diff --git a/lib/REST/TinyTinyRSS/API.php b/lib/REST/TinyTinyRSS/API.php
index 434c692..6442820 100644
--- a/lib/REST/TinyTinyRSS/API.php
+++ b/lib/REST/TinyTinyRSS/API.php
@@ -245,8 +245,9 @@ class API extends \JKingWeb\Arsse\REST\AbstractHandler {
             $labels[] = ['id' => $this->labelOut($l['id']), 'counter' => $unread, 'auxcounter' => $l['articles']];
             $categories[$catmap[self::CAT_LABELS]]['counter'] += $unread;
         }
-        // do a second pass on categories, summing descendant unread counts for ancestors and building a final list
+        // do a second pass on categories, summing descendant unread counts for ancestors
         $cats = $categories;
+        $catCounts = [];
         while ($cats) {
             foreach ($cats as $c) {
                 if ($c['children']) {
@@ -258,12 +259,15 @@ class API extends \JKingWeb\Arsse\REST\AbstractHandler {
                     $cats[$catmap[$c['parent']]]['counter'] += $c['counter'];
                     $cats[$catmap[$c['parent']]]['children'] -= 1;
                 }
-                // output the category
-                $cats[] = ['id' => $c['id'], 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => $c['counter']];
+                $catCounts[$c['id']] = $c['counter'];
                 // remove the category from the input list
                 unset($cats[$catmap[$c['id']]]);
             }
         }
+        // do a third pass on categories, building a final category list; this is done so that the original sort order is retained
+        foreach ($categories as $c) {
+                $cats[] = ['id' => $c['id'], 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => $catCounts[$c['id']]];
+        }
         // prepare data for the virtual feeds and other counters
         $special = [
             ['id' => "global-unread",      'counter' => $countAll], //this should not count archived articles, but we do not have an archive
diff --git a/tests/REST/TinyTinyRSS/TestTinyTinyAPI.php b/tests/REST/TinyTinyRSS/TestTinyTinyAPI.php
index 957703a..f31f757 100644
--- a/tests/REST/TinyTinyRSS/TestTinyTinyAPI.php
+++ b/tests/REST/TinyTinyRSS/TestTinyTinyAPI.php
@@ -896,14 +896,17 @@ LONG_STRING;
             ['id' => -1025, 'counter' => 0, 'auxcounter' => 2],
             ['id' => "3", 'updated' => "2016-05-23T06:40:02", 'counter' => 2,  'has_img' => 1],
             ['id' => "4", 'updated' => "2017-10-09T15:58:34", 'counter' => 6,  'has_img' => 1],
+            ['id' => "6", 'updated' => "2010-02-12T20:08:47", 'counter' => 0,  'has_img' => 1],
             ['id' => "1", 'updated' => "2017-09-15T22:54:16", 'counter' => 5,  'has_img' => 0],
             ['id' => "5", 'updated' => "2017-07-07T17:07:17", 'counter' => 12, 'has_img' => 0],
             ['id' => "2", 'updated' => "2011-11-11T11:11:11", 'counter' => 10, 'has_img' => 1],
             ['id' => 5, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 10],
             ['id' => 6, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 18],
+            ['id' => 4, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 0],
             ['id' => 3, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 28],
             ['id' => 2, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 5],
             ['id' => 1, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 7],
+            ['id' => 0, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 0],
             ['id' => -2, 'kind' => "cat", 'counter' => 6],
         ];
         $this->assertResponse($this->respGood($exp), $this->req($in));