diff --git a/clear-registry b/clear-registry
index f609a18..3221bc5 100644
--- a/clear-registry
+++ b/clear-registry
@@ -117,15 +117,15 @@ fi
 echo "🔍 Fetching list of tags for $1..."
 echo "📦 Will keep $KEEP_TAGS recent tags (excluding latest)"
 
-# Fetch all tags
-allTags=$(skopeo list-tags docker://"$1" 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.Tags[]')
+# Fetch all tags (sorted alphabetically, which is chronological for YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-hash format)
+allTags=$(skopeo list-tags docker://"$1" 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.Tags[]' | sort)
 
 if [ -z "$allTags" ]; then
     echo "❌ Error: could not fetch tag list or repository is empty"
     exit 1
 fi
 
-# Count total number of tags
+# Count total number of tags2
 totalTags=$(echo "$allTags" | wc -l)
 
 # Determine how many tags to delete
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ if [ "$tagsToDelete" -le 0 ]; then
 fi
 
 # Get tags to delete (exclude latest and keep KEEP_TAGS recent ones)
-oldTags=$(echo "$allTags" | grep -v "latest" | sort | head -n -"$KEEP_TAGS")
+oldTags=$(echo "$allTags" | grep -v "latest" | head -n -"$KEEP_TAGS")
 
 echo "📊 Total tags: $totalTags (including latest)"
 echo "🗑️  Will be deleted: $(echo "$oldTags" | wc -l) tags"