How to order an array of Strings by frequency, but not alphabetically

Question

String[] stringArray = {"x", "y", "z", "x", "x", "y", "a"};

final Map<String, Integer> counter = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
for (String str : stringArray)
    counter.put(str, 1 + (counter.containsKey(str) ? counter.get(str) : 0));

List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(counter.keySet());
Collections.sort(list, new Comparator<String>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(String x, String y) {
        return counter.get(y) - counter.get(x);
    }
});

for (String string : list) {
System.out.println(string)
}

What is the quickest/most efficient way to order this into a smaller Collection in order of how frequent each String is with its frequency?

I tried using a HashMap, which worked, however, I want it to display ["x", "y", "z", "a"] , and instead displays ["x", "y", "a", "z"] . I only want the list to sort by frequency not alphabetially as well.

Thanks, i've attached my code to show what i've done.

Answer 1

Replace the compare() method body with the following:

if (!counter.get(y).equals(counter.get(x))) 
    return counter.get(y) - counter.get(x);
return x.compareTo(y);