diff --git a/app/mailers/user_notifications.rb b/app/mailers/user_notifications.rb
index 6523c925df5..0c481ae8ae7 100644
--- a/app/mailers/user_notifications.rb
+++ b/app/mailers/user_notifications.rb
@@ -47,11 +47,7 @@ class UserNotifications < ActionMailer::Base
     if @featured_topics.present?
       @featured_topics, @new_topics = @featured_topics[0..4], @featured_topics[5..-1]
 
-      # Sort the new topics by score
-      @new_topics.sort! {|a, b| (b.score || 0) - (a.score || 0) } if @new_topics.present?
-
       @markdown_linker = MarkdownLinker.new(Discourse.base_url)
-
       build_email user.email,
                   from_alias: I18n.t('user_notifications.digest.from', site_name: SiteSetting.title),
                   subject: I18n.t('user_notifications.digest.subject_template',
diff --git a/app/models/topic.rb b/app/models/topic.rb
index ff104f26a7c..8c97662eb4c 100644
--- a/app/models/topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic.rb
@@ -272,8 +272,9 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
               .where("COALESCE(topic_users.notification_level, 1) <> ?", TopicUser.notification_levels[:muted])
               .created_since(since)
               .listable_topics
+              .includes(:category)
               .order(TopicQuerySQL.order_top_for(score))
-              .limit(100)
+              .limit(20)
 
     # Remove category topics
     category_topic_ids = Category.pluck(:topic_id).compact!