MySQL Sort By Column, Then Pull The Rest - mysql

Question

I have a unique situation where I need to pull many records, but sort SOME at the top if they are considered "favorites"...but then I need to pull all the rest of the records below this group.
Can this be done in one query...or will I need two? Any examples?

Answer 1

You can have a custom Order By with a CASE/WHEN clause:
Schema:
create table music
( mId int auto_increment primary key,
song varchar(100) not null
);
create table person
( pId int auto_increment primary key,
pName varchar(100) not null
);
create table person_owns_music
( id int auto_increment primary key,
mId int not null,
pId int not null,
favorite int not null,
rating int not null, -- 100 loves it. 0 hates it
foreign key `pom_2_music` (mId) references music(mId),
foreign key `pom_2_person` (pId) references person(pId)
);
-- truncate table person_owns_music;
insert music(song) values ('s1'),('s2'),('s3'),('s4'),('s5'),('s6');
insert person(pName) values ('p1'),('p2'),('p3');
insert person_owns_music(mId,pId,favorite,rating) values
(1,1,1,10),(2,1,1,100),(3,1,0,65),(4,1,1,15),(6,1,1,5),
(1,2,1,10),(2,2,1,100),(5,2,1,100);
Query:
SELECT pom.mId,m.song,pom.favorite,pom.rating
FROM person_owns_music pom
JOIN music m ON m.mId=pom.mId
WHERE pom.pId=1
ORDER BY CASE pom.favorite
WHEN 1 THEN 1
WHEN 0 THEN 2
END, pom.rating DESC;
+-----+------+----------+--------+
| mId | song | favorite | rating |
+-----+------+----------+--------+
| 2 | s2 | 1 | 100 |
| 4 | s4 | 1 | 15 |
| 1 | s1 | 1 | 10 |
| 6 | s6 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | s3 | 0 | 65 |
+-----+------+----------+--------+