diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index d7124616d3bfb..af7a1345ca034 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -874,7 +874,6 @@ class SparkContext(
   /** Shut down the SparkContext. */
   def stop() {
     ui.stop()
-    eventLogger.foreach(_.stop())
     // Do this only if not stopped already - best case effort.
     // prevent NPE if stopped more than once.
     val dagSchedulerCopy = dagScheduler
@@ -883,13 +882,14 @@ class SparkContext(
       metadataCleaner.cancel()
       cleaner.foreach(_.stop())
       dagSchedulerCopy.stop()
-      listenerBus.stop()
       taskScheduler = null
       // TODO: Cache.stop()?
       env.stop()
       SparkEnv.set(null)
       ShuffleMapTask.clearCache()
       ResultTask.clearCache()
+      listenerBus.stop()
+      eventLogger.foreach(_.stop())
       logInfo("Successfully stopped SparkContext")
     } else {
       logInfo("SparkContext already stopped")
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/LiveListenerBus.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/LiveListenerBus.scala
index 353a48661b0f7..a4901c89624d1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/LiveListenerBus.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/LiveListenerBus.scala
@@ -36,6 +36,19 @@ private[spark] class LiveListenerBus extends SparkListenerBus with Logging {
   private val eventQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue[SparkListenerEvent](EVENT_QUEUE_CAPACITY)
   private var queueFullErrorMessageLogged = false
   private var started = false
+  private val listenerThread = new Thread("SparkListenerBus") {
+    setDaemon(true)
+    override def run() {
+      while (true) {
+        val event = eventQueue.take
+        if (event == SparkListenerShutdown) {
+          // Get out of the while loop and shutdown the daemon thread
+          return
+        }
+        postToAll(event)
+      }
+    }
+  }
 
   /**
    * Start sending events to attached listeners.
@@ -48,20 +61,8 @@ private[spark] class LiveListenerBus extends SparkListenerBus with Logging {
     if (started) {
       throw new IllegalStateException("Listener bus already started!")
     }
+    listenerThread.start()
     started = true
-    new Thread("SparkListenerBus") {
-      setDaemon(true)
-      override def run() {
-        while (true) {
-          val event = eventQueue.take
-          if (event == SparkListenerShutdown) {
-            // Get out of the while loop and shutdown the daemon thread
-            return
-          }
-          postToAll(event)
-        }
-      }
-    }.start()
   }
 
   def post(event: SparkListenerEvent) {
@@ -97,5 +98,6 @@ private[spark] class LiveListenerBus extends SparkListenerBus with Logging {
       throw new IllegalStateException("Attempted to stop a listener bus that has not yet started!")
     }
     post(SparkListenerShutdown)
+    listenerThread.join()
   }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/SparkListenerSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/SparkListenerSuite.scala
index 7c843772bc2e0..acf45d07bdfa9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/SparkListenerSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/SparkListenerSuite.scala
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.scheduler
 
+import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore
+
 import scala.collection.mutable
 
 import org.scalatest.{BeforeAndAfter, BeforeAndAfterAll, FunSuite}
@@ -72,6 +74,53 @@ class SparkListenerSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext with ShouldMatc
     }
   }
 
+  test("bus.stop() waits for the event queue to completely drain") {
+    @volatile var drained = false
+
+    class BlockingListener(cond: AnyRef) extends SparkListener {
+      override def onJobEnd(jobEnd: SparkListenerJobEnd) = {
+        cond.synchronized { cond.wait() }
+        drained = true
+      }
+    }
+
+    val bus = new LiveListenerBus
+    val blockingListener = new BlockingListener(bus)
+    val sem = new Semaphore(0)
+
+    bus.addListener(blockingListener)
+    bus.post(SparkListenerJobEnd(0, JobSucceeded))
+    bus.start()
+    // the queue should not drain immediately
+    assert(!drained)
+
+    new Thread("ListenerBusStopper") {
+      override def run() {
+        // stop() would block until notify() is called below
+        bus.stop()
+        sem.release()
+      }
+    }.start()
+
+    val startTime = System.currentTimeMillis()
+    val waitTime = 100
+    var done = false
+    while (!done) {
+      if (System.currentTimeMillis() > startTime + waitTime) {
+        bus.synchronized {
+          bus.notify()
+        }
+        done = true
+      } else {
+        Thread.sleep(10)
+        // bus.stop() should wait until the event queue is drained
+        assert(!drained)
+      }
+    }
+    sem.acquire()
+    assert(drained)
+  }
+
   test("basic creation of StageInfo") {
     val listener = new SaveStageAndTaskInfo
     sc.addSparkListener(listener)
diff --git a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/SparkHdfsLR.scala b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/SparkHdfsLR.scala
index e698b9bf376e1..038afbcba80a3 100644
--- a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/SparkHdfsLR.scala
+++ b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/SparkHdfsLR.scala
@@ -73,6 +73,6 @@ object SparkHdfsLR {
     }
 
     println("Final w: " + w)
-    System.exit(0)
+    sc.stop()
   }
 }