error in sort by column, area chart formatting, stacked chart formatting

[NDYKES]

I have a large dataset where I have around 100 different variables where I want to visualise the top X (by count) and also sort the area chart so that the highest value is at the bottom. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to do this. Especially because of how many potential options there could be and I want it dynamic for filtering.
 
My methodolody was
 
TABLE1
Ref | Variable a | variable b | variable a +b | rest of table
 
I duplicated this table and made a group_by:
 
TABLE2
variable a+b | count
 
which I joined back to the original TABLE1 giving us
 
Ref | Variable a | variable b | variable a+b |  rest of table | count
 
At this point I tried to sort variable a+b by count  and despite there only beng 1 count value for each variable a+b I got and error saying:
 
We cant sort the "variable a+b" column by "count". There can't be more than one value in "count" for the same value in "variable a+b".
 
I had already checked this and the objection in the error isn't the case.
 
Can anybody please shed some light / workaround?
 
Thanks!

[v-cherch-msft]

Hi @NDYKES 

Sample data and expected output will be helpful to provide an accurate solution.If you need further help,please follow the How to Get Your Question Answered Quickly to post your simple assumed data and expected output.It would be better if you can upload the .pbix file to OneDrive and post the link here.

Below are some reference for you:

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Help-sorting-column-order/m-p/741699#M357591

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/How-to-sort-Arrange-Bar-chart/m-p/648236#M310803

Regards,

[NDYKES · Accepted solution]

Thanks, none of them worked for my issue sadly but I was able to rebuild the model for a workaround