discarded, to avoid the parentheses that the
@@ -927,9 +927,8 @@ can pass additional arguments that control the code output:
   regexps (affects directives with non-ascii characters becoming invalid)
 
 - `beautify` (default: `true`) — whether to actually beautify the output.
-  Passing `-b` will set this to true, but you might need to pass `-b` even
-  when you want to generate minified code, in order to specify additional
-  arguments, so you can use `-b beautify=false` to override it.
+  Passing `-b` will set this to true. Use `-O` if you want to generate minified
+  code and specify additional arguments.
 
 - `braces` (default: `false`) — always insert braces in `if`, `for`,
   `do`, `while` or `with` statements, even if their body is a single
diff --git a/bin/uglifyjs b/bin/uglifyjs
index 345765a41ee..a2a0257520f 100755
--- a/bin/uglifyjs
+++ b/bin/uglifyjs
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@ if (typeof options.sourceMap == "object" && "base" in options.sourceMap) {
 if (specified["self"]) {
     if (paths.length) UglifyJS.AST_Node.warn("Ignoring input files since --self was passed");
     if (!options.wrap) options.wrap = "UglifyJS";
-    if (!("toplevel" in options)) options.toplevel = false;
     paths = UglifyJS.FILES;
 } else if (paths.length) {
     paths = simple_glob(paths);
diff --git a/lib/compress.js b/lib/compress.js
index 2c725997642..245c3737b2f 100644
--- a/lib/compress.js
+++ b/lib/compress.js
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function Compressor(options, false_by_default) {
         switches        : !false_by_default,
         templates       : !false_by_default,
         top_retain      : null,
-        toplevel        : !!(options && !options["expression"] && (options["module"] || options["top_retain"])),
+        toplevel        : !!(options && !options["expression"] && options["top_retain"]),
         typeofs         : !false_by_default,
         unsafe          : false,
         unsafe_comps    : false,
diff --git a/lib/minify.js b/lib/minify.js
index eaec6527f64..1771338c1ff 100644
--- a/lib/minify.js
+++ b/lib/minify.js
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ function minify(files, options) {
             rename: undefined,
             sourceMap: false,
             timings: false,
-            toplevel: undefined,
+            toplevel: options && !options["expression"] && options["module"] ? true : undefined,
             v8: false,
             validate: false,
             warnings: false,
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ function minify(files, options) {
         if (options.keep_fnames) set_shorthand("keep_fnames", options, [ "compress", "mangle", "rename" ]);
         if (options.module === undefined && !options.ie) options.module = true;
         if (options.module) set_shorthand("module", options, [ "compress", "parse" ]);
-        if (options.toplevel === undefined && !options.expression && options.module) options.toplevel = true;
         if (options.toplevel !== undefined) set_shorthand("toplevel", options, [ "compress", "mangle", "rename" ]);
         if (options.v8) set_shorthand("v8", options, [ "mangle", "output", "rename" ]);
         if (options.webkit) set_shorthand("webkit", options, [ "compress", "mangle", "output", "rename" ]);
diff --git a/test/compress/functions.js b/test/compress/functions.js
index f97e750ee48..8a46879cbb6 100644
--- a/test/compress/functions.js
+++ b/test/compress/functions.js
@@ -8663,6 +8663,7 @@ module_inline: {
         inline: true,
         module: true,
         reduce_vars: true,
+        toplevel: true,
     }
     input: {
         var a = f;
diff --git a/test/jetstream.js b/test/jetstream.js
index 114c8988f0c..f5d91a13758 100644
--- a/test/jetstream.js
+++ b/test/jetstream.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ if (typeof phantom == "undefined") {
         args.splice(debug, 1);
         debug = true;
     }
-    if (!args.length) args.push("-mcb", "beautify=false,webkit");
+    if (!args.length) args.push("-mcO", "webkit");
     args.unshift("bin/uglifyjs");
     args.push("--validate", "--timings");
     var child_process = require("child_process");
diff --git a/test/mocha/cli.js b/test/mocha/cli.js
index 00e346351fd..2e7f8fe517f 100644
--- a/test/mocha/cli.js
+++ b/test/mocha/cli.js
@@ -1068,7 +1068,7 @@ describe("bin/uglifyjs", function() {
         ]).join("\n");
         exec(uglifyjscmd + " -mc", function(err, stdout) {
             if (err) throw err;
-            assert.strictEqual(stdout, "console.log({p:25}.p+{p:121}.p+{p:1024}.p);\n");
+            assert.strictEqual(stdout, "console.log(function(){var p={p:25},n={p:121},o={p:1024};return p.p+n.p+o.p}());\n");
             assert.strictEqual(run_code(stdout), run_code(code));
             done();
         }).stdin.end(code);
diff --git a/test/mocha/comments.js b/test/mocha/comments.js
index 38beaf5bb80..86a6a004362 100644
--- a/test/mocha/comments.js
+++ b/test/mocha/comments.js
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
                     beautify: true,
                     comments: "all",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, [
@@ -377,7 +376,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
             var result = UglifyJS.minify(js, {
                 compress: { collapse_vars: false, reduce_vars: false },
                 output: { comments: true },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, 'function f(){/*c1*/var/*c2*/n=/*c3*/!1;return n}');
         });
@@ -386,7 +384,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
             var result = UglifyJS.minify(js, {
                 compress: { collapse_vars: false, reduce_vars: false },
                 output: { comments: false },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, 'function f(){var n=!1;return n}');
         });
@@ -461,7 +458,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
         it("Should handle shebang and preamble correctly", function() {
             var code = UglifyJS.minify("#!/usr/bin/node\nvar x = 10;", {
                 output: { preamble: "/* Build */" },
-                toplevel: false,
             }).code;
             assert.strictEqual(code, "#!/usr/bin/node\n/* Build */\nvar x=10;");
         });
@@ -469,7 +465,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
         it("Should handle preamble without shebang correctly", function() {
             var code = UglifyJS.minify("var x = 10;", {
                 output: { preamble: "/* Build */" },
-                toplevel: false,
             }).code;
             assert.strictEqual(code, "/* Build */\nvar x=10;");
         });
@@ -483,7 +478,6 @@ describe("comments", function() {
             js += "x; }";
             var result = UglifyJS.minify(js, {
                 mangle: false,
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, "function lots_of_comments(x){return 7-x}");
         });
diff --git a/test/mocha/minify-file-map.js b/test/mocha/minify-file-map.js
index 68d8ec1f1c3..29005845f02 100644
--- a/test/mocha/minify-file-map.js
+++ b/test/mocha/minify-file-map.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ describe("Input file as map", function() {
         };
         var result = UglifyJS.minify(jsMap, {
             sourceMap: true,
-            toplevel: false,
         });
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         var map = JSON.parse(result.map);
@@ -31,7 +30,6 @@ describe("Input file as map", function() {
         ];
         var result = UglifyJS.minify(jsSeq, {
             sourceMap: true,
-            toplevel: false,
         });
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         var map = JSON.parse(result.map);
@@ -47,7 +45,6 @@ describe("Input file as map", function() {
             sourceMap: {
                 includeSources: true,
             },
-            toplevel: false,
         });
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         var map = JSON.parse(result.map);
diff --git a/test/mocha/minify.js b/test/mocha/minify.js
index 8c229069a2c..e63acd82d26 100644
--- a/test/mocha/minify.js
+++ b/test/mocha/minify.js
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ function read(path) {
 describe("minify", function() {
     it("Should test basic sanity of minify with default options", function() {
         var js = "function foo(bar) { if (bar) return 3; else return 7; var u = not_called(); }";
-        var result = UglifyJS.minify(js, {
-            module: false,
-        });
+        var result = UglifyJS.minify(js);
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         assert.strictEqual(result.code, "function foo(n){return n?3:7}");
     });
@@ -48,9 +46,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
         ].forEach(function(file) {
             var code = read("test/input/issue-1242/" + file);
             var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, {
-                compress: {
-                    toplevel: false,
-                },
                 mangle: {
                     cache: cache,
                     toplevel: true,
@@ -83,9 +78,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
         ].forEach(function(file) {
             var code = read("test/input/issue-1242/" + file);
             var result = UglifyJS.minify(code, {
-                compress: {
-                    toplevel: false,
-                },
                 mangle: {
                     toplevel: true,
                 },
@@ -172,7 +164,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
                 output: {
                     keep_quoted_props: true,
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, 'var foo={"x":1,y:2,"z":3};');
         });
@@ -183,7 +174,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
                     keep_quoted_props: true,
                     quote_style: 3,
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, 'var foo={"x":1,y:2,\'z\':3};');
         });
@@ -194,7 +184,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
                     keep_quoted_props: false,
                     quote_style: 3,
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, 'var foo={x:1,y:2,z:3};');
         });
@@ -248,7 +237,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
                     comments: "all",
                     beautify: false,
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             var code = result.code;
             assert.strictEqual(code, "var a=function(){foo()}();");
@@ -328,7 +316,6 @@ describe("minify", function() {
             UglifyJS.minify(ast, {
                 compress: {
                     sequences: false,
-                    toplevel: false,
                 },
                 mangle: false,
             });
diff --git a/test/mocha/reduce.js b/test/mocha/reduce.js
index e022d3a7b8f..6aecbb88a42 100644
--- a/test/mocha/reduce.js
+++ b/test/mocha/reduce.js
@@ -333,6 +333,7 @@ describe("test/reduce.js", function() {
                 unsafe_math: true,
             },
             mangle: false,
+            module: false,
         });
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         assert.strictEqual(result.code, [
@@ -346,7 +347,8 @@ describe("test/reduce.js", function() {
             '//   "compress": {',
             '//     "unsafe_math": true',
             '//   },',
-            '//   "mangle": false',
+            '//   "mangle": false,',
+            '//   "module": false',
             "// }",
         ].join("\n"));
     });
diff --git a/test/mocha/sourcemaps.js b/test/mocha/sourcemaps.js
index 00560aaec75..4efd42d13ce 100644
--- a/test/mocha/sourcemaps.js
+++ b/test/mocha/sourcemaps.js
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
             "}",
         ].join("\n"), {
             sourceMap: true,
-            toplevel: false,
         });
         if (result.error) throw result.error;
         assert.strictEqual(result.code, "class A{static P=42;set#q(s){}}");
@@ -188,7 +187,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                 sourceMap: {
                     content: "inline",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
                 warnings: true,
             });
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, "var bar=function(bar){return bar};");
@@ -203,7 +201,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                     content: "inline",
                     url: "inline",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
                 warnings: true,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
@@ -301,7 +298,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                 sourceMap: {
                     url: "inline",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             var code = result.code;
@@ -309,9 +305,7 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                 "//# sourceMappingURL=data:application/json;charset=utf-8;base64,eyJ2ZXJzaW9uIjozLCJzb3VyY2VzIjpbIjAiXSwibmFtZXMiOlsiYSIsImZvbyJdLCJtYXBwaW5ncyI6IkFBQUEsSUFBSUEsRUFBSSxTQUFTQyxHQUFPLE9BQU9BLENBQUsifQ==");
         });
         it("Should not append source map to output js when sourceMapInline is not enabled", function() {
-            var result = UglifyJS.minify("var a = function(foo) { return foo; };", {
-                module: false,
-            });
+            var result = UglifyJS.minify("var a = function(foo) { return foo; };");
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             var code = result.code;
             assert.strictEqual(code, "var a=function(n){return n};");
@@ -327,7 +321,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                 sourceMap: {
                     url: "inline",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             assert.strictEqual(result.code, read("test/input/issue-505/output.js"));
@@ -342,7 +335,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                     includeSources: true,
                     url: "inline",
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             var map = JSON.parse(result.map);
@@ -357,7 +349,6 @@ describe("sourcemaps", function() {
                     content: "inline",
                     includeSources: true,
                 },
-                toplevel: false,
             });
             if (result.error) throw result.error;
             map = JSON.parse(result.map);
diff --git a/test/reduce.js b/test/reduce.js
index beb05f5930f..bb80538ec6b 100644
--- a/test/reduce.js
+++ b/test/reduce.js
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ Error.stackTraceLimit = Infinity;
 module.exports = function reduce_test(testcase, minify_options, reduce_options) {
     minify_options = minify_options || {};
     reduce_options = reduce_options || {};
+    var parse_options = {
+        module: minify_options.module || minify_options.module === undefined,
+    }
     var print_options = {};
     [
         "ie",
@@ -539,9 +542,7 @@ module.exports = function reduce_test(testcase, minify_options, reduce_options)
     var before_iterations, diff_error_message, passes = 3, testcase_ast;
     for (var pass = 1; pass <= passes; pass++) {
         if (before_iterations !== testcase) {
-            testcase_ast = U.parse(testcase, {
-                module: minify_options.module,
-            });
+            testcase_ast = U.parse(testcase, parse_options);
             if (diff_error_message === testcase) {
                 // only difference detected is in error message, so expose that and try again
                 testcase_ast.transform(new U.TreeTransformer(function(node, descend) {
@@ -563,9 +564,7 @@ module.exports = function reduce_test(testcase, minify_options, reduce_options)
                     testcase = code;
                     differs = diff;
                 } else {
-                    testcase_ast = U.parse(testcase, {
-                        module: minify_options.module,
-                    });
+                    testcase_ast = U.parse(testcase, parse_options);
                 }
             }
             diff_error_message = null;
@@ -778,7 +777,7 @@ function run_code(code, toplevel, result_cache, timeout) {
     if (!value) {
         var start = Date.now();
         result_cache[key] = value = {
-            result: sandbox.run_code(sandbox.patch_module_statements(code), toplevel, timeout),
+            result: sandbox.run_code(code, toplevel, timeout),
             elapsed: Date.now() - start,
         };
     }
@@ -806,13 +805,7 @@ function compare_run_code(code, minify_options, result_cache, max_timeout) {
     };
 
     function run(code, timeout) {
-        if (minify_options.module) code = [
-            '"use strict";',
-            "(async()=>{",
-            code,
-            '})().catch(e=>process.on("exit",()=>{throw e}));',
-        ].join("\n");
-        return run_code(code, toplevel, result_cache, timeout);
+        return run_code(sandbox.patch_module_statements(code, minify_options.module), toplevel, result_cache, timeout);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/release/benchmark.js b/test/release/benchmark.js
index a27c8c8291a..78405e31a69 100644
--- a/test/release/benchmark.js
+++ b/test/release/benchmark.js
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 require("./run")([
-    "-b",
-    "-b braces",
-    "-m",
-    "-mc passes=3",
+    "-mb braces",
+    "--toplevel -c",
     "--no-module -mc",
     "-mc passes=3,unsafe",
-    "-mc keep_fargs=false,passes=3",
     "-mc keep_fargs=false,passes=3,pure_getters,unsafe,unsafe_comps,unsafe_math,unsafe_proto",
 ].map(function(options) {
     var args = options.split(/ /);
diff --git a/test/release/jetstream.js b/test/release/jetstream.js
index 2194899756f..679728fcefe 100644
--- a/test/release/jetstream.js
+++ b/test/release/jetstream.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ require("./run")([
 ].map(function(options) {
     var args = options.split(/ /);
     args.unshift("test/jetstream.js");
-    args.push("-b", "beautify=false,webkit");
+    args.push("-O", "webkit");
     args.push("--no-module");
     return args;
 }));
diff --git a/test/sandbox.js b/test/sandbox.js
index 4cb9f2ef5a6..0fd9fc2daea 100644
--- a/test/sandbox.js
+++ b/test/sandbox.js
@@ -48,7 +48,16 @@ exports.same_stdout = semver.satisfies(process.version, "0.12") ? function(expec
 } : function(expected, actual) {
     return typeof expected == typeof actual && strip_func_ids(expected) == strip_func_ids(actual);
 };
-exports.patch_module_statements = function(code) {
+exports.patch_module_statements = function(code, module) {
+    if (module || module === undefined && /\bawait\b/.test(code)) {
+        code = [
+            "(async()=>{",
+            code,
+            '})().catch(e=>process.on("exit",()=>{throw e}));',
+        ];
+        if (module) code.unshift('"use strict";');
+        code = code.join("\n");
+    }
     var count = 0, has_default = "", imports = [], strict_mode = "";
     code = code.replace(/^\s*("|')use strict\1\s*;?/, function(match) {
         strict_mode = match;
diff --git a/test/ufuzz/index.js b/test/ufuzz/index.js
index cc9d20668b2..eb38de375cd 100644
--- a/test/ufuzz/index.js
+++ b/test/ufuzz/index.js
@@ -2113,13 +2113,7 @@ if (require.main !== module) {
 }
 
 function run_code(code, toplevel, timeout) {
-    if (async && has_await) code = [
-        '"use strict";',
-        "(async()=>{",
-        code,
-        '})().catch(e=>process.on("exit",()=>{throw e}));',
-    ].join("\n");
-    return sandbox.run_code(sandbox.patch_module_statements(code), toplevel, timeout);
+    return sandbox.run_code(sandbox.patch_module_statements(code, async && has_await), toplevel, timeout);
 }
 
 function writeln(stream, msg) {