diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
index f2a6020366e1..73c5d0410d47 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
@@ -4794,21 +4794,26 @@ void swap_buf_le16(u16 *buf, unsigned int buf_words)
 static struct ata_queued_cmd *ata_qc_new(struct ata_port *ap)
 {
 	struct ata_queued_cmd *qc = NULL;
-	unsigned int i;
+	unsigned int i, tag;
 
 	/* no command while frozen */
 	if (unlikely(ap->pflags & ATA_PFLAG_FROZEN))
 		return NULL;
 
-	/* the last tag is reserved for internal command. */
-	for (i = 0; i < ATA_MAX_QUEUE - 1; i++)
-		if (!test_and_set_bit(i, &ap->qc_allocated)) {
-			qc = __ata_qc_from_tag(ap, i);
+	for (i = 0; i < ATA_MAX_QUEUE; i++) {
+		tag = (i + ap->last_tag + 1) % ATA_MAX_QUEUE;
+
+		/* the last tag is reserved for internal command. */
+		if (tag == ATA_TAG_INTERNAL)
+			continue;
+
+		if (!test_and_set_bit(tag, &ap->qc_allocated)) {
+			qc = __ata_qc_from_tag(ap, tag);
+			qc->tag = tag;
+			ap->last_tag = tag;
 			break;
 		}
-
-	if (qc)
-		qc->tag = i;
+	}
 
 	return qc;
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/libata.h b/include/linux/libata.h
index 1de36be64df4..5ab4e3a76721 100644
--- a/include/linux/libata.h
+++ b/include/linux/libata.h
@@ -822,6 +822,7 @@ struct ata_port {
 	unsigned long		qc_allocated;
 	unsigned int		qc_active;
 	int			nr_active_links; /* #links with active qcs */
+	unsigned int		last_tag;	/* track next tag hw expects */
 
 	struct ata_link		link;		/* host default link */
 	struct ata_link		*slave_link;	/* see ata_slave_link_init() */