diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/subset/__init__.py b/Lib/fontTools/subset/__init__.py
index 2e3aaa5b2..dc418416c 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/subset/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/subset/__init__.py
@@ -3496,7 +3496,7 @@ class Subsetter(object):
                     log.info("%s pruned", tag)
 
     def _sort_tables(self, font):
-        tagOrder = ["fvar", "avar", "gvar", "name", "glyf"]
+        tagOrder = ["GDEF", "GPOS", "GSUB", "fvar", "avar", "gvar", "name", "glyf"]
         tagOrder = {t: i + 1 for i, t in enumerate(tagOrder)}
         tags = sorted(font.keys(), key=lambda tag: tagOrder.get(tag, 0))
         return [t for t in tags if t != "GlyphOrder"]