diff --git a/compiler/CHANGELOG.md b/compiler/CHANGELOG.md
index 9dbdd4837d9d..988903eb9dfd 100644
--- a/compiler/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/compiler/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 This changelog summarizes newly introduced optimizations that may be relevant to other teams.
 
+## Version 22.1.0
+* (GR-36751): Removed the `DuplicateIrreducibleLoops` option. To disable irreducible loop handling, set
+  `-Dgraal.MaxDuplicationFactor` to a value less than or equal to 1. For AOT compilations, the effort
+  spent to handle irreducible loops is boosted to let Native Image support more programs with irreducible loops.
+
 ## Version 22.0.0
 * (GR-22707) (GR-30838): New, inner loops first, reverse post order and loop frequency calculations for the compiler.
 
diff --git a/compiler/src/org.graalvm.compiler.java/src/org/graalvm/compiler/java/BciBlockMapping.java b/compiler/src/org.graalvm.compiler.java/src/org/graalvm/compiler/java/BciBlockMapping.java
index e9e3f3b43065..1ca750d604f4 100644
--- a/compiler/src/org.graalvm.compiler.java/src/org/graalvm/compiler/java/BciBlockMapping.java
+++ b/compiler/src/org.graalvm.compiler.java/src/org/graalvm/compiler/java/BciBlockMapping.java
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@
 import static org.graalvm.compiler.bytecode.Bytecodes.TABLESWITCH;
 import static org.graalvm.compiler.bytecode.Bytecodes.WIDE;
 import static org.graalvm.compiler.core.common.GraalOptions.SupportJsrBytecodes;
+import static org.graalvm.compiler.java.BciBlockMapping.Options.MaxDuplicationFactor;
 
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -291,9 +292,9 @@
  * maximum subroutine nesting of 4. Otherwise, a bailout is thrown.
  * <p>
  * Loops in the methods are detected. If a method contains an irreducible loop (a loop with more
- * than one entry), a bailout is thrown or block duplication is attempted to make the loop
- * reducible. This simplifies the compiler later on since only structured loops need to be
- * supported.
+ * than one entry), a bailout is thrown or, if {@link Options#MaxDuplicationFactor} {@code > 1},
+ * block duplication is attempted to make the loop reducible. This simplifies the compiler later on
+ * since only structured loops need to be supported.
  * <p>
  * A data flow analysis computes the live local variables from the point of view of the interpreter.
  * The result is used later to prune frame states, i.e., remove local variable entries that are
@@ -304,9 +305,8 @@
  */
 public class BciBlockMapping implements JavaMethodContext {
     public static class Options {
-        @Option(help = "When enabled, some limited amount of duplication will be performed in order compile code containing irreducible loops.")//
-        public static final OptionKey<Boolean> DuplicateIrreducibleLoops = new OptionKey<>(true);
-        @Option(help = "How much duplication can happen because of irreducible loops before bailing out.", type = OptionType.Expert)//
+        @Option(help = "Max amount of extra effort to expend handling irreducible loops. " +
+                        "A value <= 1 disables support for irreducible loops.", type = OptionType.Expert)//
         public static final OptionKey<Double> MaxDuplicationFactor = new OptionKey<>(2.0);
     }
 
@@ -734,14 +734,30 @@ public String toString() {
     private int newDuplicateBlocks;
     private int duplicateBlocks;
 
+    /**
+     * Amount by which {@link Options#MaxDuplicationFactor} is multiplied.
+     */
+    private final int maxDuplicationBoost;
+
     /**
      * Creates a new BlockMap instance from {@code code}.
      */
     protected BciBlockMapping(Bytecode code, DebugContext debug) {
+        this(code, debug, 1);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new BlockMap instance from {@code code}.
+     *
+     * @param maxDuplicationBoost amount by which to multiply {@link Options#MaxDuplicationFactor}
+     */
+    protected BciBlockMapping(Bytecode code, DebugContext debug, int maxDuplicationBoost) {
         this.code = code;
         this.debug = debug;
         this.exceptionHandlers = code.getExceptionHandlers();
         this.blockMap = new BciBlock[code.getCodeSize()];
+        assert maxDuplicationBoost >= 1 : maxDuplicationBoost;
+        this.maxDuplicationBoost = maxDuplicationBoost;
     }
 
     public BciBlock[] getBlocks() {
@@ -1604,10 +1620,10 @@ private void propagateLoopBits(TraversalStep step, BitSet loopBits) {
      * <p>
      * Since loops are marked eagerly, forward entries into an existing loop without going through
      * the loop header (i.e., irreducible loops) can be detected easily. In this case, if
-     * {@link Options#DuplicateIrreducibleLoops} is enabled, the traversal starts to duplicate
+     * {@link Options#MaxDuplicationFactor} is greater than 1, the traversal starts to duplicate
      * blocks until it either exits the loop or reaches the header. Since this is a depth-first
      * traversal and the loop header is not active, we know that the loop and its inner-loops were
-     * until then reducible.
+     * reducible until then.
      * <p>
      * This is not recursive to avoid stack overflow issues.
      */
@@ -1666,7 +1682,7 @@ private void computeBlockOrder(BciBlock initialBlock) {
                         for (int pos = -1; (pos = checkBits.nextSetBit(pos + 1)) >= 0;) {
                             int id = pos;
                             if (!loopHeaders[id].active) {
-                                if (!Options.DuplicateIrreducibleLoops.getValue(debug.getOptions())) {
+                                if (Options.MaxDuplicationFactor.getValue(debug.getOptions()) <= 1.0D) {
                                     throw new PermanentBailoutException("Irreducible");
                                 } else if (outermostInactiveLoopId == -1 || !loopHeaders[id].loops.get(outermostInactiveLoopId)) {
                                     outermostInactiveLoopId = id;
@@ -1710,10 +1726,12 @@ private void computeBlockOrder(BciBlock initialBlock) {
                 blocksNotYetAssignedId--;
                 if (blocksNotYetAssignedId < 0) {
                     // this should only happen if duplication is active
-                    assert Options.DuplicateIrreducibleLoops.getValue(debug.getOptions());
+                    OptionValues options = debug.getOptions();
+                    double factor = MaxDuplicationFactor.getValue(options);
                     duplicateBlocks += newDuplicateBlocks;
-                    if (duplicateBlocks > postJsrBlockCount * Options.MaxDuplicationFactor.getValue(debug.getOptions())) {
-                        throw new PermanentBailoutException("Non-reducible loop requires too much duplication");
+                    if (duplicateBlocks > postJsrBlockCount * factor * maxDuplicationBoost) {
+                        throw new PermanentBailoutException("Non-reducible loop requires too much duplication. " +
+                                        "Setting " + MaxDuplicationFactor.getName() + " to a value higher than " + factor + " may resolve this.");
                     }
                     // there are new duplicate blocks, re-number
                     debug.log(DebugContext.INFO_LEVEL, "Re-numbering blocks to make room for duplicates (old length: %d; new blocks: %d)", blocks.length, newDuplicateBlocks);
@@ -1754,7 +1772,11 @@ private boolean checkBlocks(int start, BciBlock inserting) {
     }
 
     public static BciBlockMapping create(BytecodeStream stream, Bytecode code, OptionValues options, DebugContext debug, boolean hasAsyncExceptions) {
-        BciBlockMapping map = new BciBlockMapping(code, debug);
+        return create(stream, code, options, debug, hasAsyncExceptions, 1);
+    }
+
+    public static BciBlockMapping create(BytecodeStream stream, Bytecode code, OptionValues options, DebugContext debug, boolean hasAsyncExceptions, int maxDuplicationBoost) {
+        BciBlockMapping map = new BciBlockMapping(code, debug, maxDuplicationBoost);
         buildMap(stream, code, options, debug, map, hasAsyncExceptions);
         return map;
     }
diff --git a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.hosted/src/com/oracle/svm/hosted/phases/HostedGraphBuilderPhase.java b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.hosted/src/com/oracle/svm/hosted/phases/HostedGraphBuilderPhase.java
index e7358d5ac83d..9a1e2b51729f 100644
--- a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.hosted/src/com/oracle/svm/hosted/phases/HostedGraphBuilderPhase.java
+++ b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.hosted/src/com/oracle/svm/hosted/phases/HostedGraphBuilderPhase.java
@@ -124,14 +124,18 @@ protected boolean asyncExceptionLiveness() {
 
     @Override
     protected BciBlockMapping generateBlockMap() {
+        // Double effort expended to handle irreducible loops in AOT compilation
+        // since failure means native-image fails.
+        int maxDuplicationBoost = 2;
+
         if (isDeoptimizationEnabled() && isMethodDeoptTarget()) {
             /*
              * Need to add blocks representing where deoptimization entrypoint nodes will be
              * inserted.
              */
-            return HostedBciBlockMapping.create(stream, code, options, graph.getDebug(), false);
+            return HostedBciBlockMapping.create(stream, code, options, graph.getDebug(), false, maxDuplicationBoost);
         } else {
-            return BciBlockMapping.create(stream, code, options, graph.getDebug(), asyncExceptionLiveness());
+            return BciBlockMapping.create(stream, code, options, graph.getDebug(), asyncExceptionLiveness(), maxDuplicationBoost);
         }
     }
 
@@ -300,8 +304,8 @@ final class HostedBciBlockMapping extends BciBlockMapping {
      */
     private final Set<DeoptEntryInsertionPoint> insertedBlocks;
 
-    private HostedBciBlockMapping(Bytecode code, DebugContext debug) {
-        super(code, debug);
+    private HostedBciBlockMapping(Bytecode code, DebugContext debug, int maxDuplicationBoost) {
+        super(code, debug, maxDuplicationBoost);
         insertedBlocks = new HashSet<>();
     }
 
@@ -466,8 +470,8 @@ public String toString() {
      * Creates a BciBlockMapping with blocks explicitly representing where DeoptEntryNodes and
      * DeoptProxyAnchorNodes are to be inserted.
      */
-    public static BciBlockMapping create(BytecodeStream stream, Bytecode code, OptionValues options, DebugContext debug, boolean hasAsyncExceptions) {
-        BciBlockMapping map = new HostedBciBlockMapping(code, debug);
+    public static BciBlockMapping create(BytecodeStream stream, Bytecode code, OptionValues options, DebugContext debug, boolean hasAsyncExceptions, int maxDuplicationBoost) {
+        BciBlockMapping map = new HostedBciBlockMapping(code, debug, maxDuplicationBoost);
         buildMap(stream, code, options, debug, map, hasAsyncExceptions);
         return map;
     }