diff --git a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-core/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/core/QueryOptions.java b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-core/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/core/QueryOptions.java
index 3f2b720de..cada68e5e 100644
--- a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-core/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/core/QueryOptions.java
+++ b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-core/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/core/QueryOptions.java
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ public class QueryOptions extends ObjectMap {
 
     public static final String SORT = "sort";
     public static final String ORDER = "order";
+    public static final String ASC = "asc";
     public static final String ASCENDING = "ascending";
+    public static final String DESC = "desc";
     public static final String DESCENDING = "descending";
 
     public static final String TIMEOUT = "timeout";
diff --git a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBNativeQuery.java b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBNativeQuery.java
index ad2a9ad42..ce2f71d06 100644
--- a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBNativeQuery.java
+++ b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBNativeQuery.java
@@ -28,10 +28,7 @@
 import org.opencb.commons.datastore.core.ComplexTypeConverter;
 import org.opencb.commons.datastore.core.QueryOptions;
 
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.Iterator;
-import java.util.List;
+import java.util.*;
 import java.util.concurrent.*;
 
 import static org.opencb.commons.datastore.mongodb.MongoDBQueryUtils.getProjection;
@@ -181,8 +178,8 @@ public FindIterable<Document> nativeFind(ClientSession clientSession, Bson query
             if (sortObject instanceof Bson) {
                 findIterable.sort(((Bson) sortObject));
             } else if (sortObject instanceof String) {
-                String order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, "DESC");
-                if (order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASCENDING) || order.equalsIgnoreCase("ASC")
+                String order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, QueryOptions.DESC.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
+                if (order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASCENDING) || order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASC)
                         || order.equals("1")) {
                     findIterable.sort(Sorts.ascending(((String) sortObject)));
                 } else {
@@ -200,9 +197,9 @@ public FindIterable<Document> nativeFind(ClientSession clientSession, Bson query
                         order = fieldArray[1];
                     } else if (fieldArray.length == 1) {
                         sortField = field;
-                        order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, "DESC");
+                        order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, QueryOptions.DESC.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
                     }
-                    if (QueryOptions.ASCENDING.equalsIgnoreCase(order) || "ASC".equalsIgnoreCase(order)
+                    if (QueryOptions.ASCENDING.equalsIgnoreCase(order) || QueryOptions.ASC.equalsIgnoreCase(order)
                             || "1".equals(order)) {
                         sortedList.add(Sorts.ascending(sortField));
                     } else {
diff --git a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBQueryUtils.java b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBQueryUtils.java
index aafd191f9..e80265d53 100644
--- a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBQueryUtils.java
+++ b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBQueryUtils.java
@@ -1052,8 +1052,8 @@ public static Bson getSort(QueryOptions options) {
             if (sortObject instanceof Bson) {
                 return Aggregates.sort((Bson) sortObject);
             } else if (sortObject instanceof String) {
-                String order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, "DESC");
-                if (order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASCENDING) || order.equalsIgnoreCase("ASC") || order.equals("1")) {
+                String order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER, QueryOptions.DESC.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
+                if (order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASCENDING) || order.equalsIgnoreCase(QueryOptions.ASC) || order.equals("1")) {
                     return Aggregates.sort(Sorts.ascending((String) sortObject));
                 } else {
                     return Aggregates.sort(Sorts.descending((String) sortObject));
diff --git a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/test/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBCollectionTest.java b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/test/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBCollectionTest.java
index b89a37b45..da5c10398 100644
--- a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/test/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBCollectionTest.java
+++ b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-mongodb/src/test/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/mongodb/MongoDBCollectionTest.java
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 import java.util.*;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
-import static org.opencb.commons.datastore.core.QueryOptions.SORT;
 import static org.opencb.commons.datastore.mongodb.MongoDBQueryUtils.*;
 import static org.opencb.commons.datastore.mongodb.MongoDBQueryUtils.Accumulator.*;
 
@@ -256,8 +255,8 @@ public void testDistinct() throws Exception {
     @Test
     public void testSortOrder() throws Exception {
         Document query = new Document();
-        QueryOptions queryOptions = new QueryOptions(QueryOptions.LIMIT, 10).append(SORT, "number")
-                .append(QueryOptions.ORDER, "asc");
+        QueryOptions queryOptions = new QueryOptions(QueryOptions.LIMIT, 10).append(QueryOptions.SORT, "number")
+                .append(QueryOptions.ORDER, QueryOptions.ASC);
         List<Document> result = mongoDBCollection.find(query, queryOptions).getResults();
         assertEquals(0L, result.get(0).get("number"));
     }
@@ -266,8 +265,9 @@ public void testSortOrder() throws Exception {
     public void testMultipleSortOrder() throws Exception {
         Document query = new Document();
         QueryOptions queryOptions = new QueryOptions(QueryOptions.LIMIT, 500)
-                .append(SORT, Arrays.asList("age:ASC", "number:DESC"))
-                .append(QueryOptions.ORDER, "asc");
+                .append(QueryOptions.SORT, Arrays.asList("age:" + QueryOptions.ASC.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT),
+                        "number:" + QueryOptions.DESC.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT)))
+                .append(QueryOptions.ORDER, QueryOptions.ASC);
         int age = 0;
         long number = Long.MAX_VALUE;
         List<Document> result = mongoDBCollection.find(query, queryOptions).getResults();
diff --git a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-solr/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/solr/FacetQueryParser.java b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-solr/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/solr/FacetQueryParser.java
index 3ae38b445..f366ffac9 100644
--- a/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-solr/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/solr/FacetQueryParser.java
+++ b/commons-datastore/commons-datastore-solr/src/main/java/org/opencb/commons/datastore/solr/FacetQueryParser.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
+import static org.opencb.commons.datastore.core.QueryOptions.*;
+
 public class FacetQueryParser {
 
     public static final String FACET_SEPARATOR = ";";
@@ -252,6 +254,7 @@ private Map<String, Object> parseFacet(String facet, QueryOptions options) throw
                     auxMap.put("type", "terms");
                     setTermLimit(matcher.group(3), options, auxMap);
                     setTermSkip(options, auxMap);
+                    setTermOrder(options, auxMap);
 
                     Map<String, Object> tmpMap = new HashMap<>();
                     tmpMap.put(matcher.group(1), auxMap);
@@ -261,6 +264,7 @@ private Map<String, Object> parseFacet(String facet, QueryOptions options) throw
                     outputMap.put("type", "terms");
                     setTermLimit(matcher.group(3), options, outputMap);
                     setTermSkip(options, outputMap);
+                    setTermOrder(options, outputMap);
                 }
             } else {
                 throw new Exception("Invalid categorical facet: " + facet);
@@ -290,6 +294,30 @@ private void setTermSkip(QueryOptions options, Map<String, Object> map) {
         }
     }
 
+    private void setTermOrder(QueryOptions options, Map<String, Object> map) throws Exception {
+        if (options.containsKey(QueryOptions.ORDER)) {
+            String order = options.getString(QueryOptions.ORDER);
+            switch (order.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)) {
+                case ASC:
+                case ASCENDING: {
+                    map.put("sort", "count asc");
+                    break;
+                }
+                case DESC:
+                case DESCENDING: {
+                    map.put("sort", "count desc");
+                    break;
+                }
+                default: {
+                    throw new Exception("Invalid order value: '" + order + "'. Valid values are: "
+                            + StringUtils.join(Arrays.asList(ASC, ASCENDING, DESC, DESCENDING)));
+                }
+            }
+        } else {
+            map.put("sort", "count desc");
+        }
+    }
+
     private void parseNestedFacet(String nestedFacet, QueryOptions options, Map<String, Object> jsonFacet)
             throws Exception {
         String[] split = nestedFacet.split(NESTED_FACET_SEPARATOR);