diff --git a/bin/main.js b/bin/main.js
index 3c6585776f..76fa6c0783 100644
--- a/bin/main.js
+++ b/bin/main.js
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ export async function main(nodeProcess) {
         // try require for json
         markedConfig = require(configFile);
       } catch(err) {
-        if (err.code !== 'ERR_REQUIRE_ESM') {
+        if (err.code !== 'ERR_REQUIRE_ESM' && err.code !== 'ERR_REQUIRE_ASYNC_MODULE') {
           throw err;
         }
         // must import esm
diff --git a/test/unit/bin.test.js b/test/unit/bin.test.js
index 30fa726674..e0b2bf718b 100644
--- a/test/unit/bin.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/bin.test.js
@@ -116,6 +116,11 @@ describe('bin/marked', () => {
       stdout: '<p>line1<br>line2</p>',
     }));
 
+    it('config with top-level await', testInput({
+      args: ['--config', fixturePath('bin-config-await.mjs'), '-s', 'line1\nline2'],
+      stdout: '<p>line1<br>line2</p>',
+    }));
+
     it('config not found', testInput({
       args: ['--config', fixturePath('does-not-exist.js'), '-s', 'line1\nline2'],
       stderr: `Cannot load config file '${fixturePath('does-not-exist.js')}'`,
diff --git a/test/unit/fixtures/bin-config-await.mjs b/test/unit/fixtures/bin-config-await.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..00291ad103
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/fixtures/bin-config-await.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export default await Promise.resolve({
+  breaks: true,
+});