diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponse.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponse.java
index 5c94344b93606..0725e6c684abe 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponse.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponse.java
@@ -142,11 +142,11 @@ public RestStatus status() {
     @Override
     public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
         builder.startObject();
+        builder.field(ERRORS, hasFailures());
         builder.field(TOOK, tookInMillis);
         if (ingestTookInMillis != BulkResponse.NO_INGEST_TOOK) {
             builder.field(INGEST_TOOK, ingestTookInMillis);
         }
-        builder.field(ERRORS, hasFailures());
         builder.startArray(ITEMS);
         for (BulkItemResponse item : this) {
             item.toXContent(builder, params);
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponseTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponseTests.java
index 8feedcc415aa4..5a1c7f1572e23 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponseTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkResponseTests.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkResponse.NO_INGEST_TOOK;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper.toXContent;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertToXContentEquivalent;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 
 public class BulkResponseTests extends ESTestCase {
 
@@ -47,17 +48,7 @@ public void testToAndFromXContent() throws IOException {
             DocWriteRequest.OpType opType = randomFrom(DocWriteRequest.OpType.values());
 
             if (frequently()) {
-                Tuple<? extends DocWriteResponse, ? extends DocWriteResponse> randomDocWriteResponses = null;
-                if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.INDEX || opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.CREATE) {
-                    randomDocWriteResponses = IndexResponseTests.randomIndexResponse();
-                } else if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.DELETE) {
-                    randomDocWriteResponses = DeleteResponseTests.randomDeleteResponse();
-                } else if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.UPDATE) {
-                    randomDocWriteResponses = UpdateResponseTests.randomUpdateResponse(xContentType);
-                } else {
-                    fail("Test does not support opType [" + opType + "]");
-                }
-
+                Tuple<? extends DocWriteResponse, ? extends DocWriteResponse> randomDocWriteResponses = success(opType, xContentType);
                 bulkItems[i] = BulkItemResponse.success(i, opType, randomDocWriteResponses.v1());
                 expectedBulkItems[i] = BulkItemResponse.success(i, opType, randomDocWriteResponses.v2());
             } else {
@@ -97,4 +88,64 @@ public void testToAndFromXContent() throws IOException {
         BytesReference expectedFinalBytes = toXContent(parsedBulkResponse, xContentType, humanReadable);
         assertToXContentEquivalent(expectedFinalBytes, finalBytes, xContentType);
     }
+
+    public void testToXContentPlacesErrorsFirst() throws IOException {
+        XContentType xContentType = randomFrom(XContentType.values());
+        boolean humanReadable = randomBoolean();
+
+        boolean errors = false;
+        long took = randomFrom(randomNonNegativeLong(), -1L);
+        long ingestTook = randomFrom(randomNonNegativeLong(), NO_INGEST_TOOK);
+        int nbBulkItems = randomIntBetween(1, 10);
+
+        BulkItemResponse[] bulkItems = new BulkItemResponse[nbBulkItems];
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < nbBulkItems; i++) {
+            DocWriteRequest.OpType opType = randomFrom(DocWriteRequest.OpType.values());
+            if (frequently()) {
+                Tuple<? extends DocWriteResponse, ? extends DocWriteResponse> randomDocWriteResponses = success(opType, xContentType);
+
+                BulkItemResponse success = BulkItemResponse.success(i, opType, randomDocWriteResponses.v1());
+                bulkItems[i] = success;
+            } else {
+                errors = true;
+                String index = randomAlphaOfLength(5);
+                String id = randomAlphaOfLength(5);
+
+                Tuple<Throwable, ElasticsearchException> failures = randomExceptions();
+
+                Exception bulkItemCause = (Exception) failures.v1();
+                bulkItems[i] = BulkItemResponse.failure(i, opType, new BulkItemResponse.Failure(index, id, bulkItemCause));
+            }
+        }
+
+        BulkResponse bulkResponse = new BulkResponse(bulkItems, took, ingestTook);
+        BytesReference originalBytes = toXContent(bulkResponse, xContentType, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS, humanReadable);
+
+        try (XContentParser parser = createParser(xContentType.xContent(), originalBytes)) {
+            assertThat(parser.nextToken(), equalTo(XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT));
+            XContentParser.Token firstField = parser.nextToken();
+            assertThat(firstField, equalTo(XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME));
+            assertThat(parser.currentName(), equalTo("errors"));
+            assertThat(parser.nextToken(), equalTo(XContentParser.Token.VALUE_BOOLEAN));
+            assertThat(parser.booleanValue(), equalTo(errors));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static Tuple<? extends DocWriteResponse, ? extends DocWriteResponse> success(
+        DocWriteRequest.OpType opType,
+        XContentType xContentType
+    ) {
+        Tuple<? extends DocWriteResponse, ? extends DocWriteResponse> randomDocWriteResponses = null;
+        if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.INDEX || opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.CREATE) {
+            randomDocWriteResponses = IndexResponseTests.randomIndexResponse();
+        } else if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.DELETE) {
+            randomDocWriteResponses = DeleteResponseTests.randomDeleteResponse();
+        } else if (opType == DocWriteRequest.OpType.UPDATE) {
+            randomDocWriteResponses = UpdateResponseTests.randomUpdateResponse(xContentType);
+        } else {
+            fail("Test does not support opType [" + opType + "]");
+        }
+        return randomDocWriteResponses;
+    }
 }