diff --git a/lib/util/__fixtures__/release-notes.txt b/lib/util/__fixtures__/release-notes.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a75a96dcc679d176eb010860aad35a2e779fbe7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/util/__fixtures__/release-notes.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#### Our Gold Sponsors
+
+<table>
+</table>
+
+#### Our Silver Sponsors
+
+<table>
+</table>
+
+#### What's Changed
+* pnpm rebuild accepts --store-dir by @&#8203;user in https://github.com/foo/foo/pull/1
+
+#### New Contributors
+* @&#8203;user made their first contribution in https://github.com/foo/foo/pull/2
diff --git a/lib/util/markdown.spec.ts b/lib/util/markdown.spec.ts
index 0aac8a997bea619db1db3c5e5d549ecc65f11375..f608ddce11438f87e974791eda1120d4bb468a1f 100644
--- a/lib/util/markdown.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/util/markdown.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import { linkify } from './markdown';
+import { Fixtures } from '../../test/fixtures';
+import { linkify, sanitizeMarkdown } from './markdown';
 
 describe('util/markdown', () => {
   describe('.linkify', () => {
@@ -29,5 +30,25 @@ describe('util/markdown', () => {
     it('works', async () => {
       expect(await linkify(before, { repository: 'some/repo' })).toEqual(after);
     });
+
+    it('sanitizeMarkdown check massaged release notes', () => {
+      const input =
+        '#### Our Gold Sponsors\n' +
+        '\n' +
+        '<table>\n' +
+        '</table>\n' +
+        '#### Our Silver Sponsors\n' +
+        '\n' +
+        '<table>\n' +
+        '</table>\n' +
+        "#### What's Changed\n" +
+        '* pnpm rebuild accepts --store-dir by @user in https://github.com/foo/foo/pull/1\n' +
+        '\n' +
+        '#### New Contributors\n' +
+        '* @user made their first contribution in https://github.com/foo/foo/pull/2\n';
+
+      const expected = Fixtures.get('release-notes.txt');
+      expect(sanitizeMarkdown(input)).toEqual(expected);
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/lib/util/markdown.ts b/lib/util/markdown.ts
index 8f869c1afe3481cc4d51c08314acc640119bd888..0af35f07f36790dc55930bbad447dc89f67ddfb9 100644
--- a/lib/util/markdown.ts
+++ b/lib/util/markdown.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ export function sanitizeMarkdown(markdown: string): string {
   const backTickRe = regEx(/&#x60;([^/]*?)&#x60;/g);
   res = res.replace(backTickRe, '`$1`');
   res = res.replace(regEx(/`#&#8203;(\d+)`/g), '`#$1`');
+  res = res.replace(
+    regEx(/(?<before>[^\n]\n)(?<title>#.*)/g),
+    '$<before>\n$<title>'
+  );
   return res;
 }