diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 66a81554..f61f8af6 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -1113,7 +1113,13 @@ function _before_layout_calcs(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend})
             end
             pyaxis."label"."set_fontsize"(py_thickness_scale(plt, axis[:guidefontsize]))
             pyaxis."label"."set_family"(axis[:guidefontfamily])
-            pyaxis."label"."set_rotation"(axis[:guidefontrotation])
+
+            if (letter == :y && !RecipesPipeline.is3d(sp))
+                pyaxis."label"."set_rotation"(axis[:guidefontrotation] + 90)
+            else
+                pyaxis."label"."set_rotation"(axis[:guidefontrotation])
+            end
+
             for lab in getproperty(ax, Symbol("get_", letter, "ticklabels"))()
                 lab."set_fontsize"(py_thickness_scale(plt, axis[:tickfontsize]))
                 lab."set_family"(axis[:tickfontfamily])