Sorting MySQL Tables by Multiple Columns

To order a MySQL table by multiple columns, specify the columns in the ORDER BY clause separated by commas. By default, sorting is ascending. To sort in descending order for a specific column, use the DESC keyword after the column name.

In your case, you want to sort articles by highest ratings first and then by most recent date. Use the following query:

ORDER BY article_rating DESC, article_time DESC

This will produce the following output:

 ================ ============================= ============== 
| article_rating | article                     | article_time |
 ================ ============================= ============== 
| 50             | This article rocks          | Feb 4, 2009  |
 ---------------- ----------------------------- -------------- 
| 35             | This article is pretty good | Feb 1, 2009  |
 ---------------- ----------------------------- -------------- 
| 5              | This Article isn't so hot   | Jan 25, 2009 |
 ================ ============================= ==============