 <p>It is not possible to <em>reliably</em> get sorted results without explicitly using <code>ORDER BY</code>.</p> <p>Sources:</p> <p><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/hugo_kornelis/archive/2006/12/31/Beatles-vs-Stones.aspx" rel="nofollow">The Beatles versus the Stones</a> </p> <p><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/alexander_kuznetsov/archive/2009/05/20/without-order-by-there-is-no-default-sort-order.aspx" rel="nofollow">Without ORDER BY, there is no default sort order</a> </p>