diff --git a/src/components/HighTable/HighTable.stories.tsx b/src/components/HighTable/HighTable.stories.tsx
index 20e04a3a..861111ed 100644
--- a/src/components/HighTable/HighTable.stories.tsx
+++ b/src/components/HighTable/HighTable.stories.tsx
@@ -344,6 +344,21 @@ export const NonSortableColunns: Story = {
     data: sortableDataFrame(createUnsortableData(), { sortableColumns: new Set(['ID', 'Count', 'Constant', 'Value1', 'Value2', 'Value3', 'Undefined']) }),
   },
 }
+export const ExclusiveSort: Story = {
+  render: (args) => {
+    const [orderBy, setOrderBy] = useState<OrderBy>([])
+    return (
+      <HighTable
+        {...args}
+        orderBy={orderBy}
+        onOrderByChange={setOrderBy}
+      />
+    )
+  },
+  args: {
+    data: sortableDataFrame(createUnsortableData(), { exclusiveSort: true }),
+  },
+}
 export const LongStrings: Story = {
   args: {
     data: sortableDataFrame(createLongStringsData()),
diff --git a/src/components/TableHeader/TableHeader.tsx b/src/components/TableHeader/TableHeader.tsx
index bd5970d2..0f744c78 100644
--- a/src/components/TableHeader/TableHeader.tsx
+++ b/src/components/TableHeader/TableHeader.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { useCallback, useMemo } from 'react'
-import { OrderBy, toggleColumn } from '../../helpers/sort.js'
+import { OrderBy, toggleColumn, toggleColumnExclusive } from '../../helpers/sort.js'
+import { useData } from '../../hooks/useData.js'
 import { ColumnParameters } from '../../hooks/useTableConfig.js'
 import ColumnHeader from '../ColumnHeader/ColumnHeader.js'
 
@@ -18,12 +19,15 @@ interface TableHeaderProps {
 export default function TableHeader({
   columnsParameters, orderBy, onOrderByChange, canMeasureWidth, ariaRowIndex, columnClassNames = [],
 }: TableHeaderProps) {
+  const { data } = useData()
+  const exclusiveSort = data.exclusiveSort === true
   // Function to handle click for changing orderBy
   const getToggleOrderBy = useCallback((columnHeader: string) => {
     if (!onOrderByChange || !orderBy) return undefined
     return () => {
-      onOrderByChange(toggleColumn(columnHeader, orderBy))
-    }}, [orderBy, onOrderByChange]
+      const next = exclusiveSort ? toggleColumnExclusive(columnHeader, orderBy) : toggleColumn(columnHeader, orderBy)
+      onOrderByChange(next)
+    }}, [orderBy, onOrderByChange, exclusiveSort]
   )
 
   const orderByColumn = useMemo(() => {
diff --git a/src/helpers/dataframe/helpers.ts b/src/helpers/dataframe/helpers.ts
index aab7e588..da56320c 100644
--- a/src/helpers/dataframe/helpers.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/dataframe/helpers.ts
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@ export function validateColumn({ column, data: { columnDescriptors } }: { column
   }
 }
 
-export function validateOrderBy({ orderBy, data: { columnDescriptors } }: { orderBy?: OrderBy, data: Pick<DataFrame, 'columnDescriptors'> }): void {
+export function validateOrderBy({ orderBy, data: { columnDescriptors, exclusiveSort } }: { orderBy?: OrderBy, data: Pick<DataFrame, 'columnDescriptors' | 'exclusiveSort'> }): void {
   const sortableColumns = new Set(columnDescriptors.filter(c => c.sortable).map(c => c.name))
-  validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ orderBy, sortableColumns })
+  validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ orderBy, sortableColumns, exclusiveSort })
 }
 
 export function checkSignal(signal?: AbortSignal): void {
diff --git a/src/helpers/dataframe/sort.ts b/src/helpers/dataframe/sort.ts
index a73003cd..a983eea2 100644
--- a/src/helpers/dataframe/sort.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/dataframe/sort.ts
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@ import { checkSignal, validateColumn, validateFetchParams, validateRow } from '.
 import { DataFrame, DataFrameEvents, Obj, ResolvedValue } from './types.js'
 
 export function sortableDataFrame<M extends Obj, C extends Obj>(
-  data: DataFrame<M, C>, options?: { sortableColumns?: Set<string> }
+  data: DataFrame<M, C>, options?: { sortableColumns?: Set<string>, exclusiveSort?: boolean }
 ): DataFrame<M, C> {
   // If sortableColumns is not provided, make all columns sortable.
   const sortableColumns = options?.sortableColumns ?? new Set(data.columnDescriptors.map(c => c.name))
+  const exclusiveSort = options?.exclusiveSort ?? data.exclusiveSort
   // Validate that all sortable columns are present in the header.
   for (const column of sortableColumns) {
     validateColumn({ column, data: { columnDescriptors: data.columnDescriptors } })
@@ -20,6 +21,9 @@ export function sortableDataFrame<M extends Obj, C extends Obj>(
     return sortable === false || sortable === undefined // If the column is not in sortableColumns, it should not be sortable
   })) {
     // TODO(SL): we should return a clone of the data frame (and we should provide a helper function to clone a dataframe).
+    if (options && 'exclusiveSort' in options && data.exclusiveSort !== options.exclusiveSort) {
+      return { ...data, exclusiveSort: options.exclusiveSort }
+    }
     return data
   }
 
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ export function sortableDataFrame<M extends Obj, C extends Obj>(
 
   const getUpstreamRow: ({ row, orderBy }: { row: number, orderBy?: OrderBy }) => ResolvedValue<number> | undefined = function({ row, orderBy }) {
     validateRow({ row, data: { numRows } })
-    validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ orderBy, sortableColumns })
+    validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ orderBy, sortableColumns, exclusiveSort })
     if (!orderBy || orderBy.length === 0) {
       // If no orderBy is provided, we can return the upstream row number.
       return { value: row }
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@ export function sortableDataFrame<M extends Obj, C extends Obj>(
     }
   }
 
-  return { metadata, numRows, columnDescriptors, getRowNumber, getCell, fetch, eventTarget }
+  return { metadata, numRows, columnDescriptors, getRowNumber, getCell, fetch, eventTarget, exclusiveSort }
 }
 
 async function fetchFromIndexes({ columns, indexes, signal, fetch }: { columns?: string[], indexes: number[], signal?: AbortSignal, fetch: Exclude<DataFrame['fetch'], undefined> }): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/src/helpers/dataframe/types.ts b/src/helpers/dataframe/types.ts
index 911abfa1..b53e299b 100644
--- a/src/helpers/dataframe/types.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/dataframe/types.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ export interface DataFrame<M extends Obj = Obj, C extends Obj = Obj> {
   columnDescriptors: readonly ColumnDescriptor<C>[]
   metadata?: M
 
+  // If true, only one column can be sorted at a time, and any update to orderBy will replace the previous one.
+  // Defaults to false.
+  exclusiveSort?: boolean
+
   // Returns the cell value.
   // undefined means pending, ResolvedValue is a boxed value type (so we can distinguish undefined from pending)
   // getCell does NOT initiate a fetch, it just returns resolved data
diff --git a/src/helpers/sort.ts b/src/helpers/sort.ts
index 19653541..9dc3e1db 100644
--- a/src/helpers/sort.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/sort.ts
@@ -11,12 +11,15 @@ export function serializeOrderBy(orderBy: OrderBy): string {
   return JSON.stringify(orderBy)
 }
 
-export function validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ sortableColumns, orderBy }: { sortableColumns?: Set<string>, orderBy?: OrderBy }): void {
+export function validateOrderByAgainstSortableColumns({ sortableColumns, orderBy, exclusiveSort }: { sortableColumns?: Set<string>, orderBy?: OrderBy, exclusiveSort?: boolean }): void {
   if (!orderBy) return
   const unsortableColumns = orderBy.map(({ column }) => column).filter(column => !sortableColumns?.has(column))
   if (unsortableColumns.length > 0) {
     throw new Error(`Unsortable columns in orderBy field: ${unsortableColumns.join(', ')}`)
   }
+  if (exclusiveSort && orderBy.length > 1) {
+    throw new Error('DataFrame is exclusiveSort, but orderBy contains multiple columns')
+  }
 }
 
 export function areEqualOrderBy(a?: OrderBy, b?: OrderBy): boolean {
@@ -62,6 +65,17 @@ export function toggleColumn(column: string, orderBy: OrderBy): OrderBy {
   return [{ column, direction: 'ascending' }, ...prefix, ...suffix]
 }
 
+export function toggleColumnExclusive(column: string, orderBy: OrderBy): OrderBy {
+  const { item } = partitionOrderBy(orderBy, column)
+  if (item) {
+    if (item.direction === 'ascending') {
+      return [{ column, direction: 'descending' }]
+    }
+    return []
+  }
+  return [{ column, direction: 'ascending' }]
+}
+
 // TODO(SL): test
 export function computeRanks(values: any[]): number[] {
   const valuesWithIndex = values.map((value, index) => ({ value, index }))