diff --git a/cmd/prometheus/main.go b/cmd/prometheus/main.go
index cd0775bbdd..d262e91767 100644
--- a/cmd/prometheus/main.go
+++ b/cmd/prometheus/main.go
@@ -1826,6 +1826,7 @@ func (opts tsdbOptions) ToTSDBOptions() tsdb.Options {
 		EnableDelayedCompaction:        opts.EnableDelayedCompaction,
 		CompactionDelayMaxPercent:      opts.CompactionDelayMaxPercent,
 		EnableOverlappingCompaction:    opts.EnableOverlappingCompaction,
+		StartupMinRetentionTime:        time.Now(),
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/tsdb/db.go b/tsdb/db.go
index 2cfa4f3638..163ddfd075 100644
--- a/tsdb/db.go
+++ b/tsdb/db.go
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ func DefaultOptions() *Options {
 		CompactionDelayMaxPercent:   DefaultCompactionDelayMaxPercent,
 		CompactionDelay:             time.Duration(0),
 		PostingsDecoderFactory:      DefaultPostingsDecoderFactory,
+		StartupMinRetentionTime:     time.Now(),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -224,6 +225,10 @@ type Options struct {
 	// PostingsDecoderFactory allows users to customize postings decoders based on BlockMeta.
 	// By default, DefaultPostingsDecoderFactory will be used to create raw posting decoder.
 	PostingsDecoderFactory PostingsDecoderFactory
+
+	// StartupMinRetentionTime is the used to delete blocks and ignore samples from the WAL
+	// during the startup of the TSDB.
+	StartupMinRetentionTime time.Time
 }
 
 type NewCompactorFunc func(ctx context.Context, r prometheus.Registerer, l *slog.Logger, ranges []int64, pool chunkenc.Pool, opts *Options) (Compactor, error)
@@ -814,6 +819,9 @@ func validateOpts(opts *Options, rngs []int64) (*Options, []int64) {
 	if opts.OutOfOrderTimeWindow < 0 {
 		opts.OutOfOrderTimeWindow = 0
 	}
+	if opts.StartupMinRetentionTime.IsZero() {
+		opts.StartupMinRetentionTime = time.Now()
+	}
 
 	if len(rngs) == 0 {
 		// Start with smallest block duration and create exponential buckets until the exceed the
@@ -885,10 +893,6 @@ func open(dir string, l *slog.Logger, r prometheus.Registerer, opts *Options, rn
 		returnedErr = errs.Err()
 	}()
 
-	if db.blocksToDelete == nil {
-		db.blocksToDelete = DefaultBlocksToDelete(db)
-	}
-
 	var err error
 	db.locker, err = tsdbutil.NewDirLocker(dir, "tsdb", db.logger, r)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -952,6 +956,11 @@ func open(dir string, l *slog.Logger, r prometheus.Registerer, opts *Options, rn
 			}
 		}
 	}
+
+	if db.blocksToDelete == nil {
+		db.blocksToDelete = DefaultBlocksToDelete(db)
+	}
+
 	db.oooWasEnabled.Store(opts.OutOfOrderTimeWindow > 0)
 	headOpts := DefaultHeadOptions()
 	headOpts.ChunkRange = rngs[0]