Problem/Motivation So the issue started when I added a non-exposed sort as the first sort out of three. The other two sorts are exposed, which looks something like this: Enabled: boolean ASC (un-exposed) Issue Date: date DESC (exposed) Title: text ASC (exposed) The issue is that the default expose_sort_order for exposed forms is taken from the first sort option, which in this case is 'Enabled' and is ASC. The default expose_sort_order, however, should surely be for the first exposed sort option, which in this case is 'Issue Date' DESC.