diff --git a/gen_stats b/gen_stats
index 28d9916..3c3072f 100755
--- a/gen_stats
+++ b/gen_stats
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ channels = []
 for schannel in schannels:
     channel = {}
     channel["name"] = unsanitize(schannel.find("channelname"))
-    channel["topic"] = unsanitize(schannel.find("./channeltopic/topictext"))
+    channel["topic"] = unsanitize(schannel.find("./channeltopic/topictext"), "no topic set")
     channel["usercount"] = int(schannel.find("usercount").text)
     channel["webchatlink"] = "https://web.tilde.chat/?join=" + quote(channel["name"])