diff --git a/model/mediafile_test.go b/model/mediafile_test.go
index 3f306f1a7..142a4f1c1 100644
--- a/model/mediafile_test.go
+++ b/model/mediafile_test.go
@@ -218,11 +218,11 @@ var _ = Describe("MediaFiles", func() {
 							{Tags: Tags{"genre": []string{"Alternative", "Rock"}}},
 						}
 					})
-					It("sets the correct Genre, sorted by frequency, then alphabetically", func() {
+					It("sets the correct Genre, sorted by frequency, then by order of appearance", func() {
 						album := mfs.ToAlbum()
 						Expect(album.Tags).To(HaveLen(2))
-						Expect(album.Tags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagGenre, []string{"Rock", "Alternative", "Punk"}))
-						Expect(album.Tags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagMood, []string{"Chill", "Happy"}))
+						Expect(album.Tags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagGenre, []string{"Rock", "Punk", "Alternative"}))
+						Expect(album.Tags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagMood, []string{"Happy", "Chill"}))
 					})
 				})
 				When("we have tags with mismatching case", func() {
diff --git a/model/tag.go b/model/tag.go
index 1bc011495..2ca2b201f 100644
--- a/model/tag.go
+++ b/model/tag.go
@@ -24,13 +24,17 @@ type TagList []Tag
 func (l TagList) GroupByFrequency() Tags {
 	grouped := map[string]map[string]int{}
 	values := map[string]string{}
-	for _, t := range l {
+	firstSeen := map[string]int{}
+	for i, t := range l {
 		if m, ok := grouped[string(t.TagName)]; !ok {
 			grouped[string(t.TagName)] = map[string]int{t.ID: 1}
 		} else {
 			m[t.ID]++
 		}
 		values[t.ID] = t.TagValue
+		if _, ok := firstSeen[t.ID]; !ok {
+			firstSeen[t.ID] = i
+		}
 	}
 
 	tags := Tags{}
@@ -42,7 +46,7 @@ func (l TagList) GroupByFrequency() Tags {
 		slices.SortFunc(idList, func(a, b string) int {
 			return cmp.Or(
 				cmp.Compare(counts[b], counts[a]),
-				cmp.Compare(values[a], values[b]),
+				cmp.Compare(firstSeen[a], firstSeen[b]),
 			)
 		})
 		tags[TagName(name)] = slice.Map(idList, func(id string) string { return values[id] })
diff --git a/model/tag_test.go b/model/tag_test.go
index c01aa0b4c..4dc99019b 100644
--- a/model/tag_test.go
+++ b/model/tag_test.go
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Tag", func() {
 				Expect(groupedTags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagName("artist"), []string{"The Beatles", "The Rolling Stones"}))
 			})
 
-			It("should sort tags by name when frequency is the same", func() {
+			It("should keep the order the values appeared in when frequency is the same", func() {
 				tagList := TagList{
 					NewTag("genre", "Jazz"),
 					NewTag("genre", "Rock"),
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Tag", func() {
 
 				groupedTags := tagList.GroupByFrequency()
 
-				Expect(groupedTags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagName("genre"), []string{"Alternative", "Jazz", "Pop", "Rock"}))
+				Expect(groupedTags).To(HaveKeyWithValue(TagName("genre"), []string{"Jazz", "Rock", "Alternative", "Pop"}))
 			})
 			It("should normalize casing", func() {
 				tagList := TagList{