diff --git a/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/core_2d/mod.rs b/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/core_2d/mod.rs
index 49f4260b203fc..084205ee24752 100644
--- a/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/core_2d/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/core_2d/mod.rs
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ impl PhaseItem for Transparent2d {
 
     #[inline]
     fn sort(items: &mut [Self]) {
-        items.sort_by_key(|item| item.sort_key());
+        // radsort is a stable radix sort that performed better than `slice::sort_by_key` or `slice::sort_unstable_by_key`.
+        radsort::sort_by_key(items, |item| item.sort_key().0);
     }
 
     #[inline]
diff --git a/crates/bevy_sprite/Cargo.toml b/crates/bevy_sprite/Cargo.toml
index 37db1b9eb2a20..649dc42345036 100644
--- a/crates/bevy_sprite/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/bevy_sprite/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,3 +31,4 @@ guillotiere = "0.6.0"
 thiserror = "1.0"
 rectangle-pack = "0.4"
 bitflags = "2.3"
+radsort = "0.1"
diff --git a/examples/stress_tests/bevymark.rs b/examples/stress_tests/bevymark.rs
index 4e2670ecabd9d..cd8c1ad77f3c2 100644
--- a/examples/stress_tests/bevymark.rs
+++ b/examples/stress_tests/bevymark.rs
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ struct Args {
     /// the number of different textures from which to randomly select the material color. 0 means no textures.
     #[argh(option, default = "1")]
     material_texture_count: usize,
+
+    /// generate z values in increasing order rather than randomly
+    #[argh(switch)]
+    ordered_z: bool,
 }
 
 #[derive(Default, Clone)]
@@ -163,6 +167,7 @@ struct BirdResources {
     color_rng: StdRng,
     material_rng: StdRng,
     velocity_rng: StdRng,
+    transform_rng: StdRng,
 }
 
 #[derive(Component)]
@@ -204,6 +209,7 @@ fn setup(
         color_rng: StdRng::seed_from_u64(42),
         material_rng: StdRng::seed_from_u64(42),
         velocity_rng: StdRng::seed_from_u64(42),
+        transform_rng: StdRng::seed_from_u64(42),
     };
 
     let text_section = move |color, value: &str| {
@@ -360,7 +366,12 @@ fn spawn_birds(
         Mode::Sprite => {
             let batch = (0..spawn_count)
                 .map(|count| {
-                    let bird_z = (current_count + count) as f32 * 0.00001;
+                    let bird_z = if args.ordered_z {
+                        (current_count + count) as f32 * 0.00001
+                    } else {
+                        bird_resources.transform_rng.gen::<f32>()
+                    };
+
                     let (transform, velocity) = bird_velocity_transform(
                         half_extents,
                         Vec3::new(bird_x, bird_y, bird_z),
@@ -398,7 +409,12 @@ fn spawn_birds(
         Mode::Mesh2d => {
             let batch = (0..spawn_count)
                 .map(|count| {
-                    let bird_z = (current_count + count) as f32 * 0.00001;
+                    let bird_z = if args.ordered_z {
+                        (current_count + count) as f32 * 0.00001
+                    } else {
+                        bird_resources.transform_rng.gen::<f32>()
+                    };
+
                     let (transform, velocity) = bird_velocity_transform(
                         half_extents,
                         Vec3::new(bird_x, bird_y, bird_z),