title: SQL UPDATE TOP with ORDER BY?
body: <p>I have a following query:</p>
  
  <pre><code>UPDATE TOP (@MaxRecords) Messages 
  SET    status = 'P' 
  OUTPUT inserted.* 
  FROM   Messages 
  where Status = 'N'
  and InsertDate &gt;= GETDATE()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the Messages table there is priority column and I want to select high priority messages first. So I need an ORDER BY. But I do not need to have sorted output but sorted data before update runs.</p>
  
  <p>As far as I know it's not possible to add ORDER BY to UPDATE statement. Any other ideas?</p>