diff --git a/tests/test_generate_popular_node_signatures.py b/tests/test_generate_popular_node_signatures.py
index 4e5ac53..b27917a 100644
--- a/tests/test_generate_popular_node_signatures.py
+++ b/tests/test_generate_popular_node_signatures.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from tools.generate_popular_node_signatures import (
     main,
     normalise_input_spec,
     normalise_manager_entries,
+    rank_entries,
     rank_packs,
     repo_cache_path,
     write_artifact,
@@ -5650,6 +5651,39 @@ class ManagerIngestionTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(["many-downloads", "many-stars"], [pack["id"] for pack in ranked])
 
+    def test_rank_entries_reads_top_level_popularity_fields(self):
+        entries = [
+            {
+                "id": "third",
+                "title": "Third",
+                "repository": "https://github.com/example/third",
+                "downloads": 1,
+                "github_stars": 10,
+                "manager_order": 0,
+            },
+            {
+                "id": "first",
+                "title": "First",
+                "repository": "https://github.com/example/first",
+                "downloads": 100,
+                "github_stars": 0,
+                "manager_order": 2,
+            },
+            {
+                "id": "second",
+                "title": "Second",
+                "repository": "https://github.com/example/second",
+                "downloads": 100,
+                "github_stars": 50,
+                "manager_order": 1,
+            },
+        ]
+
+        ranked = rank_entries(entries)
+
+        self.assertEqual(["second", "first", "third"], [entry["id"] for entry in ranked])
+        self.assertEqual([1, 2, 3], [entry["rank"] for entry in ranked])
+
 
 class RepoCacheTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_default_cache_dir_is_under_system_temp_dir(self):
diff --git a/tools/generate_popular_node_signatures.py b/tools/generate_popular_node_signatures.py
index db63ecd..8c3b586 100644
--- a/tools/generate_popular_node_signatures.py
+++ b/tools/generate_popular_node_signatures.py
@@ -260,6 +260,15 @@ def _metric_min_float(metrics, names):
     return min(values) if values else None
 
 
+def _metric_min_float_from_sources(sources, names):
+    values = []
+    for source in sources:
+        value = _metric_min_float(source, names)
+        if value is not None:
+            values.append(value)
+    return min(values) if values else None
+
+
 def _pack_id_from_repository(repository):
     parsed = urlparse(repository)
     if parsed.netloc:
@@ -300,10 +309,13 @@ def normalise_manager_entries(raw):
 
 
 def _rank_sort_key(pack):
-    metrics = pack.get("metrics", {})
-    downloads = _metric_max(metrics, ("downloads", "download_count"))
-    stars = _metric_max(metrics, ("stars", "github_stars", "stargazers_count"))
-    search_ranking = _metric_min_float(metrics, ("search_ranking", "search_rank", "search_order"))
+    metric_sources = (pack.get("metrics", {}), pack)
+    downloads = max(_metric_max(source, ("downloads", "download_count")) for source in metric_sources)
+    stars = max(_metric_max(source, ("stars", "github_stars", "stargazers_count")) for source in metric_sources)
+    search_ranking = _metric_min_float_from_sources(
+        metric_sources,
+        ("search_ranking", "search_rank", "search_order"),
+    )
     manager_order = int(pack.get("manager_order", 0))
     return (
         -downloads,