diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryLimitRowIterator.java b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryLimitRowIterator.java
index 4ec29f5208a..4103b147697 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryLimitRowIterator.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryLimitRowIterator.java
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public class ScanQueryLimitRowIterator implements CloseableIterator<ScanResultVa
         ScanResultValue srv = yielder.get();
         // Only replace once using the columns from the first event
         columns = columns.isEmpty() ? srv.getColumns() : columns;
-        eventsToAdd.add(Iterables.getOnlyElement((List) srv.getEvents()));
+        eventsToAdd.add(Iterables.getOnlyElement((List<Object>) srv.getEvents()));
         yielder = yielder.next(null);
         count++;
       }
diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactory.java b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactory.java
index 4bde1d3e8d9..645f57bf425 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactory.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactory.java
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@
 package org.apache.druid.query.scan;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.collect.Ordering;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.ISE;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.JodaUtils;
+import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.Pair;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.UOE;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.guava.Sequence;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.guava.Sequences;
@@ -38,18 +40,19 @@ import org.apache.druid.query.QueryRunnerFactory;
 import org.apache.druid.query.QueryToolChest;
 import org.apache.druid.query.SegmentDescriptor;
 import org.apache.druid.query.spec.MultipleSpecificSegmentSpec;
-import org.apache.druid.query.spec.QuerySegmentSpec;
 import org.apache.druid.segment.Segment;
 import org.joda.time.Interval;
 
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.Deque;
-import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.PriorityQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 public class ScanQueryRunnerFactory implements QueryRunnerFactory<ScanResultValue, ScanQuery>
 {
@@ -88,11 +91,16 @@ public class ScanQueryRunnerFactory implements QueryRunnerFactory<ScanResultValu
     // in single thread and in jetty thread instead of processing thread
     return (queryPlus, responseContext) -> {
       ScanQuery query = (ScanQuery) queryPlus.getQuery();
-      int numSegments = 0;
-      final Iterator<QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>> segmentIt = queryRunners.iterator();
-      for (; segmentIt.hasNext(); numSegments++) {
-        segmentIt.next();
+
+      List<SegmentDescriptor> descriptorsOrdered =
+          ((MultipleSpecificSegmentSpec) query.getQuerySegmentSpec()).getDescriptors(); // Ascending time order
+      List<QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>> queryRunnersOrdered = Lists.newArrayList(queryRunners); // Ascending time order by default
+
+      if (query.getOrder().equals(ScanQuery.Order.DESCENDING)) {
+        descriptorsOrdered = Lists.reverse(descriptorsOrdered);
+        queryRunnersOrdered = Lists.reverse(queryRunnersOrdered);
       }
+
       // Note: this variable is effective only when queryContext has a timeout.
       // See the comment of CTX_TIMEOUT_AT.
       final long timeoutAt = System.currentTimeMillis() + QueryContexts.getTimeout(queryPlus.getQuery());
@@ -113,16 +121,7 @@ public class ScanQueryRunnerFactory implements QueryRunnerFactory<ScanResultValu
         }
       } else if (query.getLimit() <= scanQueryConfig.getMaxRowsQueuedForOrdering()) {
         // Use priority queue strategy
-        List<SegmentDescriptor> descriptorsOrdered =
-            ((MultipleSpecificSegmentSpec) query.getQuerySegmentSpec()).getDescriptors(); // Ascending time order
-        List<QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>> queryRunnersOrdered = Lists.newArrayList(queryRunners); // Ascending time order by default
-
-        if (query.getOrder().equals(ScanQuery.Order.DESCENDING)) {
-          descriptorsOrdered = Lists.reverse(descriptorsOrdered);
-          queryRunnersOrdered = Lists.reverse(queryRunnersOrdered);
-        }
-
-        return sortAndLimitScanResultValues(
+        return sortAndLimitScanResultValuesPriorityQueue(
             Sequences.concat(Sequences.map(
                 Sequences.simple(queryRunnersOrdered),
                 input -> input.run(queryPlus, responseContext)
@@ -130,42 +129,79 @@ public class ScanQueryRunnerFactory implements QueryRunnerFactory<ScanResultValu
             query,
             descriptorsOrdered
         );
-      } else if (numSegments <= scanQueryConfig.getMaxSegmentsOrderedInMemory()) {
-        // Use n-way merge strategy
-        final Sequence<ScanResultValue> unbatched =
-            Sequences.map(
-                Sequences.simple(queryRunners),
-                (input) -> Sequences.concat(
-                    Sequences.map(
-                        input.run(queryPlus, responseContext),
-                        srv -> Sequences.simple(srv.toSingleEventScanResultValues())
-                    )
-                )
-            ).flatMerge(
-                seq -> seq,
-                Ordering.from(new ScanResultValueTimestampComparator(
-                    query
-                )).reverse()
-            ).limit(
-                Math.toIntExact(query.getLimit())
-            );
+      } else {
+        Preconditions.checkState(
+            descriptorsOrdered.size() == queryRunnersOrdered.size(),
+            "Number of segment descriptors does not equal number of "
+            + "query runners...something went wrong!"
+        );
 
-        return unbatched;
+        List<Pair<SegmentDescriptor, QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>>> descriptorsAndRunnersOrdered = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < queryRunnersOrdered.size(); i++) {
+          descriptorsAndRunnersOrdered.add(new Pair<>(descriptorsOrdered.get(i), queryRunnersOrdered.get(i)));
+        }
+
+        LinkedHashMap<Interval, List<Pair<SegmentDescriptor, QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>>>> partitionsGroupedByInterval =
+            descriptorsAndRunnersOrdered.stream()
+                                        .collect(Collectors.groupingBy(
+                                            x -> x.lhs.getInterval(),
+                                            LinkedHashMap::new,
+                                            Collectors.toList()
+                                        ));
+
+        int maxNumPartitionsInSegment =
+            partitionsGroupedByInterval.values()
+                                       .stream()
+                                       .map(x -> x.size())
+                                       .max(Comparator.comparing(Integer::valueOf)).get();
+
+        if (maxNumPartitionsInSegment <= scanQueryConfig.getMaxSegmentsOrderedInMemory()) {
+          // Use n-way merge strategy
+          List<List<QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>>> groupedRunners = new ArrayList<>(descriptorsAndRunnersOrdered.size());
+          for (Map.Entry<Interval, List<Pair<SegmentDescriptor, QueryRunner<ScanResultValue>>>> entry :
+              partitionsGroupedByInterval.entrySet()) {
+            groupedRunners.add(entry.getValue().stream().map(x -> x.rhs).collect(Collectors.toList()));
+          }
+          return Sequences.concat(
+              Sequences.map(
+                  Sequences.simple(groupedRunners), // Sequence of runnerGroups
+                  runnerGroup ->
+                      Sequences.map(
+                          Sequences.simple(runnerGroup),
+                          (input) -> Sequences.concat(
+                              Sequences.map(
+                                  input.run(queryPlus, responseContext),
+                                  srv -> Sequences.simple(srv.toSingleEventScanResultValues())
+                              )
+                          )
+                      ).flatMerge(
+                          seq -> seq,
+                          Ordering.from(new ScanResultValueTimestampComparator(
+                              query
+                          )).reverse()
+                      )
+              )
+          ).limit(
+              Math.toIntExact(query.getLimit())
+          );
+        }
+        throw new UOE(
+            "Time ordering for queries of %,d partitions per segment and a row limit of %,d is not supported."
+            + "  Try reducing the scope of the query to scan fewer partitions than the configurable limit of"
+            + " %,d partitions or lower the row limit below %,d.",
+            maxNumPartitionsInSegment,
+            query.getLimit(),
+            scanQueryConfig.getMaxSegmentsOrderedInMemory(),
+            scanQueryConfig.getMaxRowsQueuedForOrdering()
+        );
       }
-      throw new UOE(
-          "Time ordering for queries of %,d segments per historical and a row limit of %,d is not supported."
-          + "  Try reducing the scope of the query to scan fewer segments than the configurable segment limit of"
-          + " %,d segments or lower the row limit below %,d.",
-          numSegments,
-          query.getLimit(),
-          scanQueryConfig.getMaxSegmentsOrderedInMemory(),
-          scanQueryConfig.getMaxRowsQueuedForOrdering()
-      );
+
     };
   }
 
   @VisibleForTesting
-  Sequence<ScanResultValue> sortAndLimitScanResultValues(
+  Sequence<ScanResultValue> sortAndLimitScanResultValuesPriorityQueue(
       Sequence<ScanResultValue> inputSequence,
       ScanQuery scanQuery,
       List<SegmentDescriptor> descriptorsOrdered
diff --git a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactoryTest.java b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactoryTest.java
index 0d32be9e0c0..763191d8b82 100644
--- a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactoryTest.java
+++ b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/scan/ScanQueryRunnerFactoryTest.java
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public class ScanQueryRunnerFactoryTest
     });
     Sequence<ScanResultValue> inputSequence = Sequences.simple(srvs);
     List<ScanResultValue> output =
-        factory.sortAndLimitScanResultValues(
+        factory.sortAndLimitScanResultValuesPriorityQueue(
             inputSequence,
             query,
             null