Hello, I recently added sort tags to some songs and started to see a related issue. I think it is better to reply here first, before opening a github issue.
** Description**
In playlist view, when I sort songs by artist, I think it uses artist sort tag first, then if it is not set, it uses artist tag. It is the same for album artist and album artist sort. I think it is the same for all other normal/sort tag.
For example, on the screenshot, you can see that Pedro Capo, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Kenji Yamamoto or sorted according to their artistsort tag (lastname) whereas the playlist view is sorted by artist tag (firstname).
Additional context
Version 1.2.16 (2025.12.16):
* Added option to turn off the use of sort tags for the collection
This option added in 1.2.16 (related to issue #1858) works in the collection view. I do not use the checkbox "use sort tags for sorting when available", as you can see on the screenshot in the collection view and in settings panel, but it may be useful!
Expected behavior
I would expect that sorting by artist only uses artist tag (the same for other sort tags), like it was before the addition of sort tags. There are sort tag columns now if I want to use sort tags.
By the way, the current option "use sort tags for sorting when available" should clearly state 'in collection view". If you think the same behavior should apply in playlist view to normal tag (artist, album...) then another checkbox could also be used for turning it on/off. However, IMHO it should not apply in playlist view since there are sort tags columns now.
Screenshot
[image: Copie d'écran_20260125_101030.png]
I use French locale but the only relevant options are the sort-related ones and there are not translated yet. So, it should not be a problem for anyone if one wants to check my options.
System Information
I have noticed this behavior in 1.2.16 and in 1.2.17. But, it might have started some months ago when sort tags have been added to strawberry, that is great by the way!
Manjaro.
Is it a bug? Is it a feature? Is it a known issue and planned to change? I have not seen any issue or PR talking about it recently, only this forum topic. I took a really quick look at the playlist code but I have seen nothing. I think it is related to playlist, compare and order, but I do not know the initialization chain.
playlist.cpp:1540
std::stable_sort(begin, new_items.end(), std::bind(&Playlist::CompareItems, column, order, std::placeholders::_1, std::placeholders::_2));
