diff --git a/backend/api/controllers/leaderboards.ts b/backend/api/controllers/leaderboards.ts
index c565eb5ca..c8bc20370 100644
--- a/backend/api/controllers/leaderboards.ts
+++ b/backend/api/controllers/leaderboards.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,15 @@ class LeaderboardsController {
       queryLimit
     );
 
-    const normalizedLeaderboard = _.map(leaderboard, (entry) => {
+    if (leaderboard === false) {
+      return new MonkeyResponse(
+        "Leaderboard is currently updating. Please try again in a few seconds.",
+        null,
+        503
+      );
+    }
+
+    const normalizedLeaderboard = _.map(leaderboard as any[], (entry) => {
       return uid && entry.uid === uid
         ? entry
         : _.omit(entry, ["discordId", "uid", "difficulty", "language"]);
diff --git a/backend/dao/leaderboards.js b/backend/dao/leaderboards.js
index f10ad9de3..a786f44bc 100644
--- a/backend/dao/leaderboards.js
+++ b/backend/dao/leaderboards.js
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@ import db from "../init/db";
 import Logger from "../utils/logger";
 import { performance } from "perf_hooks";
 
+const leaderboardUpdating = {};
+
 class LeaderboardsDAO {
   static async get(mode, mode2, language, skip, limit = 50) {
+    if (leaderboardUpdating[`${language}_${mode}_${mode2}`]) return false;
     if (limit > 50 || limit <= 0) limit = 50;
     if (skip < 0) skip = 0;
     const preset = await db
@@ -83,6 +86,7 @@ class LeaderboardsDAO {
     });
     let end2 = performance.now();
     let start3 = performance.now();
+    leaderboardUpdating[`${language}_${mode}_${mode2}`] = true;
     try {
       await db.collection(`leaderboards.${language}.${mode}.${mode2}`).drop();
     } catch (e) {}
@@ -103,6 +107,7 @@ class LeaderboardsDAO {
       .createIndex({
         rank: 1,
       });
+    leaderboardUpdating[`${language}_${mode}_${mode2}`] = false;
     let end4 = performance.now();
 
     let timeToRunAggregate = (end1 - start1) / 1000;
diff --git a/backend/jobs/update-leaderboards.ts b/backend/jobs/update-leaderboards.ts
index a35698dd9..15ce71607 100644
--- a/backend/jobs/update-leaderboards.ts
+++ b/backend/jobs/update-leaderboards.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,13 @@ const RECENT_AGE_MINUTES = 10;
 const RECENT_AGE_MILLISECONDS = RECENT_AGE_MINUTES * 60 * 1000;
 
 async function getTop10(leaderboardTime: string): Promise<WithId<Document>[]> {
-  return await LeaderboardsDAO.get("time", leaderboardTime, "english", 0, 10);
+  return (await LeaderboardsDAO.get(
+    "time",
+    leaderboardTime,
+    "english",
+    0,
+    10
+  )) as any[];
 }
 
 async function updateLeaderboardAndNotifyChanges(