diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_arch_parser.js b/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_arch_parser.js
index 6884358f558..192532bf165 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_arch_parser.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_arch_parser.js
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ export class ListArchParser extends XMLParser {
         const groupListArchParser = new GroupListArchParser();
         let buttonGroup;
         let handleField = null;
-        let defaultOrder = stringToOrderBy(xmlDoc.getAttribute("default_order") || null);
         const treeAttr = {};
         let nextId = 0;
         const activeFields = {};
@@ -207,6 +206,9 @@ export class ListArchParser extends XMLParser {
                 treeAttr.expand = archParseBoolean(xmlDoc.getAttribute("expand") || "");
                 treeAttr.decorations = getDecoration(xmlDoc);
 
+                treeAttr.defaultGroupBy = xmlDoc.getAttribute("default_group_by");
+                treeAttr.defaultOrder = stringToOrderBy(xmlDoc.getAttribute("default_order") || null);
+
                 // custom open action when clicking on record row
                 const action = xmlDoc.getAttribute("action");
                 const type = xmlDoc.getAttribute("type");
@@ -214,8 +216,8 @@ export class ListArchParser extends XMLParser {
             }
         });
 
-        if (!defaultOrder.length && handleField) {
-            defaultOrder = stringToOrderBy(handleField);
+        if (!treeAttr.defaultOrder.length && handleField) {
+            treeAttr.defaultOrder = stringToOrderBy(handleField);
         }
 
         for (const [key, field] of Object.entries(fieldNodes)) {
@@ -230,7 +232,6 @@ export class ListArchParser extends XMLParser {
             activeFields,
             columns,
             groupBy,
-            defaultOrder,
             __rawArch: arch,
             ...treeAttr,
         };
diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_controller.js b/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_controller.js
index 06bd880e714..15a90fb1194 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_controller.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/views/list/list_controller.js
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ export class ListController extends Component {
             groupByInfo: this.archInfo.groupBy.fields,
             limit: this.archInfo.limit || this.props.limit,
             defaultOrder: this.archInfo.defaultOrder,
+            defaultGroupBy: this.props.searchMenuTypes.includes("groupBy") && this.props.archInfo.defaultGroupBy,
             expand: this.archInfo.expand,
             groupsLimit: this.archInfo.groupsLimit,
             multiEdit: this.multiEdit,
diff --git a/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_view_tests.js b/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_view_tests.js
index 8d8c2ed3efb..fb01f8d6879 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_view_tests.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/tests/views/list_view_tests.js
@@ -16634,4 +16634,43 @@ QUnit.module("Views", (hooks) => {
         await click(target, ".o_field_many2one_selection .o-autocomplete--input");
         assert.verifySteps(["name_search"]);
     });
+
+    QUnit.test("list view with default_group_by", async (assert) => {
+        serverData.models.foo.fields.m2m.store = true;
+
+        let readGroupCount = 0;
+        await makeView({
+            type: "list",
+            resModel: "foo",
+            serverData,
+            arch: `
+                <tree default_group_by="bar">
+                    <field name="bar"/>
+                </tree>
+            `,
+            async mockRPC(route, { kwargs }) {
+                if (route === "/web/dataset/call_kw/partner/web_read_group") {
+                    readGroupCount++;
+                    switch (readGroupCount) {
+                        case 1:
+                            return assert.deepEqual(kwargs.groupby, ["bar"]);
+                        case 2:
+                            return assert.deepEqual(kwargs.groupby, ["m2m"]);
+                        case 3:
+                            return assert.deepEqual(kwargs.groupby, ["bar"]);
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+        });
+
+        assert.hasClass(target.querySelector(".o_list_renderer table"), "o_list_table_grouped");
+        assert.containsN(target, ".o_group_header", 2);
+
+        await groupByMenu(target, "m2m");
+        assert.containsN(target, ".o_group_header", 4);
+
+        await toggleMenuItem(target, "M2M field");
+        assert.containsN(target, ".o_group_header", 2);
+    });
+
 });
diff --git a/odoo/addons/base/rng/tree_view.rng b/odoo/addons/base/rng/tree_view.rng
index ed194bbda6e..a02c3223503 100644
--- a/odoo/addons/base/rng/tree_view.rng
+++ b/odoo/addons/base/rng/tree_view.rng
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
             <!-- Allows to take a custom View widget for handling -->
             <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="js_class"/></rng:optional>
             <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="default_order"/></rng:optional>
+            <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="default_group_by"/></rng:optional>
             <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="decoration-bf"/></rng:optional>
             <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="decoration-it"/></rng:optional>
             <rng:optional><rng:attribute name="decoration-danger"/></rng:optional>