diff --git a/internal/library/scanrun.go b/internal/library/scanrun.go
index e53612ba..d2b72566 100644
--- a/internal/library/scanrun.go
+++ b/internal/library/scanrun.go
@@ -156,10 +156,16 @@ func RunScan(
 
 	// Stage 2b: track recording-MBID backfill. Unblocks the ListenBrainz
 	// similarity pipeline (gated on tracks.mbid IS NOT NULL). Log-only
-	// progress — no scan_runs jsonb column to avoid a schema addition;
-	// it's idempotent and reruns each scan until every file is healed.
+	// progress — no scan_runs jsonb column to avoid a schema addition.
+	//
+	// Unbounded (-1), unlike the album backfill's 5000 staged cap: this
+	// is a one-time whole-library heal with no progress UI, and a cap
+	// just means tracks.mbid stays partially NULL until N future scans
+	// catch up (re-reading untagged files wastefully each pass). One
+	// uncapped pass converges; subsequent scans only re-read the
+	// remaining NULL (genuinely untagged) rows, which is cheap.
 	if cfg.BackfillCap != 0 {
-		if _, tberr := BackfillTrackMBIDs(ctx, pool, logger, cfg.BackfillCap, nil); tberr != nil {
+		if _, tberr := BackfillTrackMBIDs(ctx, pool, logger, -1, nil); tberr != nil {
 			captureErr("track_mbid_backfill", tberr)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/similarity/worker.go b/internal/similarity/worker.go
index e37cf5be..8ce64ede 100644
--- a/internal/similarity/worker.go
+++ b/internal/similarity/worker.go
@@ -34,14 +34,16 @@ type Worker struct {
 }
 
 // NewWorker constructs a worker with production defaults: 1h tick,
-// batch=5, topK=20.
+// batch=25, topK=20. batch is tracks AND artists processed per tick;
+// at 25/h a freshly-played library converges in hours, not days, while
+// staying well under ListenBrainz rate limits (429s abort the tick).
 func NewWorker(pool *pgxpool.Pool, client *listenbrainz.Client, logger *slog.Logger) *Worker {
 	return &Worker{
 		pool:   pool,
 		client: client,
 		logger: logger,
 		tick:   1 * time.Hour,
-		batch:  5,
+		batch:  25,
 		topK:   20,
 	}
 }