diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 3e9593d0cbc1f4cef0b402adcc6135dd882f4c61..68f0aa2aa8f2f5fbf789afb8298da57c5d2cfba3 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -6383,10 +6383,10 @@ Use substitute information from @var{urls}.
 Sort lines according to @var{key}, one of the following options:
 
 @table @code
-@item closure
-the total size of the item's closure (the default);
 @item self
-the size of each item.
+the size of each item (the default);
+@item closure
+the total size of the item's closure.
 @end table
 
 @item --map-file=@var{file}
diff --git a/guix/scripts/size.scm b/guix/scripts/size.scm
index 1e54d3f218a79fca75afa514700a488e45cc497a..eade184e67f29c45136659f3bfac70722f246b9b 100644
--- a/guix/scripts/size.scm
+++ b/guix/scripts/size.scm
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ (define %options
 
 (define %default-options
   `((system . ,(%current-system))
-    (profile<? . ,profile-closure<?)))
+    (profile<? . ,profile-self<?)))
 
 
 ;;;