diff --git a/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleButton.vue b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleButton.vue
index 462efb16..bb43c9f2 100644
--- a/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleButton.vue
+++ b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleButton.vue
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ const selected = ref(people[3])
 
 <template>
   <USelectMenu v-slot="{ open }" v-model="selected" :options="people">
-    <UButton>
+    <UButton color="gray">
       {{ selected }}
 
-      <UIcon name="i-heroicons-chevron-right-20-solid" class="w-5 h-5 transition-transform" :class="[open && 'transform rotate-90']" />
+      <UIcon name="i-heroicons-chevron-right-20-solid" class="w-5 h-5 transition-transform text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500" :class="[open && 'transform rotate-90']" />
     </UButton>
   </USelectMenu>
 </template>
diff --git a/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultiple.vue b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultiple.vue
index cb7d791a..ea68128c 100644
--- a/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultiple.vue
+++ b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultiple.vue
@@ -5,10 +5,5 @@ const selected = ref([])
 </script>
 
 <template>
-  <USelectMenu v-model="selected" :options="people" multiple>
-    <template #label>
-      <span v-if="selected.length" class="font-medium truncate">{{ selected.join(', ') }}</span>
-      <span v-else class="block truncate text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">Select people</span>
-    </template>
-  </USelectMenu>
+  <USelectMenu v-model="selected" :options="people" multiple placeholder="Select people" />
 </template>
diff --git a/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultipleSlot.vue b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultipleSlot.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..282dd831
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/components/content/examples/SelectMenuExampleMultipleSlot.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<script setup>
+const people = ['Wade Cooper', 'Arlene Mccoy', 'Devon Webb', 'Tom Cook', 'Tanya Fox', 'Hellen Schmidt', 'Caroline Schultz', 'Mason Heaney', 'Claudie Smitham', 'Emil Schaefer']
+
+const selected = ref([])
+</script>
+
+<template>
+  <USelectMenu v-model="selected" :options="people" multiple>
+    <template #label>
+      <span v-if="selected.length" class="truncate">{{ selected.join(', ') }}</span>
+      <span v-else>Select people</span>
+    </template>
+  </USelectMenu>
+</template>
diff --git a/docs/content/3.forms/4.select-menu.md b/docs/content/3.forms/4.select-menu.md
index e2da7b5f..8cacdbd8 100644
--- a/docs/content/3.forms/4.select-menu.md
+++ b/docs/content/3.forms/4.select-menu.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ headlessui:
 
 The SelectMenu component renders by default a [Select](/forms/select) component and is based on the `ui.select` preset. You can use most of the Select props to configure the display if you don't want to override the default slot such as [color](/forms/select#style), [variant](/forms/select#style), [size](/forms/select#size), [placeholder](/forms/select#placeholder), [icon](/forms/select#icon), [disabled](/forms/select#disabled), etc.
 
+### Options
+
 Like the Select component, you can use the `options` prop to pass an array of strings or objects.
 
 ::component-example
@@ -30,7 +32,9 @@ const selected = ref(people[0])
 ```
 ::
 
-You can use the `multiple` prop to select multiple values but you have to override the `#label` slot and handle the display yourself.
+### Multiple
+
+You can use the `multiple` prop to select multiple values.
 
 ::component-example
 #default
@@ -39,7 +43,29 @@ You can use the `multiple` prop to select multiple values but you have to overri
 #code
 ```vue
 <script setup>
-const people = ['Wade Cooper', 'Arlene Mccoy', 'Devon Webb', 'Tom Cook', 'Tanya Fox', 'Hellen Schmidt', 'Caroline Schultz', 'Mason Heaney', 'Claudie Smitham', 'Emil Schaefer']
+const people = [...]
+
+const selected = ref([])
+</script>
+
+<template>
+  <USelectMenu v-model="selected" :options="people" multiple placeholder="Select people" />
+</template>
+```
+::
+
+### Slots
+
+You can override the `#label` slot and handle the display yourself.
+
+::component-example
+#default
+:select-menu-example-multiple-slot{class="max-w-[12rem] w-full"}
+
+#code
+```vue
+<script setup>
+const people = [...]
 
 const selected = ref([])
 </script>
@@ -47,15 +73,15 @@ const selected = ref([])
 <template>
   <USelectMenu v-model="selected" :options="people" multiple>
     <template #label>
-      <span v-if="selected.length" class="font-medium truncate">{{ selected.join(', ') }}</span>
-      <span v-else class="block truncate text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">Select people</span>
+      <span v-if="selected.length" class="truncate">{{ selected.join(', ') }}</span>
+      <span v-else>Select people</span>
     </template>
   </USelectMenu>
 </template>
 ```
 ::
 
-You can also override the default slot entirely.
+You can also override the `#default` slot entirely.
 
 ::component-example
 #default
@@ -64,14 +90,14 @@ You can also override the default slot entirely.
 #code
 ```vue
 <script setup>
-const people = ['Wade Cooper', 'Arlene Mccoy', 'Devon Webb', 'Tom Cook', 'Tanya Fox', 'Hellen Schmidt', 'Caroline Schultz', 'Mason Heaney', 'Claudie Smitham', 'Emil Schaefer']
+const people = [...]
 
 const selected = ref(people[3])
 </script>
 
 <template>
   <USelectMenu v-slot="{ open }" v-model="selected" :options="people">
-    <UButton>
+    <UButton color="gray">
       {{ selected }}
 
       <UIcon name="i-heroicons-chevron-right-20-solid" class="w-5 h-5 transition-transform" :class="[open && 'transform rotate-90']" />
@@ -81,6 +107,8 @@ const selected = ref(people[3])
 ```
 ::
 
+### Objects
+
 You can pass an array of objects to `options` and either compare on the whole object or use the `by` prop to compare on a specific key. You can configure which field will be used to display the label through the `option-attribute` prop that defaults to `label`.
 
 ::component-example
diff --git a/src/runtime/app.config.ts b/src/runtime/app.config.ts
index 112d5041..81053b68 100644
--- a/src/runtime/app.config.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/app.config.ts
@@ -345,6 +345,7 @@ const textarea = {
 
 const select = {
   ...input,
+  placeholder: 'text-gray-900 dark:text-white',
   default: {
     size: 'sm',
     color: 'white',
diff --git a/src/runtime/components/forms/Select.vue b/src/runtime/components/forms/Select.vue
index 6f64c780..b4eb9688 100644
--- a/src/runtime/components/forms/Select.vue
+++ b/src/runtime/components/forms/Select.vue
@@ -207,7 +207,6 @@ export default defineComponent({
       return classNames(
         ui.value.base,
         ui.value.rounded,
-        ui.value.placeholder,
         ui.value.size[props.size],
         props.padded && ui.value.padding[props.size],
         variant?.replaceAll('{color}', props.color),
diff --git a/src/runtime/components/forms/SelectMenu.vue b/src/runtime/components/forms/SelectMenu.vue
index 6bab6e0d..a683801a 100644
--- a/src/runtime/components/forms/SelectMenu.vue
+++ b/src/runtime/components/forms/SelectMenu.vue
@@ -34,8 +34,9 @@
           </span>
 
           <slot name="label">
-            <span v-if="modelValue" class="block truncate">{{ typeof modelValue === 'string' ? modelValue : modelValue[optionAttribute] }}</span>
-            <span v-else class="block truncate text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">{{ placeholder || '&nbsp;' }}</span>
+            <span v-if="multiple && Array.isArray(modelValue) && modelValue.length" class="block truncate">{{ modelValue.length }} selected</span>
+            <span v-else-if="!multiple && modelValue" class="block truncate">{{ typeof modelValue === 'string' ? modelValue : modelValue[optionAttribute] }}</span>
+            <span v-else class="block truncate" :class="ui.placeholder">{{ placeholder || '&nbsp;' }}</span>
           </slot>
 
           <span v-if="trailingIcon" :class="trailingIconClass">
@@ -268,7 +269,6 @@ export default defineComponent({
       return classNames(
         uiSelect.value.base,
         uiSelect.value.rounded,
-        uiSelect.value.placeholder,
         'text-left cursor-default',
         uiSelect.value.size[props.size],
         uiSelect.value.gap[props.size],