diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/specs/template_srv.test.ts b/public/app/features/templating/specs/template_srv.test.ts
index 1535392138c..8f5c5b72212 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/specs/template_srv.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/specs/template_srv.test.ts
@@ -112,6 +112,23 @@ describe('templateSrv', () => {
       expect(target).toBe('this.{value1,value2}.filters');
     });
 
+    describe('when the globbed variable only has one value', () => {
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        initTemplateSrv([
+          {
+            type: 'query',
+            name: 'test',
+            current: { value: ['value1'] },
+          },
+        ]);
+      });
+
+      it('should not glob the value', () => {
+        const target = _templateSrv.replace('this.$test.filters', {}, 'glob');
+        expect(target).toBe('this.value1.filters');
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should replace ${test} with globbed value', () => {
       const target = _templateSrv.replace('this.${test}.filters', {}, 'glob');
       expect(target).toBe('this.{value1,value2}.filters');
diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
index a37be2c4998..f43f6449717 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ export class TemplateSrv {
         return this.encodeURIComponentStrict(value);
       }
       default: {
-        if (_.isArray(value)) {
+        if (_.isArray(value) && value.length > 1) {
           return '{' + value.join(',') + '}';
         }
         return value;
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/datasource.test.ts
index eb4920b7739..70f086aa433 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/specs/datasource.test.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { GraphiteDatasource } from '../datasource';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 // @ts-ignore
 import $q from 'q';
-import { TemplateSrvStub } from 'test/specs/helpers';
+import { TemplateSrv } from 'app/features/templating/template_srv';
 import { dateTime } from '@grafana/data';
 
 describe('graphiteDatasource', () => {
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe('graphiteDatasource', () => {
     backendSrv: {},
     $q,
     // @ts-ignore
-    templateSrv: new TemplateSrvStub(),
+    templateSrv: new TemplateSrv(),
     instanceSettings: { url: 'url', name: 'graphiteProd', jsonData: {} },
   };
 
@@ -218,6 +218,38 @@ describe('graphiteDatasource', () => {
       });
       expect(results.length).toBe(2);
     });
+
+    describe('when formatting targets', () => {
+      it('does not attempt to glob for one variable', () => {
+        ctx.ds.templateSrv.init([
+          {
+            type: 'query',
+            name: 'metric',
+            current: { value: ['b'] },
+          },
+        ]);
+
+        const results = ctx.ds.buildGraphiteParams({
+          targets: [{ target: 'my.$metric.*' }],
+        });
+        expect(results).toStrictEqual(['target=my.b.*', 'format=json']);
+      });
+
+      it('globs for more than one variable', () => {
+        ctx.ds.templateSrv.init([
+          {
+            type: 'query',
+            name: 'metric',
+            current: { value: ['a', 'b'] },
+          },
+        ]);
+
+        const results = ctx.ds.buildGraphiteParams({
+          targets: [{ target: 'my.[[metric]].*' }],
+        });
+        expect(results).toStrictEqual(['target=my.%7Ba%2Cb%7D.*', 'format=json']);
+      });
+    });
   });
 
   describe('querying for template variables', () => {
@@ -308,7 +340,13 @@ describe('graphiteDatasource', () => {
     });
 
     it('/metrics/find should be POST', () => {
-      ctx.templateSrv.setGrafanaVariable('foo', 'bar');
+      ctx.ds.templateSrv.init([
+        {
+          type: 'query',
+          name: 'foo',
+          current: { value: ['bar'] },
+        },
+      ]);
       ctx.ds.metricFindQuery('[[foo]]').then((data: any) => {
         results = data;
       });
@@ -327,7 +365,7 @@ function accessScenario(name: string, url: string, fn: any) {
       backendSrv: {},
       $q,
       // @ts-ignore
-      templateSrv: new TemplateSrvStub(),
+      templateSrv: new TemplateSrv(),
       instanceSettings: { url: 'url', name: 'graphiteProd', jsonData: {} },
     };