diff --git a/lib/mbtiles.js b/lib/mbtiles.js
index ddd1a40..7828ba8 100644
--- a/lib/mbtiles.js
+++ b/lib/mbtiles.js
@@ -621,7 +621,9 @@ MBTiles.prototype.copyResume = function(callback) {
     if (!this.open) return callback(new Error('MBTiles not yet loaded'));
     var mbtiles = this;
     Step(function() {
-        mbtiles._db.get('SELECT zoom_level AS z, tile_column AS x, tile_row AS y FROM tiles ORDER BY z DESC, y DESC, x DESC LIMIT 1', this.parallel());
+        // y is ASC here because tilelive.copy uses XYZ when writing/ordering
+        // tiles but y is "flipped" to TMS when stored in an MBTiles database.
+        mbtiles._db.get('SELECT zoom_level AS z, tile_column AS x, tile_row AS y FROM tiles ORDER BY z DESC, y ASC, x DESC LIMIT 1', this.parallel());
         mbtiles._db.get('SELECT COUNT(*) AS copied FROM tiles WHERE tile_data IS NOT NULL', this.parallel());
     }, function(err, coords, copied) {
         if (err) return callback(err);