diff --git a/plugins/linguist-backend/api-report.md b/plugins/linguist-backend/api-report.md
index 795271f46c..8b17b997dd 100644
--- a/plugins/linguist-backend/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/linguist-backend/api-report.md
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ export class LinguistBackendDatabase implements LinguistBackendStore {
   // (undocumented)
   getEntityResults(entityRef: string): Promise<Languages>;
   // (undocumented)
-  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[] | []>;
+  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[]>;
   // (undocumented)
-  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[] | []>;
+  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[]>;
   // (undocumented)
   insertEntityResults(entityLanguages: EntityResults): Promise<string>;
   // (undocumented)
@@ -74,9 +74,9 @@ export interface LinguistBackendStore {
   // (undocumented)
   getEntityResults(entityRef: string): Promise<Languages>;
   // (undocumented)
-  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[] | []>;
+  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[]>;
   // (undocumented)
-  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[] | []>;
+  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[]>;
   // (undocumented)
   insertEntityResults(entityLanguages: EntityResults): Promise<string>;
   // (undocumented)
diff --git a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.test.ts b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.test.ts
index 58aae70106..35336bb5e9 100644
--- a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.test.ts
@@ -234,10 +234,10 @@ describe('Linguist backend API', () => {
     expect(overview.staleCount).toEqual(1);
     expect(overview.pendingCount).toEqual(4);
     expect(overview.filteredEntities).toEqual([
-      'component:default/stale-service-two',
       'component:default/service-three',
       'component:default/service-four',
       'component:default/service-five',
+      'component:default/stale-service-two',
     ]);
   });
 
diff --git a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.ts b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.ts
index 890e6438b2..a2f6e1ef67 100644
--- a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.ts
+++ b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/api/LinguistBackendClient.ts
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ export class LinguistBackendClient implements LinguistBackendApi {
       .map(pe => pe.entityRef);
 
     const unprocessedEntities = await this.store.getUnprocessedEntities();
-    const filteredEntities = staleEntities.concat(unprocessedEntities);
+    const filteredEntities = unprocessedEntities.concat(staleEntities);
 
     const entitiesOverview: EntitiesOverview = {
       entityCount: unprocessedEntities.length + processedEntities.length,
diff --git a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.test.ts b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.test.ts
index f4e0bba627..1ab092b953 100644
--- a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.test.ts
@@ -134,6 +134,13 @@ describe('Linguist database', () => {
     expect(unprocessedEntities).toMatchObject(validUnprocessedEntities);
   });
 
+  it('should return string[] when there is no unprocessed entities', async () => {
+    await testDbClient('entity_result').delete();
+    const unprocessedEntities = await store.getUnprocessedEntities();
+
+    expect(unprocessedEntities).toMatchObject([]);
+  });
+
   it('should be able to return processed entities', async () => {
     const validProcessedEntities: ProcessedEntity[] = [
       {
@@ -155,6 +162,13 @@ describe('Linguist database', () => {
     expect(processedEntities).toMatchObject(validProcessedEntities);
   });
 
+  it('should return string[] when there is no processed entities', async () => {
+    await testDbClient('entity_result').delete();
+    const unprocessedEntities = await store.getProcessedEntities();
+
+    expect(unprocessedEntities).toMatchObject([]);
+  });
+
   it('should insert new entities and ignore duplicates', async () => {
     const before = testDbClient.count('entity_result');
 
diff --git a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.ts b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.ts
index c045d0a4a9..5a165695da 100644
--- a/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.ts
+++ b/plugins/linguist-backend/src/db/LinguistBackendDatabase.ts
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ export interface LinguistBackendStore {
   insertEntityResults(entityLanguages: EntityResults): Promise<string>;
   insertNewEntity(entityRef: string): Promise<void>;
   getEntityResults(entityRef: string): Promise<Languages>;
-  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[] | []>;
-  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[] | []>;
+  getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[]>;
+  getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[]>;
 }
 
 const migrationsDir = resolvePackagePath(
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ export class LinguistBackendDatabase implements LinguistBackendStore {
     }
   }
 
-  async getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[] | []> {
+  async getProcessedEntities(): Promise<ProcessedEntity[]> {
     const rawEntities = await this.db<RawDbEntityResultRow>('entity_result')
       .whereNotNull('processed_date')
       .whereNotNull('languages');
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ export class LinguistBackendDatabase implements LinguistBackendStore {
     return processedEntities;
   }
 
-  async getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[] | []> {
+  async getUnprocessedEntities(): Promise<string[]> {
     const rawEntities = await this.db<RawDbEntityResultRow>('entity_result')
       // TODO(ahhhndre) processed_date should always be null as well but it had a default to the current date
       // once the default has been removed and released, we can then come back an enable this check