diff --git a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/README.md b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/README.md
index 1fcd5e0985f43..93d530d5723bb 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/README.md
@@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ See the [CONFIGURATION.md][CONFIGURATION.md] for more details.
   # role_session_name = ""
   # profile = ""
   # shared_credential_file = ""
-  
-  ## If you are using CloudWatch cross-account observability, you can 
-  ## set IncludeLinkedAccounts to true in a monitoring account 
+
+  ## If you are using CloudWatch cross-account observability, you can
+  ## set IncludeLinkedAccounts to true in a monitoring account
   ## and collect metrics from the linked source accounts
   # include_linked_accounts = false
-  
+
   ## Endpoint to make request against, the correct endpoint is automatically
   ## determined and this option should only be set if you wish to override the
   ## default.
@@ -102,6 +102,13 @@ See the [CONFIGURATION.md][CONFIGURATION.md] for more details.
   ## Metric Statistic Namespaces (required)
   namespaces = ["AWS/ELB"]
 
+  ## Metric Format
+  ## This determines the format of the produces metrics. 'sparse', the default
+  ## will produce a unique field for each statistic. 'dense' will report all
+  ## statistics will be in a field called value and have a metric_name tag
+  ## defining the name of the statistic. See the plugin README for examples.
+  # metric_format = "sparse"
+
   ## Maximum requests per second. Note that the global default AWS rate limit
   ## is 50 reqs/sec, so if you define multiple namespaces, these should add up
   ## to a maximum of 50.
@@ -212,15 +219,53 @@ but will output five metrics timestamped one minute apart.
 ## Metrics
 
 Each CloudWatch Namespace monitored records a measurement with fields for each
-available Metric Statistic.  Namespace and Metrics are represented in [snake
+available Metric Statistic. Namespace and Metrics are represented in [snake
 case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_case)
 
+### Sparse Metrics
+
+By default, metrics generated by this plugin are sparse. Use the `metric_format`
+option to override this setting.
+
+Sparse metrics produce a set of fields for every AWS Metric.
+
+- cloudwatch_{namespace}
+  - Fields
+    - {metric}_sum         (metric Sum value)
+    - {metric}_average     (metric Average value)
+    - {metric}_minimum     (metric Minimum value)
+    - {metric}_maximum     (metric Maximum value)
+    - {metric}_sample_count (metric SampleCount value)
+
+For example:
+
+```text
+cloudwatch_aws_usage,class=None,resource=GetSecretValue,service=Secrets\ Manager,type=API call_count_maximum=1,call_count_minimum=1,call_count_sum=8,call_count_sample_count=8,call_count_average=1 1715097720000000000
+```
+
+### Dense Metrics
+
+Dense metrics are generated when `metric_format` is set to `dense`.
+
+Dense metrics use the same fields over and over for every AWS Metric and
+differentiate between AWS Metrics using a tag called `metric_name` with the AWS
+Metric name:
+
 - cloudwatch_{namespace}
-  - {metric}_sum         (metric Sum value)
-  - {metric}_average     (metric Average value)
-  - {metric}_minimum     (metric Minimum value)
-  - {metric}_maximum     (metric Maximum value)
-  - {metric}_sample_count (metric SampleCount value)
+  - Tags
+    - metric_name (AWS Metric name)
+  - Fields
+    - sum         (metric Sum value)
+    - average     (metric Average value)
+    - minimum     (metric Minimum value)
+    - maximum     (metric Maximum value)
+    - sample_count (metric SampleCount value)
+
+For example:
+
+```text
+cloudwatch_aws_usage,class=None,resource=GetSecretValue,service=Secrets\ Manager,metric_name=call_count,type=API sum=6,sample_count=6,average=1,maximum=1,minimum=1 1715097840000000000
+```
 
 ### Tags
 
@@ -274,6 +319,8 @@ aws cloudwatch get-metric-data \
 
 ## Example Output
 
+See the discussion above about sparse vs dense metrics for more details.
+
 ```text
 cloudwatch_aws_elb,load_balancer_name=p-example,region=us-east-1 latency_average=0.004810798017284538,latency_maximum=0.1100282669067383,latency_minimum=0.0006084442138671875,latency_sample_count=4029,latency_sum=19.382705211639404 1459542420000000000
 ```
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
index c934b1a1e3190..110bc02a92495 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -48,8 +49,8 @@ type CloudWatch struct {
 	RecentlyActive        string          `toml:"recently_active"`
 	BatchSize             int             `toml:"batch_size"`
 	IncludeLinkedAccounts bool            `toml:"include_linked_accounts"`
-
-	Log telegraf.Logger `toml:"-"`
+	MetricFormat          string          `toml:"metric_format"`
+	Log                   telegraf.Logger `toml:"-"`
 
 	client          cloudwatchClient
 	statFilter      filter.Filter
@@ -98,6 +99,14 @@ func (c *CloudWatch) Init() error {
 		c.Namespaces = append(c.Namespaces, c.Namespace)
 	}
 
+	switch c.MetricFormat {
+	case "":
+		c.MetricFormat = "sparse"
+	case "dense", "sparse":
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid metric_format: %s", c.MetricFormat)
+	}
+
 	err := c.initializeCloudWatch()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -462,7 +471,21 @@ func (c *CloudWatch) aggregateMetrics(
 			tags["region"] = c.Region
 
 			for i := range result.Values {
-				grouper.Add(namespace, tags, result.Timestamps[i], *result.Label, result.Values[i])
+				if c.MetricFormat == "dense" {
+					// Remove the IDs from the result ID to get the statistic type
+					// e.g. "average" from "average_0_0"
+					re := regexp.MustCompile(`_\d+_\d+$`)
+					statisticType := re.ReplaceAllString(*result.Id, "")
+
+					// Remove the statistic type from the label to get the AWS Metric name
+					// e.g. "CPUUtilization" from "CPUUtilization_average"
+					re = regexp.MustCompile(`_?` + regexp.QuoteMeta(statisticType) + `$`)
+					tags["metric_name"] = re.ReplaceAllString(*result.Label, "")
+
+					grouper.Add(namespace, tags, result.Timestamps[i], statisticType, result.Values[i])
+				} else {
+					grouper.Add(namespace, tags, result.Timestamps[i], *result.Label, result.Values[i])
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch_test.go b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch_test.go
index 7a5d5f212e29f..1054df2c36e3a 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch_test.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/cloudwatch_test.go
@@ -198,6 +198,44 @@ func TestGather(t *testing.T) {
 	acc.AssertContainsTaggedFields(t, "cloudwatch_aws_elb", fields, tags)
 }
 
+func TestGatherDenseMetric(t *testing.T) {
+	duration, _ := time.ParseDuration("1m")
+	internalDuration := config.Duration(duration)
+	c := &CloudWatch{
+		CredentialConfig: internalaws.CredentialConfig{
+			Region: "us-east-1",
+		},
+		Namespace:    "AWS/ELB",
+		Delay:        internalDuration,
+		Period:       internalDuration,
+		RateLimit:    200,
+		BatchSize:    500,
+		MetricFormat: "dense",
+		Log:          testutil.Logger{},
+	}
+
+	var acc testutil.Accumulator
+
+	require.NoError(t, c.Init())
+	c.client = &mockGatherCloudWatchClient{}
+	require.NoError(t, acc.GatherError(c.Gather))
+
+	fields := map[string]interface{}{}
+	fields["minimum"] = 0.1
+	fields["maximum"] = 0.3
+	fields["average"] = 0.2
+	fields["sum"] = 123.0
+	fields["sample_count"] = 100.0
+
+	tags := map[string]string{}
+	tags["region"] = "us-east-1"
+	tags["load_balancer_name"] = "p-example1"
+	tags["metric_name"] = "latency"
+
+	require.True(t, acc.HasMeasurement("cloudwatch_aws_elb"))
+	acc.AssertContainsTaggedFields(t, "cloudwatch_aws_elb", fields, tags)
+}
+
 func TestMultiAccountGather(t *testing.T) {
 	duration, _ := time.ParseDuration("1m")
 	internalDuration := config.Duration(duration)
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/sample.conf b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/sample.conf
index fd9f48ecce74a..f0544a59d5deb 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/sample.conf
+++ b/plugins/inputs/cloudwatch/sample.conf
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@
   # role_session_name = ""
   # profile = ""
   # shared_credential_file = ""
-  
-  ## If you are using CloudWatch cross-account observability, you can 
-  ## set IncludeLinkedAccounts to true in a monitoring account 
+
+  ## If you are using CloudWatch cross-account observability, you can
+  ## set IncludeLinkedAccounts to true in a monitoring account
   ## and collect metrics from the linked source accounts
   # include_linked_accounts = false
-  
+
   ## Endpoint to make request against, the correct endpoint is automatically
   ## determined and this option should only be set if you wish to override the
   ## default.
@@ -73,6 +73,13 @@
   ## Metric Statistic Namespaces (required)
   namespaces = ["AWS/ELB"]
 
+  ## Metric Format
+  ## This determines the format of the produces metrics. 'sparse', the default
+  ## will produce a unique field for each statistic. 'dense' will report all
+  ## statistics will be in a field called value and have a metric_name tag
+  ## defining the name of the statistic. See the plugin README for examples.
+  # metric_format = "sparse"
+
   ## Maximum requests per second. Note that the global default AWS rate limit
   ## is 50 reqs/sec, so if you define multiple namespaces, these should add up
   ## to a maximum of 50.