diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go b/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
index 81642ac2..019dd8a7 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
@@ -85,14 +85,15 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) CreateChildInArray(index int, node *yaml.Node) *Candidat
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) CreateReplacement(node *yaml.Node) *CandidateNode {
 	return &CandidateNode{
-		Node:      node,
-		Path:      n.createChildPath(nil),
-		Parent:    n.Parent,
-		Key:       n.Key,
-		IsMapKey:  n.IsMapKey,
-		Document:  n.Document,
-		Filename:  n.Filename,
-		FileIndex: n.FileIndex,
+		Node:           node,
+		Path:           n.createChildPath(nil),
+		LeadingContent: n.LeadingContent,
+		Parent:         n.Parent,
+		Key:            n.Key,
+		IsMapKey:       n.IsMapKey,
+		Document:       n.Document,
+		Filename:       n.Filename,
+		FileIndex:      n.FileIndex,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_comments.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_comments.go
index 23aa5c6a..ae037103 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_comments.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_comments.go
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ func getCommentsOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *
 
 		node := &yaml.Node{Kind: yaml.ScalarNode, Value: comment, Tag: "!!str"}
 		result := candidate.CreateReplacement(node)
+		result.LeadingContent = "" // don't include the leading yaml content when retrieving a comment
 		results.PushBack(result)
 	}
 	return context.ChildContext(results), nil
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_sort_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_sort_test.go
index 075e81ac..8a208313 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_sort_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_sort_test.go
@@ -79,6 +79,15 @@ var sortByOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[{a: false, b: 1}, {a: false, b: 3}, {a: true, b: 2}]\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "head comment",
+		document:    "# abc\n- def\n# ghi",
+		expression:  `sort`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::# abc\n- def\n# ghi\n",
+		},
+	},
 }
 
 func TestSortByOperatorScenarios(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/stream_evaluator.go b/pkg/yqlib/stream_evaluator.go
index 4f4d8f7d..36c2a4a4 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/stream_evaluator.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/stream_evaluator.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ func (s *streamEvaluator) EvaluateFiles(expression string, filenames []string, p
 
 	for index, filename := range filenames {
 		reader, leadingContent, err := readStream(filename, leadingContentPreProcessing)
+		log.Debug("leadingContent: %v", leadingContent)
 
 		if index == 0 {
 			firstFileLeadingContent = leadingContent