diff --git a/storage/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfig.java b/storage/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfig.java
index 2d368daef19b..081fc27e79bf 100644
--- a/storage/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfig.java
+++ b/storage/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfig.java
@@ -71,8 +71,7 @@ public final class RemoteLogManagerConfig {
 
     public static final String REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_PROP = "remote.log.metadata.manager.class.name";
     public static final String REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_DOC = "Fully qualified class name of `RemoteLogMetadataManager` implementation.";
-    //todo add the default topic based RLMM class name.
-    public static final String DEFAULT_REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME = "";
+    public static final String DEFAULT_REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME = "org.apache.kafka.server.log.remote.metadata.storage.TopicBasedRemoteLogMetadataManager";
 
     public static final String REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_PATH_PROP = "remote.log.metadata.manager.class.path";
     public static final String REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_PATH_DOC = "Class path of the `RemoteLogMetadataManager` implementation." +
@@ -176,7 +175,8 @@ public final class RemoteLogManagerConfig {
                                   MEDIUM,
                                   REMOTE_STORAGE_MANAGER_CLASS_PATH_DOC)
                   .defineInternal(REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_PROP,
-                                  STRING, null,
+                                  STRING,
+                                  DEFAULT_REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME,
                                   new ConfigDef.NonEmptyString(),
                                   MEDIUM,
                                   REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_DOC)
diff --git a/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfigTest.java b/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfigTest.java
index c8b428ca547f..8bef2e3de79e 100644
--- a/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfigTest.java
+++ b/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/server/log/remote/storage/RemoteLogManagerConfigTest.java
@@ -18,12 +18,16 @@
 
 import org.apache.kafka.common.config.AbstractConfig;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import static org.apache.kafka.server.log.remote.storage.RemoteLogManagerConfig.DEFAULT_REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME;
+import static org.apache.kafka.server.log.remote.storage.RemoteLogManagerConfig.REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_PROP;
+
 public class RemoteLogManagerConfigTest {
 
     private static class TestConfig extends AbstractConfig {
@@ -32,21 +36,27 @@ public TestConfig(Map<?, ?> originals) {
         }
     }
 
-    @Test
-    public void testValidConfigs() {
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(booleans = {true, false})
+    public void testValidConfigs(boolean useDefaultRemoteLogMetadataManagerClass) {
         String rsmPrefix = "__custom.rsm.";
         String rlmmPrefix = "__custom.rlmm.";
         Map<String, Object> rsmProps = Collections.singletonMap("rsm.prop", "val");
         Map<String, Object> rlmmProps = Collections.singletonMap("rlmm.prop", "val");
+        String remoteLogMetadataManagerClass = useDefaultRemoteLogMetadataManagerClass ? DEFAULT_REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME : "dummy.remote.log.metadata.class";
         RemoteLogManagerConfig expectedRemoteLogManagerConfig
                 = new RemoteLogManagerConfig(true, "dummy.remote.storage.class", "dummy.remote.storage.class.path",
-                                             "dummy.remote.log.metadata.class", "dummy.remote.log.metadata.class.path",
+                                             remoteLogMetadataManagerClass, "dummy.remote.log.metadata.class.path",
                                              "listener.name", 1024 * 1024L, 1, 60000L, 100L, 60000L, 0.3, 10, 100, 100,
                                              rsmPrefix, rsmProps, rlmmPrefix, rlmmProps);
 
         Map<String, Object> props = extractProps(expectedRemoteLogManagerConfig);
         rsmProps.forEach((k, v) -> props.put(rsmPrefix + k, v));
         rlmmProps.forEach((k, v) -> props.put(rlmmPrefix + k, v));
+        // Removing remote.log.metadata.manager.class.name so that the default value gets picked up.
+        if (useDefaultRemoteLogMetadataManagerClass) {
+            props.remove(REMOTE_LOG_METADATA_MANAGER_CLASS_NAME_PROP);
+        }
         TestConfig config = new TestConfig(props);
         RemoteLogManagerConfig remoteLogManagerConfig = new RemoteLogManagerConfig(config);
         Assertions.assertEquals(expectedRemoteLogManagerConfig, remoteLogManagerConfig);