diff --git a/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst b/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
index 7e61a276765..413b64e9500 100644
--- a/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
+++ b/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ user interface as possible.
 command line.  Tests can be either individual test files or directories to
 search for tests (see :ref:`test-discovery`).
 
-Each specified test will be executed (potentially in parallel) and once all
+Each specified test will be executed (potentially concurrently) and once all
 tests have been run :program:`lit` will print summary information on the number
 of tests which passed or failed (see :ref:`test-status-results`).  The
 :program:`lit` program will execute with a non-zero exit code if any tests
@@ -151,8 +151,7 @@ EXECUTION OPTIONS
 
  Track the wall time individual tests take to execute and includes the results
  in the summary output.  This is useful for determining which tests in a test
- suite take the most time to execute.  Note that this option is most useful
- with ``-j 1``.
+ suite take the most time to execute.
 
 .. option:: --ignore-fail
 
@@ -168,6 +167,17 @@ EXECUTION OPTIONS
 SELECTION OPTIONS
 -----------------
 
+By default, `lit` will run failing tests first, then run tests in descending
+execution time order to optimize concurrency.
+
+The timing data is stored in the `test_exec_root` in a file named
+`.lit_test_times.txt`. If this file does not exist, then `lit` checks the
+`test_source_root` for the file to optionally accelerate clean builds.
+
+.. option:: --shuffle
+
+ Run the tests in a random order, not failing/slowest first.
+
 .. option:: --max-failures N
 
  Stop execution after the given number ``N`` of failures.
@@ -201,10 +211,6 @@ SELECTION OPTIONS
  must be in the range ``1..M``. The environment variable
  ``LIT_RUN_SHARD`` can also be used in place of this option.
 
-.. option:: --shuffle
-
- Run the tests in a random order.
-
 .. option:: --timeout=N
 
  Spend at most ``N`` seconds (approximately) running each individual test.
@@ -416,13 +422,6 @@ executed, two important global variables are predefined:
  **root** The root configuration.  This is the top-most :program:`lit` configuration in
  the project.
 
- **is_early** Whether the test suite as a whole should be given a head start
- before other test suites run.
-
- **early_tests** An explicit set of '/' separated test paths that should be
- given a head start before other tests run. For example, the top five or so
- slowest tests. See also: `--time-tests`
-
  **pipefail** Normally a test using a shell pipe fails if any of the commands
  on the pipe fail. If this is not desired, setting this variable to false
  makes the test fail only if the last command in the pipe fails.
diff --git a/test/Unit/lit.cfg.py b/test/Unit/lit.cfg.py
index 3198ab2c953..3a5c40dc14d 100644
--- a/test/Unit/lit.cfg.py
+++ b/test/Unit/lit.cfg.py
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ config.name = 'LLVM-Unit'
 # suffixes: A list of file extensions to treat as test files.
 config.suffixes = []
 
-# is_early; Request to run this suite early.
-config.is_early = True
-
 # test_source_root: The root path where tests are located.
 # test_exec_root: The root path where tests should be run.
 config.test_exec_root = os.path.join(config.llvm_obj_root, 'unittests')
diff --git a/utils/lit/lit/Test.py b/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
index ce87cfa8abb..ad42ef183ed 100644
--- a/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
+++ b/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
@@ -207,6 +207,16 @@ class TestSuite:
         # The test suite configuration.
         self.config = config
 
+        self.test_times = {}
+        test_times_file = os.path.join(exec_root, '.lit_test_times.txt')
+        if not os.path.exists(test_times_file):
+            test_times_file = os.path.join(source_root, '.lit_test_times.txt')
+        if os.path.exists(test_times_file):
+            with open(test_times_file, 'r') as time_file:
+                for line in time_file:
+                    time, path = line.split(maxsplit=1)
+                    self.test_times[path.strip('\n')] = float(time)
+
     def getSourcePath(self, components):
         return os.path.join(self.source_root, *components)
 
@@ -246,6 +256,18 @@ class Test:
         # The test result, once complete.
         self.result = None
 
+        # The previous test failure state, if applicable.
+        self.previous_failure = False
+
+        # The previous test elapsed time, if applicable.
+        self.previous_elapsed = 0.0
+
+        if os.sep.join(path_in_suite) in suite.test_times:
+            time = suite.test_times[os.sep.join(path_in_suite)]
+            self.previous_elapsed = abs(time)
+            self.previous_failure = time < 0
+
+
     def setResult(self, result):
         assert self.result is None, "result already set"
         assert isinstance(result, Result), "unexpected result type"
@@ -395,15 +417,3 @@ class Test:
         )
         identifiers = set(filter(BooleanExpression.isIdentifier, tokens))
         return identifiers
-
-    def isEarlyTest(self):
-        """
-        isEarlyTest() -> bool
-
-        Check whether this test should be executed early in a particular run.
-        This can be used for test suites with long running tests to maximize
-        parallelism or where it is desirable to surface their failures early.
-        """
-        if '/'.join(self.path_in_suite) in self.suite.config.early_tests:
-            return True
-        return self.suite.config.is_early
diff --git a/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py b/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
index fafc754c1bc..612db574677 100644
--- a/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
+++ b/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
@@ -125,10 +125,6 @@ class TestingConfig(object):
         # require one of the features in this list if this list is non-empty.
         # Configurations can set this list to restrict the set of tests to run.
         self.limit_to_features = set(limit_to_features)
-        # Whether the suite should be tested early in a given run.
-        self.is_early = bool(is_early)
-        # List of tests to run early.
-        self.early_tests = {}
         self.parallelism_group = parallelism_group
         self._recursiveExpansionLimit = None
 
diff --git a/utils/lit/lit/cl_arguments.py b/utils/lit/lit/cl_arguments.py
index 4d829659ea1..3eb1870bf16 100644
--- a/utils/lit/lit/cl_arguments.py
+++ b/utils/lit/lit/cl_arguments.py
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ import lit.util
 
 
 class TestOrder(enum.Enum):
-    EARLY_TESTS_THEN_BY_NAME = enum.auto()
-    FAILING_FIRST = enum.auto()
+    DEFAULT = enum.auto()
     RANDOM = enum.auto()
 
 
@@ -155,7 +154,7 @@ def parse_args():
             help="Run tests in random order",
             action="store_true")
     selection_group.add_argument("-i", "--incremental",
-            help="Run modified and failing tests first (updates mtimes)",
+            help="Run failed tests first (DEPRECATED: now always enabled)",
             action="store_true")
     selection_group.add_argument("--filter",
             metavar="REGEX",
@@ -208,12 +207,13 @@ def parse_args():
     if opts.echoAllCommands:
         opts.showOutput = True
 
+    if opts.incremental:
+        print('WARNING: --incremental is deprecated. Failing tests now always run first.')
+
     if opts.shuffle:
         opts.order = TestOrder.RANDOM
-    elif opts.incremental:
-        opts.order = TestOrder.FAILING_FIRST
     else:
-        opts.order = TestOrder.EARLY_TESTS_THEN_BY_NAME
+        opts.order = TestOrder.DEFAULT
 
     if opts.numShards or opts.runShard:
         if not opts.numShards or not opts.runShard:
diff --git a/utils/lit/lit/discovery.py b/utils/lit/lit/discovery.py
index a185ae676d1..43481d8bd3b 100644
--- a/utils/lit/lit/discovery.py
+++ b/utils/lit/lit/discovery.py
@@ -281,6 +281,11 @@ def find_tests_for_inputs(lit_config, inputs, indirectlyRunCheck):
         if prev == len(tests):
             lit_config.warning('input %r contained no tests' % input)
 
+    # This data is no longer needed but keeping it around causes awful
+    # performance problems while the test suites run.
+    for k, suite in test_suite_cache.items():
+      suite[0].test_times = None
+
     # If there were any errors during test discovery, exit now.
     if lit_config.numErrors:
         sys.stderr.write('%d errors, exiting.\n' % lit_config.numErrors)
diff --git a/utils/lit/lit/main.py b/utils/lit/lit/main.py
index 3f265446be2..cfc12661a78 100755
--- a/utils/lit/lit/main.py
+++ b/utils/lit/lit/main.py
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ def main(builtin_params={}):
     run_tests(selected_tests, lit_config, opts, len(discovered_tests))
     elapsed = time.time() - start
 
+    record_test_times(selected_tests, lit_config)
+
     if opts.time_tests:
         print_histogram(discovered_tests)
 
@@ -163,20 +165,12 @@ def print_discovered(tests, show_suites, show_tests):
 
 def determine_order(tests, order):
     from lit.cl_arguments import TestOrder
-    if order == TestOrder.EARLY_TESTS_THEN_BY_NAME:
-        tests.sort(key=lambda t: (not t.isEarlyTest(), t.getFullName()))
-    elif order == TestOrder.FAILING_FIRST:
-        def by_mtime(test):
-            return os.path.getmtime(test.getFilePath())
-        tests.sort(key=by_mtime, reverse=True)
-    elif order == TestOrder.RANDOM:
+    if order == TestOrder.RANDOM:
         import random
         random.shuffle(tests)
-
-
-def touch_file(test):
-    if test.isFailure():
-        os.utime(test.getFilePath(), None)
+    else:
+        assert order == TestOrder.DEFAULT, 'Unknown TestOrder value'
+        tests.sort(key=lambda t: (not t.previous_failure, -t.previous_elapsed, t.getFullName()))
 
 
 def filter_by_shard(tests, run, shards, lit_config):
@@ -213,12 +207,7 @@ def run_tests(tests, lit_config, opts, discovered_tests):
     display = lit.display.create_display(opts, len(tests), discovered_tests,
                                          workers)
 
-    def progress_callback(test):
-        display.update(test)
-        if opts.order == lit.cl_arguments.TestOrder.FAILING_FIRST:
-            touch_file(test)
-
-    run = lit.run.Run(tests, lit_config, workers, progress_callback,
+    run = lit.run.Run(tests, lit_config, workers, display.update,
                       opts.max_failures, opts.timeout)
 
     display.print_header()
@@ -267,6 +256,27 @@ def execute_in_tmp_dir(run, lit_config):
                 lit_config.warning("Failed to delete temp directory '%s', try upgrading your version of Python to fix this" % tmp_dir)
 
 
+def record_test_times(tests, lit_config):
+    times_by_suite = {}
+    for t in tests:
+        if not t.result.elapsed:
+            continue
+        if not t.suite.exec_root in times_by_suite:
+            times_by_suite[t.suite.exec_root] = []
+        time = -t.result.elapsed if t.isFailure() else t.result.elapsed
+        times_by_suite[t.suite.exec_root].append((os.sep.join(t.path_in_suite), t.result.elapsed))
+
+    for s, value in times_by_suite.items():
+        try:
+            path = os.path.join(s, '.lit_test_times.txt')
+            with open(path, 'w') as time_file:
+                for name, time in value:
+                    time_file.write(("%e" % time) + ' ' + name + '\n')
+        except:
+            lit_config.warning('Could not save test time: ' + path)
+            continue
+
+
 def print_histogram(tests):
     test_times = [(t.getFullName(), t.result.elapsed)
                   for t in tests if t.result.elapsed]
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..00aecc968ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+3.0 subdir/ccc.txt
+2.0 bbb.txt
+0.1 aaa.txt
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/aaa.txt b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/aaa.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/aaa.txt
rename to utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/aaa.txt
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/bbb.txt b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/bbb.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/bbb.txt
rename to utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/bbb.txt
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/lit.cfg
similarity index 67%
rename from utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg
rename to utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/lit.cfg
index db030510c24..6320609a1e6 100644
--- a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg
+++ b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/lit.cfg
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import lit.formats
-config.name = 'early-tests'
+config.name = 'reorder'
 config.suffixes = ['.txt']
 config.test_format = lit.formats.ShTest()
 config.test_source_root = None
 config.test_exec_root = None
-config.early_tests = { "subdir/ccc.txt" }
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/subdir/ccc.txt b/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/subdir/ccc.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/subdir/ccc.txt
rename to utils/lit/tests/Inputs/reorder/subdir/ccc.txt
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py b/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py
deleted file mode 100644
index b2ca9ac0a97..00000000000
--- a/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-## Check that we can run tests early.
-
-# RUN: %{lit} -j1 %{inputs}/early-tests | FileCheck %s
-
-# CHECK:     -- Testing: 3 tests, 1 workers --
-# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: subdir/ccc.txt
-# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: aaa.txt
-# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: bbb.txt
-# CHECK:     Passed: 3
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/ignore-fail.py b/utils/lit/tests/ignore-fail.py
index 135e29baa5a..63c34516226 100644
--- a/utils/lit/tests/ignore-fail.py
+++ b/utils/lit/tests/ignore-fail.py
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
 
 # END.
 
-# CHECK: FAIL: ignore-fail :: fail.txt
-# CHECK: UNRESOLVED: ignore-fail :: unresolved.txt
-# CHECK: XFAIL: ignore-fail :: xfail.txt
-# CHECK: XPASS: ignore-fail :: xpass.txt
+# CHECK-DAG: FAIL: ignore-fail :: fail.txt
+# CHECK-DAG: UNRESOLVED: ignore-fail :: unresolved.txt
+# CHECK-DAG: XFAIL: ignore-fail :: xfail.txt
+# CHECK-DAG: XPASS: ignore-fail :: xpass.txt
 
 #      CHECK: Testing Time:
 # CHECK-NEXT:   Expectedly Failed : 1
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/reorder.py b/utils/lit/tests/reorder.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7c9dc8d21fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/lit/tests/reorder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+## Check that we can reorder test runs.
+
+# RUN: cp %{inputs}/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt %{inputs}/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt.orig
+# RUN: %{lit} -j1 %{inputs}/reorder | FileCheck %s
+# RUN: not diff %{inputs}/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt %{inputs}/reorder/.lit_test_times.txt.orig
+# END.
+
+# CHECK:     -- Testing: 3 tests, 1 workers --
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: reorder :: subdir/ccc.txt
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: reorder :: bbb.txt
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: reorder :: aaa.txt
+# CHECK:     Passed: 3
diff --git a/utils/lit/tests/shtest-shell.py b/utils/lit/tests/shtest-shell.py
index 4c247de15dd..3f1ead3b297 100644
--- a/utils/lit/tests/shtest-shell.py
+++ b/utils/lit/tests/shtest-shell.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 #
 # Test again in non-UTF shell to catch potential errors with python 2 seen
 # on stdout-encoding.txt
+# FIXME: lit's testing sets source_root == exec_root which complicates running lit more than once per test.
+# RUN: rm -f %{inputs}/shtest-shell/.lit_test_times.txt
 # RUN: env PYTHONIOENCODING=ascii not %{lit} -j 1 -a %{inputs}/shtest-shell > %t.ascii.out
 # FIXME: Temporarily dump test output so we can debug failing tests on
 # buildbots.