diff --git a/.changeset/itchy-houses-whisper.md b/.changeset/itchy-houses-whisper.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2b633dbdee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/itchy-houses-whisper.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-notifications-backend': patch
+---
+
+Fix null topics being returned from notification API
diff --git a/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.test.ts b/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.test.ts
index d4edcd1e89..0386b516a2 100644
--- a/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.test.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 import {
+  mockServices,
   TestDatabaseId,
   TestDatabases,
-  mockServices,
 } from '@backstage/backend-test-utils';
 import { DatabaseNotificationsStore } from './DatabaseNotificationsStore';
 import { Knex } from 'knex';
@@ -748,6 +748,7 @@ describe.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
         await storage.saveNotification(testNotification1);
         await storage.saveNotification(testNotification2);
         await storage.saveBroadcast(testNotification3);
+        await storage.saveNotification(testNotification4); // One without topic
         await storage.saveNotification(otherUserNotification);
 
         const topics = await storage.getTopics({ user });
diff --git a/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.ts b/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.ts
index cf19874ff2..b258f38e7a 100644
--- a/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.ts
+++ b/plugins/notifications-backend/src/database/DatabaseNotificationsStore.ts
@@ -570,7 +570,9 @@ export class DatabaseNotificationsStore implements NotificationsStore {
       ...options,
       orderField: [{ field: 'topic', order: 'asc' }],
     });
-    const topics = await notificationQuery.distinct(['topic']);
+    const topics = await notificationQuery
+      .whereNotNull('topic')
+      .distinct(['topic']);
     return { topics: topics.map(row => row.topic) };
   }
 }