diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_node.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_node.go
index e9cc1bc14e1..f511031ad6e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_node.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_node.go
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ func NewCmdTopNode(f cmdutil.Factory, o *TopNodeOptions, streams genericclioptio
 		Aliases: []string{"nodes", "no"},
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&o.Selector, "selector", "l", o.Selector, "Selector (label query) to filter on, supports '=', '==', and '!='.(e.g. -l key1=value1,key2=value2)")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&o.SortBy, "sort-by", o.Selector, "If non-empty, sort nodes list using specified field. The field can be either 'cpu' or 'memory'.")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&o.SortBy, "sort-by", o.SortBy, "If non-empty, sort nodes list using specified field. The field can be either 'cpu' or 'memory'.")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&o.NoHeaders, "no-headers", o.NoHeaders, "If present, print output without headers")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&o.UseProtocolBuffers, "use-protocol-buffers", o.UseProtocolBuffers, "If present, protocol-buffers will be used to request metrics.")
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_pod.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_pod.go
index 34bbb286a76..1006b0430b7 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_pod.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/top/top_pod.go
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ func NewCmdTopPod(f cmdutil.Factory, o *TopPodOptions, streams genericclioptions
 		Aliases: []string{"pods", "po"},
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&o.Selector, "selector", "l", o.Selector, "Selector (label query) to filter on, supports '=', '==', and '!='.(e.g. -l key1=value1,key2=value2)")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&o.SortBy, "sort-by", o.Selector, "If non-empty, sort pods list using specified field. The field can be either 'cpu' or 'memory'.")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&o.SortBy, "sort-by", o.SortBy, "If non-empty, sort pods list using specified field. The field can be either 'cpu' or 'memory'.")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&o.PrintContainers, "containers", o.PrintContainers, "If present, print usage of containers within a pod.")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&o.AllNamespaces, "all-namespaces", "A", o.AllNamespaces, "If present, list the requested object(s) across all namespaces. Namespace in current context is ignored even if specified with --namespace.")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&o.NoHeaders, "no-headers", o.NoHeaders, "If present, print output without headers.")