diff --git a/pkg/NAMESPACE b/pkg/NAMESPACE
index 4d583387d8fb6..812e85238e9c6 100644
--- a/pkg/NAMESPACE
+++ b/pkg/NAMESPACE
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ exportMethods(
               "sampleRDD",
               "saveAsTextFile",
               "saveAsObjectFile",
+              "sortBy",
+              "sortByKey",
               "take",
               "takeSample",
               "unionRDD",
diff --git a/pkg/R/RDD.R b/pkg/R/RDD.R
index f321f874c8abf..3f6d96251365b 100644
--- a/pkg/R/RDD.R
+++ b/pkg/R/RDD.R
@@ -1264,6 +1264,36 @@ setMethod("flatMapValues",
             flatMap(X, flatMapFunc)
           })
 
+#' Sort an RDD by the given key function.
+#'
+#' @param rdd An RDD to be sorted.
+#' @param func A function used to compute the sort key for each element.
+#' @param ascending A flag to indicate whether the sorting is ascending or descending.
+#' @param numPartitions Number of partitions to create.
+#' @return An RDD where all elements are sorted.
+#' @rdname sortBy
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init()
+#' rdd <- parallelize(sc, list(3, 2, 1))
+#' collect(sortBy(rdd, function(x) { x })) # list (1, 2, 3)
+#'}
+setGeneric("sortBy", function(rdd,
+                              func,
+                              ascending = TRUE,
+                              numPartitions = 1L) {
+                       standardGeneric("sortBy")
+                     })
+
+#' @rdname sortBy
+#' @aliases sortBy,RDD,RDD-method
+setMethod("sortBy",
+          signature(rdd = "RDD", func = "function"),
+          function(rdd, func, ascending = TRUE, numPartitions = SparkR::numPartitions(rdd)) {          
+            values(sortByKey(keyBy(rdd, func), ascending, numPartitions))
+          })
+
 ############ Shuffle Functions ############
 
 #' Partition an RDD by key
@@ -1858,6 +1888,76 @@ setMethod("cogroup",
                                      group.func)
           })
 
+#' Sort a (k, v) pair RDD by k.
+#'
+#' @param rdd A (k, v) pair RDD to be sorted.
+#' @param ascending A flag to indicate whether the sorting is ascending or descending.
+#' @param numPartitions Number of partitions to create.
+#' @return An RDD where all (k, v) pair elements are sorted.
+#' @rdname sortByKey
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init()
+#' rdd <- parallelize(sc, list(list(3, 1), list(2, 2), list(1, 3)))
+#' collect(sortByKey(rdd)) # list (list(1, 3), list(2, 2), list(3, 1))
+#'}
+setGeneric("sortByKey", function(rdd,
+                                 ascending = TRUE,
+                                 numPartitions = 1L) {
+                          standardGeneric("sortByKey")
+                        })
+
+#' @rdname sortByKey
+#' @aliases sortByKey,RDD,RDD-method
+setMethod("sortByKey",
+          signature(rdd = "RDD"),
+          function(rdd, ascending = TRUE, numPartitions = SparkR::numPartitions(rdd)) {
+            rangeBounds <- list()
+            
+            if (numPartitions > 1) {
+              rddSize <- count(rdd)
+              # constant from Spark's RangePartitioner
+              maxSampleSize <- numPartitions * 20
+              fraction <- min(maxSampleSize / max(rddSize, 1), 1.0)
+              
+              samples <- collect(keys(sampleRDD(rdd, FALSE, fraction, 1L)))
+              
+              # Note: the built-in R sort() function only works on atomic vectors
+              samples <- sort(unlist(samples, recursive = FALSE), decreasing = !ascending)
+              
+              if (length(samples) > 0) {
+                rangeBounds <- lapply(seq_len(numPartitions - 1),
+                                      function(i) {
+                                        j <- ceiling(length(samples) * i / numPartitions)
+                                        samples[j]
+                                      })
+              }
+            }
+
+            rangePartitionFunc <- function(key) {
+              partition <- 0
+              
+              # TODO: Use binary search instead of linear search, similar with Spark
+              while (partition < length(rangeBounds) && key > rangeBounds[[partition + 1]]) {
+                partition <- partition + 1
+              }
+              
+              if (ascending) {
+                partition
+              } else {
+                numPartitions - partition - 1
+              }
+            }
+            
+            partitionFunc <- function(part) {
+              sortKeyValueList(part, decreasing = !ascending)
+            }
+            
+            newRDD <- partitionBy(rdd, numPartitions, rangePartitionFunc)
+            lapplyPartition(newRDD, partitionFunc)
+          })
+          
 # TODO: Consider caching the name in the RDD's environment
 #' Return an RDD's name.
 #'
diff --git a/pkg/R/utils.R b/pkg/R/utils.R
index 820866ad80fe1..778ae67def047 100644
--- a/pkg/R/utils.R
+++ b/pkg/R/utils.R
@@ -197,9 +197,9 @@ initAccumulator <- function() {
 
 # Utility function to sort a list of key value pairs
 # Used in unit tests
-sortKeyValueList <- function(kv_list) {
+sortKeyValueList <- function(kv_list, decreasing = FALSE) {
   keys <- sapply(kv_list, function(x) x[[1]])
-  kv_list[order(keys)]
+  kv_list[order(keys, decreasing = decreasing)]
 }
 
 # Utility function to generate compact R lists from grouped rdd
diff --git a/pkg/inst/tests/test_rdd.R b/pkg/inst/tests/test_rdd.R
index 5d6b128cd51b1..2f48db61020fd 100644
--- a/pkg/inst/tests/test_rdd.R
+++ b/pkg/inst/tests/test_rdd.R
@@ -267,6 +267,17 @@ test_that("keyBy on RDDs", {
   expect_equal(actual, lapply(nums, function(x) { list(func(x), x) }))
 })
 
+test_that("sortBy() on RDDs", {
+  sortedRdd <- sortBy(rdd, function(x) { x * x }, ascending = FALSE)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd)
+  expect_equal(actual, as.list(sort(nums, decreasing = TRUE)))
+
+  rdd2 <- parallelize(sc, sort(nums, decreasing = TRUE), 2L)
+  sortedRdd2 <- sortBy(rdd2, function(x) { x * x })
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd2)
+  expect_equal(actual, as.list(nums))
+})
+
 test_that("keys() on RDDs", {
   keys <- keys(intRdd)
   actual <- collect(keys)
@@ -387,6 +398,55 @@ test_that("fullOuterJoin() on pairwise RDDs", {
                sortKeyValueList(list(list("a", list(1, NULL)), list("b", list(2, NULL)), list("d", list(NULL, 4)), list("c", list(NULL, 3)))))
 })
 
+test_that("sortByKey() on pairwise RDDs", {
+  numPairsRdd <- map(rdd, function(x) { list (x, x) })
+  sortedRdd <- sortByKey(numPairsRdd, ascending = FALSE)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd)
+  numPairs <- lapply(nums, function(x) { list (x, x) })
+  expect_equal(actual, sortKeyValueList(numPairs, decreasing = TRUE))
+
+  rdd2 <- parallelize(sc, sort(nums, decreasing = TRUE), 2L)
+  numPairsRdd2 <- map(rdd2, function(x) { list (x, x) })
+  sortedRdd2 <- sortByKey(numPairsRdd2)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd2)
+  expect_equal(actual, numPairs)
+
+  # sort by string keys
+  l <- list(list("a", 1), list("b", 2), list("1", 3), list("d", 4), list("2", 5))
+  rdd3 <- parallelize(sc, l, 2L)
+  sortedRdd3 <- sortByKey(rdd3)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd3)
+  expect_equal(actual, list(list("1", 3), list("2", 5), list("a", 1), list("b", 2), list("d", 4)))
+  
+  # test on the boundary cases
+  
+  # boundary case 1: the RDD to be sorted has only 1 partition
+  rdd4 <- parallelize(sc, l, 1L)
+  sortedRdd4 <- sortByKey(rdd4)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd4)
+  expect_equal(actual, list(list("1", 3), list("2", 5), list("a", 1), list("b", 2), list("d", 4)))
+
+  # boundary case 2: the sorted RDD has only 1 partition
+  rdd5 <- parallelize(sc, l, 2L)
+  sortedRdd5 <- sortByKey(rdd5, numPartitions = 1L)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd5)
+  expect_equal(actual, list(list("1", 3), list("2", 5), list("a", 1), list("b", 2), list("d", 4)))
+
+  # boundary case 3: the RDD to be sorted has only 1 element
+  l2 <- list(list("a", 1))
+  rdd6 <- parallelize(sc, l2, 2L)
+  sortedRdd6 <- sortByKey(rdd6)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd6)
+  expect_equal(actual, l2)
+
+  # boundary case 4: the RDD to be sorted has 0 element
+  l3 <- list()
+  rdd7 <- parallelize(sc, l3, 2L)
+  sortedRdd7 <- sortByKey(rdd7)
+  actual <- collect(sortedRdd7)
+  expect_equal(actual, l3)  
+})
+
 test_that("collectAsMap() on a pairwise RDD", {
   rdd <- parallelize(sc, list(list(1, 2), list(3, 4)))
   vals <- collectAsMap(rdd)
@@ -404,4 +464,3 @@ test_that("collectAsMap() on a pairwise RDD", {
   vals <- collectAsMap(rdd)
   expect_equal(vals, list(`1` = "a", `2` = "b"))
 })
-
diff --git a/pkg/man/sortBy.Rd b/pkg/man/sortBy.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d3a231c745240
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/man/sortBy.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2 (4.0.2): do not edit by hand
+\docType{methods}
+\name{sortBy}
+\alias{sortBy}
+\alias{sortBy,RDD,RDD-method}
+\alias{sortBy,RDD,function,missingOrLogical,missingOrInteger-method}
+\title{Sort an RDD by the given key function.}
+\usage{
+sortBy(rdd, func, ascending, numPartitions)
+
+\S4method{sortBy}{RDD,`function`,missingOrLogical,missingOrInteger}(rdd, func,
+  ascending, numPartitions)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{rdd}{An RDD to be sorted.}
+
+\item{func}{A function used to compute the sort key for each element.}
+
+\item{ascending}{A flag to indicate whether the sorting is ascending or descending.}
+
+\item{numPartitions}{Number of partitions to create.}
+}
+\value{
+An RDD where all elements are sorted.
+}
+\description{
+Sort an RDD by the given key function.
+}
+\examples{
+\dontrun{
+sc <- sparkR.init()
+rdd <- parallelize(sc, list(3, 2, 1))
+collect(sortBy(rdd, function(x) { x })) # list (1, 2, 3)
+}
+}
+
diff --git a/pkg/man/sortByKey.Rd b/pkg/man/sortByKey.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b39aff6ca8757
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/man/sortByKey.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2 (4.0.2): do not edit by hand
+\docType{methods}
+\name{sortByKey}
+\alias{sortByKey}
+\alias{sortByKey,RDD,RDD-method}
+\alias{sortByKey,RDD,missingOrLogical,missingOrInteger-method}
+\title{Sort a (k, v) pair RDD by k.}
+\usage{
+sortByKey(rdd, ascending, numPartitions)
+
+\S4method{sortByKey}{RDD,missingOrLogical,missingOrInteger}(rdd, ascending,
+  numPartitions)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{rdd}{A (k, v) pair RDD to be sorted.}
+
+\item{ascending}{A flag to indicate whether the sorting is ascending or descending.}
+
+\item{numPartitions}{Number of partitions to create.}
+}
+\value{
+An RDD where all (k, v) pair elements are sorted.
+}
+\description{
+Sort a (k, v) pair RDD by k.
+}
+\examples{
+\dontrun{
+sc <- sparkR.init()
+rdd <- parallelize(sc, list(list(3, 1), list(2, 2), list(1, 3)))
+collect(sortByKey(rdd)) # list (list(1, 3), list(2, 2), list(3, 1))
+}
+}
+