diff --git a/crates/nu-command/src/filters/sort_by.rs b/crates/nu-command/src/filters/sort_by.rs
index ddbbfef823..045221b696 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/src/filters/sort_by.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/src/filters/sort_by.rs
@@ -138,11 +138,6 @@ pub fn sort(
     insensitive: bool,
     config: &Config,
 ) -> Result<(), ShellError> {
-    let should_sort_case_insensitively = insensitive
-        && vec
-            .iter()
-            .all(|x| matches!(x.get_type(), nu_protocol::Type::String));
-
     match &vec[0] {
         Value::Record {
             cols,
@@ -158,6 +153,26 @@ pub fn sort(
                 return Err(ShellError::CantFindColumn(call.head, call.head));
             }
 
+            // check to make sure each value in each column in the record
+            // that we asked for is a string. So, first collect all the columns
+            // that we asked for into vals, then later make sure they're all
+            // strings.
+            let mut vals = vec![];
+            for item in vec.iter() {
+                for col in &columns {
+                    let val = match item.get_data_by_key(col) {
+                        Some(v) => v,
+                        None => Value::nothing(Span::test_data()),
+                    };
+                    vals.push(val);
+                }
+            }
+
+            let should_sort_case_insensitively = insensitive
+                && vals
+                    .iter()
+                    .all(|x| matches!(x.get_type(), nu_protocol::Type::String));
+
             vec.sort_by(|a, b| {
                 process(
                     a,
@@ -173,7 +188,7 @@ pub fn sort(
         }
         _ => {
             vec.sort_by(|a, b| {
-                if should_sort_case_insensitively {
+                if insensitive {
                     let lowercase_left = Value::string(
                         a.into_string("", config).to_ascii_lowercase(),
                         Span::test_data(),
diff --git a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/sort_by.rs b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
index e7eb57168c..5f3e43a8cb 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/sort_by.rs
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ fn ls_sort_by_name_insensitive() {
         "#
     ));
 
-    let json_output = r#"[{"name": "B.txt"},{"name": "C"},{"name": "a.txt"}]"#;
+    let json_output = r#"[{"name": "a.txt"},{"name": "B.txt"},{"name": "C"}]"#;
     assert_eq!(actual.out, json_output);
 }