diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fc9a74d..fe2fc31 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## [unreleased]
 
+- Add high priority fields (timestamp, level, level index and message) to beginning of JSON object output when using JSON formatter to ensure log entries are parsable even when JSON logs are mangled
+
 ## [4.17.0]
 
 - Correct `source_code_uri` URL
diff --git a/lib/semantic_logger/formatters/raw.rb b/lib/semantic_logger/formatters/raw.rb
index 44fffa9..d82b1bc 100644
--- a/lib/semantic_logger/formatters/raw.rb
+++ b/lib/semantic_logger/formatters/raw.rb
@@ -117,11 +117,12 @@ def call(log, logger)
         self.log    = log
         self.logger = logger
 
+        time
+        level
+        message
         host
         application
         environment
-        time
-        level
         pid
         thread_name
         file_name_and_line
@@ -129,7 +130,6 @@ def call(log, logger)
         tags
         named_tags
         name
-        message
         payload
         exception
         metric
diff --git a/test/formatters/json_test.rb b/test/formatters/json_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d156919
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/formatters/json_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+require_relative "../test_helper"
+
+module SemanticLogger
+  module Formatters
+    class JsonTest < Minitest::Test
+      describe Json do
+        let(:log_time) do
+          Time.utc(2017, 1, 14, 8, 32, 5.375276)
+        end
+
+        let(:level) do
+          :debug
+        end
+
+        let(:log) do
+          log      = SemanticLogger::Log.new("JsonTest", level)
+          log.time = log_time
+          log
+        end
+
+        let(:expected_time) do
+          SemanticLogger::Formatters::Base::PRECISION == 3 ? "2017-01-14T08:32:05.375Z" : "2017-01-14T08:32:05.375276Z"
+        end
+
+        let(:formatter) do
+          formatter = SemanticLogger::Formatters::Json.new(log_host: false)
+          # Does not use the logger instance for formatting purposes
+          formatter.call(log, nil)
+          formatter
+        end
+
+        describe "call" do
+          it "sets timestamp, level, level_index, and message at the beginning of the JSON object" do
+            log.message = "Some message"
+            expected_start = %({"timestamp":"#{expected_time}","level":"debug","level_index":1,"message":"Some message")
+
+            is_starting_with_high_priority_fields = formatter.call(log, nil).start_with?(expected_start)
+
+            assert is_starting_with_high_priority_fields, "Expected #{formatter.call(log, nil)} to start with #{expected_start}"
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end