diff --git a/src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.cs b/src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.cs
index ceb8471b820c..fbb2cf9ae31a 100644
--- a/src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.cs
+++ b/src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.cs
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ private static IReadOnlyDictionary<string, SemanticVersion> GetVersionDirectorie
         return versionFileInfo;
     }
 
-    private static IList<string> GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor(IReadOnlyDictionary<string, SemanticVersion> versionDirInfo)
+    internal static IList<string> GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor(IReadOnlyDictionary<string, SemanticVersion> versionDirInfo)
     {
         IDictionary<string, (string path, SemanticVersion version)> bestVersionsByBucket = new Dictionary<string, (string path, SemanticVersion version)>();
 
@@ -105,6 +105,6 @@ private static IList<string> GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor(IReadOnlyDictionary<str
             }
         }
 
-        return [.. bestVersionsByBucket.OrderBy(x => x.Key).Select(x => x.Value.path)];
+        return [.. bestVersionsByBucket.OrderBy(x => x.Value.version).Select(x => x.Value.path)];
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProviderTests.cs b/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProviderTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a03a844a3b0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dotnet.Tests/CommandTests/New/BuiltInTemplatePackageProviderTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+
+using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Commands.New;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
+
+namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.New.Tests;
+
+// Regression tests for https://github.com/dotnet/sdk/issues/51669
+// Specifically validates numeric ordering across one vs two digit majors (9 vs 10) to ensure we do NOT alpha-sort "10" ahead of "9".
+public class BuiltInTemplatePackageProviderTests
+{
+    [Fact]
+    public void GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor_UsesHighestPatchAndNumericOrderingAcrossSingleAndDoubleDigitMajors()
+    {
+        // SDK version (NewCommandParser) must be >= 10.x for both 9.x and 10.x buckets to be included.
+        var sdkVersion = typeof(NewCommandParser).Assembly.GetName().Version ?? new();
+        Assert.True(sdkVersion.Major >= 10, "This test requires running under an SDK whose major version is at least 10.");
+
+        // Build synthetic version directories:
+        // 9.0 bucket: highest patch should be 200 (release preferred over preview)
+        // 10.0 bucket: highest patch should be 300 (release preferred over rc)
+        var versionDirInfo = new Dictionary<string, SemanticVersion>
+        {
+            { @"templates\9.0.101", new SemanticVersion(9, 0, 101) },
+            { @"templates\9.0.200-preview.1", new SemanticVersion(9, 0, 200, releaseLabel: "preview.1") },
+            { @"templates\9.0.200", new SemanticVersion(9, 0, 200) },
+
+            { @"templates\10.0.100", new SemanticVersion(10, 0, 100) },
+            { @"templates\10.0.300-rc.1", new SemanticVersion(10, 0, 300, releaseLabel: "rc.1") },
+            { @"templates\10.0.300", new SemanticVersion(10, 0, 300) }
+        };
+
+        var result = BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor(versionDirInfo);
+
+        // Expect one entry per (Major.Minor) bucket: 9.0 and 10.0
+        Assert.Equal(2, result.Count);
+
+        // Parse back selected versions (strip any prerelease suffix).
+        var parsed = result.Select(p =>
+        {
+            var name = p.Split('\\').Last();
+            var baseVersion = name.Split('-', 2)[0];
+            return (Path: p, Version: SemanticVersion.Parse(baseVersion));
+        }).ToList();
+
+        // Validate that ordering is numeric ascending: 9.x then 10.x
+        Assert.Equal(9, parsed[0].Version.Major);
+        Assert.Equal(10, parsed[1].Version.Major);
+
+        // Validate highest patch chosen per bucket (release preferred over prerelease)
+        Assert.Equal(200, parsed[0].Version.Patch); // 9.0.200
+        Assert.Equal(300, parsed[1].Version.Patch); // 10.0.300
+
+        // Ensure we did not accidentally select prerelease directories
+        Assert.DoesNotContain(result, r => r.Contains("preview.1"));
+        Assert.DoesNotContain(result, r => r.Contains("rc.1"));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor_DoesNotAlphabeticallyPlaceTenBeforeNine()
+    {
+        // This is a more direct assertion against the original bug: alpha ordering of keys would have produced "10.0.*" before "9.0.*".
+        var sdkVersion = typeof(NewCommandParser).Assembly.GetName().Version ?? new();
+        Assert.True(sdkVersion.Major >= 10, "This test requires running under an SDK whose major version is at least 10.");
+
+        var versionDirInfo = new Dictionary<string, SemanticVersion>
+        {
+            { @"templates\9.0.150", new SemanticVersion(9, 0, 150) },
+            { @"templates\10.0.250", new SemanticVersion(10, 0, 250) }
+        };
+
+        var result = BuiltInTemplatePackageProvider.GetBestVersionsByMajorMinor(versionDirInfo);
+
+        Assert.Equal(2, result.Count);
+
+        // Under the buggy alpha key ordering, index 0 would be 10.0.250.
+        // Correct numeric ordering must yield 9.x first.
+        var firstName = result[0].Split('\\').Last();
+        Assert.StartsWith("9.0.", firstName);
+        var secondName = result[1].Split('\\').Last();
+        Assert.StartsWith("10.0.", secondName);
+    }
+}