diff --git a/.changeset/metal-spiders-boil.md b/.changeset/metal-spiders-boil.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b2b5ff4aff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/metal-spiders-boil.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@directus/app": patch
+---
+
+Ensured collections in tabular layout are sorted by the sort field by default, if available
diff --git a/app/src/layouts/tabular/index.ts b/app/src/layouts/tabular/index.ts
index 10daddcdcf..b05eab72d2 100644
--- a/app/src/layouts/tabular/index.ts
+++ b/app/src/layouts/tabular/index.ts
@@ -90,18 +90,6 @@ export default defineLayout<LayoutOptions, LayoutQuery>({
 			return formatCollectionItemsCount(itemCount.value || 0, page.value, limit.value, filtering);
 		});
 
-		watch(
-			sortField,
-			(value) => {
-				if (!value) {
-					return;
-				}
-
-				onSortChange({ by: value, desc: false });
-			},
-			{ immediate: true },
-		);
-
 		return {
 			tableHeaders,
 			items,
@@ -168,7 +156,12 @@ export default defineLayout<LayoutOptions, LayoutQuery>({
 		function useItemOptions() {
 			const page = syncRefProperty(layoutQuery, 'page', 1);
 			const limit = syncRefProperty(layoutQuery, 'limit', 25);
-			const defaultSort = computed(() => (primaryKeyField.value ? [primaryKeyField.value?.field] : []));
+
+			const defaultSort = computed(() => {
+				const field = sortField.value ?? primaryKeyField.value?.field;
+				return field ? [field] : [];
+			});
+
 			const sort = syncRefProperty(layoutQuery, 'sort', defaultSort);
 
 			const fieldsDefaultValue = computed(() => {