diff --git a/swh/core/github/tests/test_github_utils.py b/swh/core/github/tests/test_github_utils.py
--- a/swh/core/github/tests/test_github_utils.py
+++ b/swh/core/github/tests/test_github_utils.py
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@
         call("responses_total", "c", 1, tags0, 1),
         call("remaining_requests", "g", 999, {"username": username0}, 1),
         call("rate_limited_responses_total", "c", 1, {"username": username0}, 1),
-        call("sleep", "c", 1, None, 1),
+        call("sleep_seconds_total", "c", 1, None, 1),
         call("requests_total", "c", 1, {"username": username1}, 1),
         call("responses_total", "c", 1, tags1, 1),
         call("remaining_requests", "g", 998, {"username": username1}, 1),
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@
             call("remaining_requests", "g", 0, {"username": user}, 1),
             call("reset_seconds", "g", ratelimit_reset, {"username": user}, 1),
             call("rate_limited_responses_total", "c", 1, {"username": user}, 1),
-            call("sleep", "c", 1, None, 1),
+            call("sleep_seconds_total", "c", 1, None, 1),
         ]
 
     expected_calls_groups = (
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@
         ]
         # And finally, a long sleep and the successful request
         + [
-            [call("sleep", "c", ratelimit_reset + 1, None, 1)],
+            [call("sleep_seconds_total", "c", ratelimit_reset + 1, None, 1)],
             ok_request_calls(
                 github_session.credentials[num_ratelimit % len(github_credentials)][
                     "username"
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@
             call("remaining_requests", "g", 0, {"username": user}, 1),
             call("reset_seconds", "g", ratelimit_reset, {"username": user}, 1),
             call("rate_limited_responses_total", "c", 1, {"username": user}, 1),
-            call("sleep", "c", ratelimit_reset + 1, None, 1),
+            call("sleep_seconds_total", "c", ratelimit_reset + 1, None, 1),
         ]
 
     expected_calls_groups = (
diff --git a/swh/core/github/utils.py b/swh/core/github/utils.py
--- a/swh/core/github/utils.py
+++ b/swh/core/github/utils.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@
                         # Use next token in line
                         self.set_next_session_token()
                         # Wait one second to avoid triggering GitHub's abuse rate limits
-                        self.statsd.increment("sleep", 1)
+                        self.statsd.increment("sleep_seconds_total", 1)
                         time.sleep(1)
 
             # All tokens have been rate-limited. What do we do?
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@
                 "Rate limits exhausted for all tokens. Sleeping for %f seconds.",
                 sleep_time,
             )
-            self.statsd.increment("sleep", sleep_time)
+            self.statsd.increment("sleep_seconds_total", sleep_time)
             time.sleep(sleep_time)
 
     def get_canonical_url(self, url: str) -> Optional[str]: