diff --git a/addons/base/static/src/css/base.css b/addons/base/static/src/css/base.css
index e91bbd922ec..53470bb266a 100644
--- a/addons/base/static/src/css/base.css
+++ b/addons/base/static/src/css/base.css
@@ -609,10 +609,14 @@ background: linear-gradient(top, #ffffff 0%,#d8d8d8 11%,#afafaf 86%,#333333 91%,
 .openerp .oe-listview td.oe-record-delete {
     text-align: right;
 }
-.openerp .oe-listview th.oe-sortable,
-.openerp .oe-listview th.oe-sortable .ui-icon {
+.openerp .oe-listview th.oe-sortable {
     cursor: pointer;
 }
+.openerp .oe-listview th.oe-sortable .ui-icon {
+    height: 1em;
+    display: inline;
+    display: inline-block;
+}
 
 .openerp .oe-listview .oe-field-cell {
     cursor: pointer;
diff --git a/addons/base/static/src/js/list.js b/addons/base/static/src/js/list.js
index 333bc2f0029..49cd10c10b6 100644
--- a/addons/base/static/src/js/list.js
+++ b/addons/base/static/src/js/list.js
@@ -192,8 +192,6 @@ openerp.base.ListView = openerp.base.View.extend( /** @lends openerp.base.ListVi
 
         this.setup_columns(this.fields_view.fields, grouped);
 
-        if (!this.fields_view.sorted) { this.fields_view.sorted = {}; }
-
         this.$element.html(QWeb.render("ListView", this));
 
         // Head hook
@@ -203,12 +201,19 @@ openerp.base.ListView = openerp.base.View.extend( /** @lends openerp.base.ListVi
         this.$element.find('.oe-list-delete')
                 .attr('disabled', true)
                 .click(this.do_delete_selected);
-        this.$element.find('thead').delegate('th[data-id]', 'click', function (e) {
+        this.$element.find('thead').delegate('th.oe-sortable[data-id]', 'click', function (e) {
             e.stopPropagation();
 
-            self.dataset.sort($(this).data('id'));
+            var $this = $(this);
+            self.dataset.sort($this.data('id'));
+            if ($this.find('span').length) {
+                $this.find('span').toggleClass(
+                    'ui-icon-triangle-1-s ui-icon-triangle-1-n');
+            } else {
+                $this.append('<span class="ui-icon ui-icon-triangle-1-s">')
+                     .siblings('.oe-sortable').find('span').remove();
+            }
 
-            // TODO: should only reload content (and set the right column to a sorted display state)
             self.reload_content();
         });
 
diff --git a/addons/base/static/src/xml/base.xml b/addons/base/static/src/xml/base.xml
index 603c75cdb74..ef0c1848f1e 100644
--- a/addons/base/static/src/xml/base.xml
+++ b/addons/base/static/src/xml/base.xml
@@ -283,10 +283,8 @@
             <t t-foreach="columns" t-as="column">
                 <th t-if="!column.meta and column.invisible !== '1'" t-att-data-id="column.id"
                     t-att-class="((options.sortable and column.tag !== 'button') ? 'oe-sortable' : null)">
-                    <t t-if="column.tag !== 'button'">
-                        <t t-esc="column.string"/>
-                        <span t-att-class="(fields_view.sorted.field === column.id) ? ('ui-icon' + (fields_view.sorted.reversed ? ' ui-icon-triangle-1-n' : ' ui-icon-triangle-1-s')) : ''"/>
-                    </t>
+                    <t t-if="column.tag !== 'button'"
+                        ><t t-esc="column.string"/></t>
                 </th>
             </t>
             <th t-if="options.deletable" width="1"/>