diff --git a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
index 4d1687fab09..153790cfbb7 100644
--- a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
       Discourse.deprecate(":desc is deprecated please use :asc instead", output_in_test: true, drop_from: '2.9.0')
       dir = (params[:desc] && params[:desc].present?) ? 'DESC' : 'ASC'
     end
-    order = ""
+    order = "NOT group_users.owner"
 
     if params[:requesters]
       guardian.ensure_can_edit!(group)
@@ -305,21 +305,15 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
       end
     end
 
-    users = users.joins(:user_option).select('users.*, user_options.timezone, group_users.created_at as added_at')
-
-    members = users
-      .order('NOT group_users.owner')
+    users = users
+      .includes(:primary_group)
+      .joins(:user_option)
+      .select('users.*, user_options.timezone, group_users.created_at as added_at')
       .order(order)
       .order(username_lower: dir)
-      .limit(limit)
-      .offset(offset)
-      .includes(:primary_group)
 
-    owners = users
-      .order(order)
-      .order(username_lower: dir)
-      .where('group_users.owner')
-      .includes(:primary_group)
+    members = users.limit(limit).offset(offset)
+    owners = users.where('group_users.owner')
 
     render json: {
       members: serialize_data(members, GroupUserSerializer),
diff --git a/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb b/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
index a9146846423..5d350a19c11 100644
--- a/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/groups_controller_spec.rb
@@ -547,6 +547,23 @@ describe GroupsController do
 
       expect(members.last['added_at']).to eq(first_user.created_at.as_json)
     end
+
+    it "can sort items" do
+      sign_in(user)
+      group.update!(visibility_level: Group.visibility_levels[:logged_on_users])
+      other_user = Fabricate(:user)
+      group.add_owner(other_user)
+
+      get "/groups/#{group.name}/members.json"
+
+      expect(response.parsed_body["members"].map { |u| u["id"] }).to eq([other_user.id, user.id])
+      expect(response.parsed_body["owners"].map { |u| u["id"] }).to eq([other_user.id])
+
+      get "/groups/#{group.name}/members.json?order=added_at&asc=1"
+
+      expect(response.parsed_body["members"].map { |u| u["id"] }).to eq([user.id, other_user.id])
+      expect(response.parsed_body["owners"].map { |u| u["id"] }).to eq([other_user.id])
+    end
   end
 
   describe '#posts_feed' do