diff --git a/src/kitemviews/kfileitemmodel.cpp b/src/kitemviews/kfileitemmodel.cpp
--- a/src/kitemviews/kfileitemmodel.cpp
+++ b/src/kitemviews/kfileitemmodel.cpp
@@ -1828,8 +1828,16 @@
 
     default: {
         const QByteArray role = roleForType(m_sortRole);
-        result = QString::compare(a->values.value(role).toString(),
-                                  b->values.value(role).toString());
+        QString aRoleValue = a->values.value(role).toString();
+        QString bRoleValue = b->values.value(role).toString();
+        //Non-empty values should come first, see https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=410538
+        if (!aRoleValue.isEmpty() && bRoleValue.isEmpty()) {
+            result = -1;
+        } else if (aRoleValue.isEmpty() && !bRoleValue.isEmpty()) {
+            result = +1;
+        } else {
+            result = QString::compare(aRoleValue, bRoleValue);
+        }
         break;
     }