I'm quite sure that was the default setting until not long ago. They must have changed it very recently.

I’m not very happy that the default sort on artist pages changed.

I don’t find “Most Played” to be a useful way to look through an artist’s discography. You can change the sort with the dropdown shown in the OP, but the choice is reverted as soon as you click to any other page, including album pages. And I can’t find a way to make Deezer remember that I prefer sorting by release date.

Having to change the sort dropdown over and over is crazy, so, I end up digging through the arbitrary-feeling “Most Played” ordering. It feels like a big step back from how it was before :(

And why merge this idea into another one that is not the same…? It’s worrisome…

Bring back ‘Release Date’ as default album sorting! 

I’m sure it was the default previously.  It always showed albums ordered by release date, with the most recent release being first.