diff --git a/sanitizer/_sort.js b/sanitizer/_sort.js
index 6b737b85d..d9829c8a7 100644
--- a/sanitizer/_sort.js
+++ b/sanitizer/_sort.js
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ function _setup(){
 
       clean.sort = raw.sort;
       
-      if( clean.sort && !allowed_values.includes(clean.sort) ){
+      if (!clean.sort) {
+        clean.sort = DEFAULT_SORT;
+      } else if( !allowed_values.includes(clean.sort) ){
         messages.warnings.push('invalid \'sort\', using \'distance\'');
         clean.sort = DEFAULT_SORT;
       }
diff --git a/sanitizer/nearby.js b/sanitizer/nearby.js
index e2e050100..91565ec55 100644
--- a/sanitizer/nearby.js
+++ b/sanitizer/nearby.js
@@ -12,16 +12,16 @@ module.exports.middleware = (_api_pelias_config) => {
     sources_and_layers: require('../sanitizer/_sources_and_layers')(),
     geonames_deprecation: require('../sanitizer/_geonames_deprecation')(),
     size: require('../sanitizer/_size')(/* use defaults*/),
-    sort: require('../sanitizer/_sort')(),
     private: require('../sanitizer/_flag_bool')('private', false),
     geo_reverse: require('../sanitizer/_geo_reverse')(),
     boundary_country: require('../sanitizer/_boundary_country')(),
     categories: require('../sanitizer/_categories')(),
-    request_language: require('../sanitizer/_request_language')()
+    request_language: require('../sanitizer/_request_language')(),
+    sort: require('../sanitizer/_sort')()
   };
 
   return function( req, res, next ){
     sanitizeAll.runAllChecks(req, sanitizers);
     next();
   };
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
diff --git a/test/unit/query/reverse.js b/test/unit/query/reverse.js
index 9813bf2f6..c0d16acd4 100644
--- a/test/unit/query/reverse.js
+++ b/test/unit/query/reverse.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const views = {
   layers: 'layers view',
   categories: 'categories view',
   sort_distance: 'sort_distance view',
+  sort_popularity: 'sort_popularity view',
   boundary_gid: 'boundary_gid view'
 };
 
@@ -70,7 +71,8 @@ module.exports.tests.query = (test, common) => {
     ]);
 
     t.deepEquals(query.body.sort_functions, [
-      'sort_distance view'
+      'sort_distance view',
+      'sort_popularity view'
     ]);
 
     t.end();
@@ -98,6 +100,26 @@ module.exports.tests.query = (test, common) => {
 
   });
 
+  test('clean.sort should set sort:field parameter', t => {
+    const clean = {
+      sort: 'popularity'
+    };
+
+    const query = proxyquire('../../../query/reverse', {
+      'pelias-query': {
+        layout: {
+          FilteredBooleanQuery: MockQuery
+        },
+        view: views,
+        Vars: require('pelias-query').Vars
+      },
+      './reverse_defaults': {}
+    })(clean);
+
+    t.deepEquals(query.body.vs.var('sort:field').toString(), 'popularity');
+    t.end();
+
+  });
 };
 
 module.exports.tests.sources = (test, common) => {
diff --git a/test/unit/run.js b/test/unit/run.js
index ac2bc7681..1d286d891 100644
--- a/test/unit/run.js
+++ b/test/unit/run.js
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ var tests = [
   require('./sanitizer/_tokenizer'),
   require('./sanitizer/_categories'),
   require('./sanitizer/_boundary_gid'),
+  require('./sanitizer/_sort'),
   require('./sanitizer/nearby'),
   require('./sanitizer/autocomplete'),
   require('./sanitizer/structured_geocoding'),
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitizer/_sort.js b/test/unit/sanitizer/_sort.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50db6fb97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/sanitizer/_sort.js
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+var sanitizer = require('../../../sanitizer/_sort');
+
+module.exports.tests = {};
+
+module.exports.tests.sanitize_sort = function(test, common) {
+  test('sort=foo', function(t) {
+    var raw = { sort: 'foo' };
+    var clean = {};
+    var res = sanitizer().sanitize(raw, clean);
+    t.equal(res.errors.length, 0, 'should return no errors');
+    t.equal(res.warnings.length, 1, 'should return warning');
+    t.equal(res.warnings[0], 'invalid \'sort\', using \'distance\'');
+    t.equal(clean.sort, 'distance', 'default to distance');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('sort not set', function(t) {
+    var raw = {};
+    var clean = {};
+    var res = sanitizer().sanitize(raw, clean);
+    t.equal(res.errors.length, 0, 'should return no errors');
+    t.equal(res.warnings.length, 0, 'should return no warning');
+    t.equal(clean.sort, 'distance', 'default to distance');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('return an array of expected parameters in object form for validation', function(t) {
+    const expected = [{ name: 'sort' }];
+    const validParameters = sanitizer().expected();
+    t.deepEquals(validParameters, expected);
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  var valid_sorts = ['popularity', 'distance'];
+  valid_sorts.forEach(function (sort) {
+    test('sort=' + sort, function (t) {
+      var raw = {sort: sort};
+      var clean = {};
+      var res = sanitizer().sanitize(raw, clean);
+      t.equal(res.errors.length, 0, 'should return no errors');
+      t.equal(res.warnings.length, 0, 'should return warning');
+      t.equal(clean.sort, sort, 'set to correct value');
+      t.end();
+    });
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
+  function test(name, testFunction) {
+    return tape('SANITIZE _sort ' + name, testFunction);
+  }
+
+  for( var testCase in module.exports.tests ){
+    module.exports.tests[testCase](test, common);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitizer/nearby.js b/test/unit/sanitizer/nearby.js
index 730e5c388..ad23226a0 100644
--- a/test/unit/sanitizer/nearby.js
+++ b/test/unit/sanitizer/nearby.js
@@ -109,7 +109,15 @@ module.exports.tests.sanitize = function(test, common) {
             return { errors: [], warnings: [] };
           }
         };
-      }
+      },
+      '../sanitizer/_sort': function () {
+        return {
+          sanitize: () => {
+            called_sanitizers.push('_sort');
+            return { errors: [], warnings: [] };
+          }
+        };
+      },
     });
 
     const expected_sanitizers = [
@@ -124,7 +132,8 @@ module.exports.tests.sanitize = function(test, common) {
       '_geo_reverse',
       '_boundary_country',
       '_categories',
-      '_request_language'
+      '_request_language',
+      '_sort',
     ];
 
     const req = {};