diff --git a/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/common/quickOpenScorer.ts b/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/common/quickOpenScorer.ts
index 981c6c830a787..2d8ea22ecc03e 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/common/quickOpenScorer.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/common/quickOpenScorer.ts
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ function doScoreItem<T>(label: string, description: string, path: string, query:
 	return NO_ITEM_SCORE;
 }
 
-export function compareItemsByScore<T>(itemA: T, itemB: T, query: string, fuzzy: boolean, accessor: IItemAccessor<T>, cache: ScorerCache): number {
+export function compareItemsByScore<T>(itemA: T, itemB: T, query: string, fuzzy: boolean, accessor: IItemAccessor<T>, cache: ScorerCache, fallbackComparer = fallbackCompare): number {
 	const scoreA = scoreItem(itemA, query, fuzzy, accessor, cache).score;
 	const scoreB = scoreItem(itemB, query, fuzzy, accessor, cache).score;
 
@@ -395,7 +395,11 @@ export function compareItemsByScore<T>(itemA: T, itemB: T, query: string, fuzzy:
 		return scoreA > scoreB ? -1 : 1;
 	}
 
-	// 6.) at this point, scores are identical for both items so we start to sort by length
+	// 6.) at this point, scores are identical for both items so we start to use the fallback compare
+	return fallbackComparer(itemA, itemB, query, accessor);
+}
+
+export function fallbackCompare<T>(itemA: T, itemB: T, query: string, accessor: IItemAccessor<T>): number {
 
 	// check for label + description length and prefer shorter
 	const labelA = accessor.getItemLabel(itemA);
diff --git a/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/test/common/quickOpenScorer.test.ts b/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/test/common/quickOpenScorer.test.ts
index 111e9515a6adf..5af281048e298 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/test/common/quickOpenScorer.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/parts/quickopen/test/common/quickOpenScorer.test.ts
@@ -407,4 +407,19 @@ suite('Quick Open Scorer', () => {
 		assert.equal(res[1], resourceA);
 		assert.equal(res[2], resourceC);
 	});
+
+	test('compareFilesByScore - allow to provide fallback sorter (bug #31591)', function () {
+		const resourceA = URI.file('virtual/vscode.d.ts');
+		const resourceB = URI.file('vscode/src/vs/vscode.d.ts');
+
+		let query = 'vscode';
+
+		let res = [resourceA, resourceB].sort((r1, r2) => scorer.compareItemsByScore(r1, r2, query, true, ResourceAccessor, cache, (r1, r2, query, ResourceAccessor) => -1));
+		assert.equal(res[0], resourceA);
+		assert.equal(res[1], resourceB);
+
+		res = [resourceB, resourceA].sort((r1, r2) => scorer.compareItemsByScore(r1, r2, query, true, ResourceAccessor, cache, (r1, r2, query, ResourceAccessor) => -1));
+		assert.equal(res[0], resourceB);
+		assert.equal(res[1], resourceA);
+	});
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/quickopen/quickOpenController.ts b/src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/quickopen/quickOpenController.ts
index 38d4e6d010d2d..69f2abf2800ff 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/quickopen/quickOpenController.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/quickopen/quickOpenController.ts
@@ -1219,8 +1219,9 @@ class EditorHistoryHandler {
 				return true;
 			})
 
-			// Sort by score
-			.sort((e1, e2) => compareItemsByScore(e1, e2, searchValue, false, accessor, this.scorerCache));
+			// Sort by score and provide a fallback sorter that keeps the
+			// recency of items in case the score for items is the same
+			.sort((e1, e2) => compareItemsByScore(e1, e2, searchValue, false, accessor, this.scorerCache, (e1, e2, searchValue, accessor) => -1));
 	}
 }