diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/js/views/abstract_view.js b/addons/web/static/src/js/views/abstract_view.js
index f3277d394a3..7fca3b83ff3 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/js/views/abstract_view.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/js/views/abstract_view.js
@@ -162,6 +162,11 @@ var AbstractView = Class.extend({
             this.controllerParams.withControlPanel = params.withControlPanel;
         }
 
+        var groupBy = params.groupBy;
+        if (typeof groupBy === 'string') {
+            groupBy = [groupBy];
+        }
+
         this.loadParams = {
             context: params.context,
             count: params.count || ((this.controllerParams.ids !== undefined) &&
@@ -172,7 +177,7 @@ var AbstractView = Class.extend({
             comparisonTimeRange: comparisonTimeRange,
             comparisonTimeRangeDescription: comparisonTimeRangeDescription,
             compare: compare,
-            groupedBy: params.groupBy,
+            groupedBy: groupBy,
             modelName: params.modelName,
             res_id: params.currentId,
             res_ids: params.ids,
diff --git a/addons/web/static/tests/views/abstract_view_tests.js b/addons/web/static/tests/views/abstract_view_tests.js
index b958550a8e1..01f1daafeb4 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/tests/views/abstract_view_tests.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/tests/views/abstract_view_tests.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ odoo.define('web.abstract_view_tests', function (require) {
 
 var AbstractView = require('web.AbstractView');
 var ajax = require('web.ajax');
+var ListView = require('web.ListView');
 var testUtils = require('web.test_utils');
 
 var createAsyncView = testUtils.createAsyncView;
@@ -14,6 +15,16 @@ QUnit.module('Views', {
                 fields: {},
                 record: [],
             },
+            foo: {
+                fields: {
+                    foo: {string: "Foo", type: "char"},
+                    bar: {string: "Bar", type: "boolean"},
+                },
+                records: [
+                    {id: 1, bar: true, foo: "yop"},
+                    {id: 2, bar: true, foo: "blip"},
+                ]
+            },
         };
     },
 }, function () {
@@ -100,5 +111,24 @@ QUnit.module('Views', {
             "should load 'c' when 'a' and 'b' are loaded");
         defs.c.resolve();
     });
+
+    QUnit.test('groupBy attribute can be a string, instead of a list of strings', function (assert) {
+        assert.expect(2);
+
+        var list = testUtils.createView({
+            View: ListView,
+            model: 'foo',
+            data: this.data,
+            arch: '<tree><field name="foo"/><field name="bar"/></tree>',
+            groupBy: 'bar',
+            mockRPC: function (route, args) {
+                assert.strictEqual(args.method, 'read_group');
+                assert.deepEqual(args.kwargs.groupby, ['bar']);
+                return this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+            },
+        });
+        list.destroy();
+    });
+
 });
 });
diff --git a/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_tests.js b/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_tests.js
index 5a0d00b6f6d..4cd4b58ea9e 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_tests.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_tests.js
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ QUnit.module('Views', {
         assert.strictEqual(list.$('th:contains(Bar)').length, 1, "should contain Bar");
         assert.strictEqual(list.$('tr.o_group_header').length, 2, "should have 2 .o_group_header");
         assert.strictEqual(list.$('th.o_group_name').length, 2, "should have 2 .o_group_name");
+        list.destroy();
     });
 
     QUnit.test('basic grouped list rendering 1 col without selector', function (assert) {