diff --git a/internal/playlists/system.go b/internal/playlists/system.go
index 8a2915f4..87bf5595 100644
--- a/internal/playlists/system.go
+++ b/internal/playlists/system.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package playlists
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/binary"
@@ -180,8 +181,21 @@ func scoreAndSortCandidates(cands []recommendation.Candidate, userID pgtype.UUID
 		c     recommendation.Candidate
 		score float64
 	}
-	pairs := make([]scored, len(cands))
-	for i, c := range cands {
+	// Pin candidate order by track id before drawing jitter. The candidate
+	// query (LoadRadioCandidatesV2) has ORDER BY random() arms and no
+	// stable outer ordering, so DB row order varies call-to-call. Since
+	// the i-th candidate gets the i-th seeded jitter draw, an unstable
+	// input order would assign different jitter to the same track across
+	// same-day rebuilds and reorder near-ties — breaking the daily
+	// determinism this function promises. Sorting by id first makes the
+	// jitter assignment a function of (track, day) alone.
+	ordered := make([]recommendation.Candidate, len(cands))
+	copy(ordered, cands)
+	sort.SliceStable(ordered, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return uuidLessPL(ordered[i].Track.ID, ordered[j].Track.ID)
+	})
+	pairs := make([]scored, len(ordered))
+	for i, c := range ordered {
 		pairs[i] = scored{c: c, score: recommendation.Score(c.Inputs, systemMixWeights, now, rng.Float64)}
 	}
 	sort.SliceStable(pairs, func(i, j int) bool {
@@ -709,6 +723,12 @@ func insertSystemPlaylist(ctx context.Context, qtx *dbq.Queries, userID pgtype.U
 // (pgtype.UUID's String method exists on some pgx versions but not others;
 // also the playlists package needs this independent of test helpers.)
 // Suffix `PL` distinguishes it from any test helper named uuidString.
+// uuidLessPL reports whether a sorts before b by raw 16-byte value. Used
+// to pin candidate order deterministically before jitter assignment.
+func uuidLessPL(a, b pgtype.UUID) bool {
+	return bytes.Compare(a.Bytes[:], b.Bytes[:]) < 0
+}
+
 func uuidStringPL(u pgtype.UUID) string {
 	if !u.Valid {
 		return "<nil>"