diff --git a/src/services/import/single.ts b/src/services/import/single.ts
index 18b22329f..4f50a686d 100644
--- a/src/services/import/single.ts
+++ b/src/services/import/single.ts
@@ -150,15 +150,16 @@ function importMarkdown(taskContext: TaskContext, file: File, parentNote: BNote)
 
 function importHtml(taskContext: TaskContext, file: File, parentNote: BNote) {
     let content = file.buffer.toString("utf-8");
-    
+
+    // Try to get title from HTML first, fall back to filename
+    // We do this before sanitization since that turns all <h1>s into <h2>
+    const htmlTitle = importUtils.extractHtmlTitle(content);
+    const title = htmlTitle || utils.getNoteTitle(file.originalname, !!taskContext.data?.replaceUnderscoresWithSpaces);
+
     if (taskContext?.data?.safeImport) {
         content = htmlSanitizer.sanitize(content);
     }
-    
-    // Try to get title from HTML first, fall back to filename
-    const htmlTitle = importUtils.extractHtmlTitle(content);
-    const title = htmlTitle || utils.getNoteTitle(file.originalname, !!taskContext.data?.replaceUnderscoresWithSpaces);
-    
+
     content = importUtils.handleH1(content, title);
     
     const {note} = noteService.createNewNote({