Same formula's but one puts ties in Alpha order and the other does not

[JTL9161]

I have these formulas below. For now, they are sorting the same data. As weeks go on, one will do a weekly sort and other a YTD sort. For now, they are using the same data, but one puts ties in Alpha order and the other formulas do not. Is there something different between any of these formulas that would make one set put ties in Alpha order and the other does not.

Does not put ties in Alpha order

=SMALL($W$4:$W$23,ROWS($W$27:AA27))

=IFERROR(@INDEX(AA$4:AA$23,AGGREGATE(15,6,(ROW(AA$4:AA$23)-ROW(AA$4)+1)/($W$4:$W$23=$U28),COUNTIF($U28:$U$46,$U28))),"")

=SUMPRODUCT((ABS(AU29-0)<ABS($AS$3:$AS$23-0))+0)+1

Does put ties in Alpha order

=SMALL($A$5:$A$24,ROWS($A$5:L32))

=IFERROR(@INDEX(K$5:K$24,AGGREGATE(15,6,(ROW(K$5:K$24)-ROW(K$5)+1)/($A$5:$A$24=$O33),COUNTIF($O$5:$O33,$O33))),"")

=SUMPRODUCT((ABS(AK34-0)<ABS($M$5:$M$24-0))+0)+1

Any feedback will be appreciated.
James

 

[jasonb75]

I don't think that the formula is putting them in alphabetical order, rather it is using the order of the original list for the ties.

In the absence of accompanying sample data it is not entirely clear what you are attempting to do with those formulas but I would imagine that you could replace them with =SORT(FILTER(...