diff --git a/src/boot/efi/boot.c b/src/boot/efi/boot.c
index 9ed8daed42e..e5399f37282 100644
--- a/src/boot/efi/boot.c
+++ b/src/boot/efi/boot.c
@@ -1683,10 +1683,10 @@ static INTN config_entry_compare(const ConfigEntry *a, const ConfigEntry *b) {
                         return r;
         }
 
-        /* Now order by ID (the version is likely part of the ID, thus note that this might put the oldest
-         * version last, not first, i.e. specifying a sort key explicitly is thus generally preferable, to
-         * take benefit of the explicit sorting above.) */
-        r = strverscmp_improved(a->id, b->id);
+        /* Now order by ID. The version is likely part of the ID, thus note that this will generatelly put
+         * the newer versions earlier. Specifying a sort key explicitly is preferable, because it gives an
+         * explicit sort order. */
+        r = -strverscmp_improved(a->id, b->id);
         if (r != 0)
                 return r;
 
diff --git a/src/shared/bootspec.c b/src/shared/bootspec.c
index 96ec6ecb9eb..a87cce4ea57 100644
--- a/src/shared/bootspec.c
+++ b/src/shared/bootspec.c
@@ -272,6 +272,7 @@ static int boot_entry_compare(const BootEntry *a, const BootEntry *b) {
         r = CMP(!a->sort_key, !b->sort_key);
         if (r != 0)
                 return r;
+
         if (a->sort_key && b->sort_key) {
                 r = strcmp(a->sort_key, b->sort_key);
                 if (r != 0)
@@ -286,7 +287,7 @@ static int boot_entry_compare(const BootEntry *a, const BootEntry *b) {
                         return r;
         }
 
-        return strverscmp_improved(a->id, b->id);
+        return -strverscmp_improved(a->id, b->id);
 }
 
 static int boot_entries_find(
diff --git a/src/test/test-bootspec.c b/src/test/test-bootspec.c
index 47d0f58c965..7ba44744ba6 100644
--- a/src/test/test-bootspec.c
+++ b/src/test/test-bootspec.c
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ TEST_RET(bootspec_sort) {
         assert_se(streq(config.entries[2].id, "c.conf"));
 
         /* The following ones have no sort key, hence order by version compared ids, lowest first */
-        assert_se(streq(config.entries[3].id, "a-5.conf"));
+        assert_se(streq(config.entries[3].id, "b.conf"));
         assert_se(streq(config.entries[4].id, "a-10.conf"));
-        assert_se(streq(config.entries[5].id, "b.conf"));
+        assert_se(streq(config.entries[5].id, "a-5.conf"));
 
         return 0;
 }