diff --git a/docs/changelog/125916.yaml b/docs/changelog/125916.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..57741e4f0870a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/125916.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pr: 125916
+summary: Re-enable parallel collection for field sorted top hits
+area: Search
+type: bug
+issues: []
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/TopHitsAggregationBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/TopHitsAggregationBuilder.java
index b8bd95dcdf9e9..ac37b287736aa 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/TopHitsAggregationBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/TopHitsAggregationBuilder.java
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.function.ToLongFunction;
 
 public class TopHitsAggregationBuilder extends AbstractAggregationBuilder<TopHitsAggregationBuilder> {
     public static final String NAME = "top_hits";
@@ -823,18 +822,4 @@ public String getType() {
     public TransportVersion getMinimalSupportedVersion() {
         return TransportVersions.ZERO;
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public boolean supportsParallelCollection(ToLongFunction<String> fieldCardinalityResolver) {
-        if (sorts != null) {
-            // the implicit sorting is by _score, which supports parallel collection
-            for (SortBuilder<?> sortBuilder : sorts) {
-                if (sortBuilder.supportsParallelCollection() == false) {
-                    return false;
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        return super.supportsParallelCollection(fieldCardinalityResolver);
-    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortBuilder.java
index cd597f3328c0f..f1ca48b7d3dda 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/FieldSortBuilder.java
@@ -749,4 +749,11 @@ public FieldSortBuilder rewrite(QueryRewriteContext ctx) throws IOException {
         }
         return new FieldSortBuilder(this).setNestedSort(rewrite);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsParallelCollection() {
+        // Disable parallel collection for sort by field.
+        // It is supported but not optimized on the Lucene side to share info across collectors, and can cause regressions.
+        return false;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/GeoDistanceSortBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/GeoDistanceSortBuilder.java
index 9bd5d4b1a23fa..ab96638efe626 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/GeoDistanceSortBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/GeoDistanceSortBuilder.java
@@ -746,4 +746,11 @@ public GeoDistanceSortBuilder rewrite(QueryRewriteContext ctx) throws IOExceptio
         }
         return new GeoDistanceSortBuilder(this).setNestedSort(rewrite);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean supportsParallelCollection() {
+        // Disable parallel collection for sort by field.
+        // It is supported but not optimized on the Lucene side to share info across collectors, and can cause regressions.
+        return false;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScoreSortBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScoreSortBuilder.java
index a6fd4ef90693d..0c2fc68e7e856 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScoreSortBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScoreSortBuilder.java
@@ -173,9 +173,4 @@ public TransportVersion getMinimalSupportedVersion() {
     public ScoreSortBuilder rewrite(QueryRewriteContext ctx) {
         return this;
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public boolean supportsParallelCollection() {
-        return true;
-    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScriptSortBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScriptSortBuilder.java
index a1920d3ead600..c5ebf97183601 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScriptSortBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/ScriptSortBuilder.java
@@ -511,9 +511,4 @@ public ScriptSortBuilder rewrite(QueryRewriteContext ctx) throws IOException {
         }
         return new ScriptSortBuilder(this).setNestedSort(rewrite);
     }
-
-    @Override
-    public boolean supportsParallelCollection() {
-        return true;
-    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/SortBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/SortBuilder.java
index 7ed3abe7daa1a..17da9abd3952b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/SortBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/sort/SortBuilder.java
@@ -290,6 +290,6 @@ public String toString() {
     }
 
     public boolean supportsParallelCollection() {
-        return false;
+        return true;
     }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilderTests.java
index a2c9119d0d5cf..9fef56ba16396 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilderTests.java
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ public void testSupportsParallelCollection() {
         {
             SearchSourceBuilder searchSourceBuilder = newSearchSourceBuilder.get();
             searchSourceBuilder.aggregation(new TopHitsAggregationBuilder("tophits").sort(SortBuilders.fieldSort("field")));
-            assertFalse(searchSourceBuilder.supportsParallelCollection(fieldCardinality));
+            assertTrue(searchSourceBuilder.supportsParallelCollection(fieldCardinality));
         }
         {
             SearchSourceBuilder searchSourceBuilder = newSearchSourceBuilder.get();