diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-api/src/metrics/Metric.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-api/src/metrics/Metric.ts
index 4b02812723e..4023a733939 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-api/src/metrics/Metric.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-api/src/metrics/Metric.ts
@@ -110,14 +110,14 @@ export interface Counter extends UnboundMetric<BoundCounter> {
   /**
    * Adds the given value to the current value. Values cannot be negative.
    */
-  add(value: number, labels: Labels): void;
+  add(value: number, labels?: Labels): void;
 }
 
 export interface Measure extends UnboundMetric<BoundMeasure> {
   /**
    * Records the given value to this measure.
    */
-  record(value: number, labels: Labels): void;
+  record(value: number, labels?: Labels): void;
 
   record(
     value: number,
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/src/Metric.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/src/Metric.ts
index 5785fa0374b..9547d210e39 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/src/Metric.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/src/Metric.ts
@@ -131,10 +131,10 @@ export class CounterMetric extends Metric<BoundCounter> implements api.Counter {
   /**
    * Adds the given value to the current value. Values cannot be negative.
    * @param value the value to add.
-   * @param labels key-values pairs that are associated with a specific metric
+   * @param [labels = {}] key-values pairs that are associated with a specific metric
    *     that you want to record.
    */
-  add(value: number, labels: api.Labels) {
+  add(value: number, labels: api.Labels = {}) {
     this.bind(labels).add(value);
   }
 }
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ export class MeasureMetric extends Metric<BoundMeasure> implements api.Measure {
     );
   }
 
-  record(value: number, labels: api.Labels) {
+  record(value: number, labels: api.Labels = {}) {
     this.bind(labels).record(value);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/test/Meter.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/test/Meter.test.ts
index e7172f1661e..5826f09a901 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/test/Meter.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-metrics/test/Meter.test.ts
@@ -92,6 +92,19 @@ describe('Meter', () => {
       );
     });
 
+    it('should be able to call add with no labels', () => {
+      const counter = meter.createCounter('name', {
+        description: 'desc',
+        unit: '1',
+        disabled: false,
+        monotonic: true,
+      });
+      counter.add(1);
+      meter.collect();
+      const [record1] = meter.getBatcher().checkPointSet();
+      assert.strictEqual(record1.aggregator.toPoint().value, 1);
+    });
+
     it('should pipe through resource', () => {
       const counter = meter.createCounter('name') as CounterMetric;
       assert.ok(counter.resource instanceof Resource);