diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f46786c92..3c5da1d45 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ This change log adheres to standards from [Keep a CHANGELOG](http://keepachangel
 - [`order`]: ignore non-module-level requires ([#1940], thanks [@golopot])
 - [`no-webpack-loader-syntax`]/TypeScript: avoid crash on missing name ([#1947], thanks @leonardodino)
 - [`no-extraneous-dependencies`]: Add package.json cache ([#1948], thanks @fa93hws)
+- [`prefer-default-export`]: handle empty array destructuring ([#1965], thanks @ljharb)
 
 ## [2.22.1] - 2020-09-27
 ### Fixed
@@ -738,6 +739,7 @@ for info on changes for earlier releases.
 
 [`memo-parser`]: ./memo-parser/README.md
 
+[#1965]: https://github.com/benmosher/eslint-plugin-import/issues/1965
 [#1948]: https://github.com/benmosher/eslint-plugin-import/pull/1948
 [#1947]: https://github.com/benmosher/eslint-plugin-import/pull/1947
 [#1940]: https://github.com/benmosher/eslint-plugin-import/pull/1940
diff --git a/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js b/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
index f1db4eaaa..002cf2870 100644
--- a/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
+++ b/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ module.exports = {
     let namedExportNode = null
 
     function captureDeclaration(identifierOrPattern) {
-      if (identifierOrPattern.type === 'ObjectPattern') {
+      if (identifierOrPattern && identifierOrPattern.type === 'ObjectPattern') {
         // recursively capture
         identifierOrPattern.properties
           .forEach(function(property) {
             captureDeclaration(property.value)
           })
-      } else if (identifierOrPattern.type === 'ArrayPattern') {
+      } else if (identifierOrPattern && identifierOrPattern.type === 'ArrayPattern') {
         identifierOrPattern.elements
           .forEach(captureDeclaration)
       } else  {
diff --git a/tests/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js b/tests/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
index 9e38cea92..dae930a73 100644
--- a/tests/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
+++ b/tests/src/rules/prefer-default-export.js
@@ -88,6 +88,12 @@ ruleTester.run('prefer-default-export', rule, {
       parser: require.resolve('babel-eslint'),
     }),
     // ...SYNTAX_CASES,
+    {
+      code: `
+        export const [CounterProvider,, withCounter] = func();;
+      `,
+      parser: require.resolve('babel-eslint'),
+    },
   ],
   invalid: [
     test({