Basic example
Input
nums = [1,1,1,2,2,3], k = 2
Output
[1, 2]
1 appears 3 times, 2 appears 2 times, 3 appears once. The top 2 are [1, 2].
Full lesson preview
Find the top k frequent elements
Return the k most frequent elements from an integer array using hashing and sorting for determinism.
Python practice15 minHashing & SetsIntermediateLast updated March 26, 2026
Problem statement
Given a non-empty list of integers nums and an integer k, return a list of the k most frequent elements. If multiple elements have the same frequency, break ties by choosing the smaller numeric value first. The result should be ordered by descending frequency (highest frequency first) and then by ascending numeric value for ties.
Task
Use a frequency map to identify and return the k elements with highest frequency (tie-broken deterministically).
Examples
Input format
A list of integers nums and an integer k.
Output format
A list of k integers sorted by descending frequency and tie-broken by ascending value.
Constraints
1 <= k <= number of unique elements in nums; nums length >= 1; elements fit in 32-bit signed int.
Samples
Sample 1
Input
nums = [4,4,4,6,6,5,5,5], k = 2
Output
[4, 5]
4 and 5 both appear 3 times; tie broken by smaller value first (4 then 5).