Sort Function Not Working please help

[tmworking]

I've got a sort page, and everything works EXCEPT sort by most and least commented. Can you help me find the error here? I think it's in the query since unions are a bit of a mystery to me, but I'm just learning so any help is appreciated.

<?php

include('header.php');

//USER INPUT
$by = clean($_GET['by']);
$by2 = clean($_GET['by2']);
$by3 = clean($_GET['by3']); 

if($by=="best"){
    $bylab = "best";
    $byquery ="votes1";
    $by3query = "DESC";
    $byget = "?by=best";
    $bestlabel = "<span class='bold red'>Highest</span>";
}else{
    $bestlabel = "Highest";
}
if($by=="worst"){
    $bylab = "worst";
    $byquery = "votes2";
    $by3query = "DESC";
    $byget = "?by=worst";
    $worstlabel = "<span class='bold red'>Lowest</span>";
}else{
    $worstlabel = "Lowest";
}
if($by2=="day"){

}
if($by2=="week"){

}
if($by3=="least-commented"){
    $by3get = "?by3=least-commented";
    $by3query = "ASC";
    $lcomlabel = "<strong>Least Commented</strong>";
}else{
    $lcomlabel = "Least Commented";
}
if($by3=="most-commented"){
    $by3get = "?by3=most-commented";
    $by3query = "DESC";
    $mcomlabel = "<strong>Most Commented</strong>";
}else{
    $mcomlabel = "Most Commented";
}

if(!$by3){
    $ncomlabel = "<strong>Neither</strong>";
}else{
    $ncomlabel = "Neither";
}

// GET TODAY TIMESTAMP FROM BEGINNING OF DAY
$datetime = getdate(time());
$mon = $datetime['mon'];
$date = $datetime['mday'];
$year = $datetime['year'];
$wkday = $datetime['wday'];
$today = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$date,$year);

// GET TIMESTAMP FROM BEGINNING OF WEEK
$startwkday = $date-$wkday+1;
$thisweek = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$startwkday,$year);

// GET TIMESTAMP DATA FROM &ID= IN ADDRESS BAR
$tstamp = clean($_GET['id']);
if($tstamp){
    $datetime = getdate($tstamp);
    $day = $datetime['weekday'];
    $month = $datetime['month'];
    $mon = $datetime['mon'];
    $date = $datetime['mday'];
    $year = $datetime['year'];
    $wkday = $datetime['wday'];

    $startwkday2 = $date-$wkday+1;

    $chosendatetime = "$day $date $month $year";
}

$daylabel = "Day";
$weeklabel = "Week";
$alltimelabel = "All Time";


if($by2=="day"){

    $daylabel = "<strong>Day</strong>";
    $pretime = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$date-1,$year);
    $start = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$date,$year);
    $aftertime = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$date+1,$year);

    $by2lab = "day";
    $by2query = "";
    //$by2get = "&by2=day&id=$start";
    $by2get = "-by-day-" . $start;

    $best_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `comps` where Accepted='Yes' and time between '$start' and '$aftertime' ORDER BY `$byquery` DESC  LIMIT 5");

}

if($by2=="week"){

    $weeklabel = "<strong>Week</strong>";
    $pretime = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$startwkday2-7,$year);
    $start = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$startwkday2,$year);
    $aftertime = mktime(0,0,0,$mon,$startwkday2+7,$year);

    $by2lab = "week";
    $by2query = "";
    $by2get = "&by2=week&id=$start";

    $best_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `comps` where Accepted='Yes' and time between '$start' and '$aftertime' ORDER BY `$byquery` DESC  LIMIT 5");

}

if(empty($by2)){
    $alltimelabel = "<strong>All Time</strong>";
    $best_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `comps` ORDER BY `$byquery` $by3query LIMIT 5");
}

if($by3){
    $bylab = "best";
$query = "(select comps.*, count(comments.id) as cnt from comps, comments
            where
            comps.id=comments.comp_id
            group by comments.comp_id)
            union
            (
            select comps.*, '0' as cnt from comps
            where
            id not in (select comp_id from comments)
            )
            order by cnt $by3query
            limit 5";
   
    $best_query = mysql_query($query);
}
$array = $best_query;


$cnt = '<form action="submitCompliment.php" class="submit_form" method="POST" target="sendCommentIFrame">
    <table id="submissionform">
    <tr><td class="input" colspan=5>
    <textarea onfocus="javascript:document.getElementById(\'commbox\').value=\'\';" name="comp" rows="13" height="75" cols="20" id="commbox">'. $names[4] .'</textarea>
    </td></tr>
    <tr><td>
    <select name="cat">';

while($category = current($catlist)){
    $cnt .= '<option value="'. key($catlist) .'">'. current($catlist) .'</option>';
    next($catlist);
}

$cnt .= '
</select></td></tr> <tr><td><input type="submit" name="Ok" value="Submit!" class="button_login2"/>
</td></tr>
<tr><td>
<div id="loadingsubmit_article" style="display:none;"><img src="images/loader.gif"/></div>
<div id="resultsubmit_article" style="display:none;"></div>
</td></tr>
</table>
       </form><iframe name="sendCommentIFrame" style="display:none"></iframe>';

$maincontent = "<h1><a href=\"javascript:submitToggle();\" class=\"submit\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\">" . $submitpop . "</a></h1><div style=\"display: none;\" id=\"submit\" class=\"post\"><div id=\"result2\" class=\"result\">" . $cnt . "</div></div>";



$maincontent .= '

  <div id="result" style="text-align:center;">
  <a href="'. $bylab .'-compliments-by-day-'. $today .'">'. $daylabel .'</a> /
  <a href="'. $bylab .'-compliments-by-week-'. $thisweek .'">'. $weeklabel .'</a> /
  <a href="'. $bylab .'-compliments">'. $alltimelabel .'</a>

  <div class="bestworst">
  <a href="best-compliments">'. $bestlabel .'</a> /
  <a href="worst-compliments">'. $worstlabel .'</a>
  </div>
  </div>
   <div class="commented">
  <a href="'. $bylab .'-compliments-most-commented">'. $mcomlabel .'</a> /
  <a href="'. $bylab .'-compliments-least-commented">'. $lcomlabel .'</a>
  </div>
';


$voting_array = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `votes` WHERE `ip`='$ip'"));

$vote_explode = explode(',', $voting_array['comp_id']);

foreach($vote_explode as $vote_ex){

    $vote_ex = explode(":", $vote_ex);

    $compnum = $vote_ex[0];
    $compvote = $vote_ex[1];
    $compvotearray[$compnum] = $compvote;
}

if(mysql_num_rows($array) > 0){
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($array, MYSQL_ASSOC)){
        // count the comments
        $commentsCountQuery = "select * from comments where comp_id=" . $row['id'];
        $commentsCountResult = mysql_query($commentsCountQuery);
        $commentsCount = mysql_num_rows($commentsCountResult);

        $maincontent .= "\n<div id=\"result". $row['id'] ."\" class=\"result\">\n";
        $maincontent .= stripslashes($row['message']) ."\n<br /><br />\n";
        $maincontent .= '<span class="sentBy"><span class="lside"><a href="comment-'. $row['id'] .'" class="commlink">read comments ('. $commentsCount .')</a></span>';

        if(!$compvotearray[$row['id']]){

            $maincontent .= '<span id="vote_buttons'. $row['id'] .'" class="vote_buttons">
                <span id="a1votes_count'. $row['id'] .'">
                <a id=":'. $row['id'] .':1:'. $row['votes1'] .':'. $row['votes2'] .':" class="vote_up" title="'. $phrase1 .':'. $phrase2 .'" href="javascript:;">
                '. $phrase1 .' ('. $row['votes1'] .')</a></span>';
            $maincontent .= '   -   <span id="a2votes_count'. $row['id'] .'">
                <a id=":'. $row['id'] .':2:'. $row['votes1'] .':'. $row['votes2'] .':" class="vote_down" title="'. $phrase1 .':'. $phrase2 .'" href="javascript:;">
                '. $phrase2 .' ('. $row['votes2'] .')</a>
                </span></span><br />';
        } else {

            $maincontent .= '<span id="vote_buttons'. $row['id'] .'" class="vote_buttons voted">
                <span id="a1votes_count'. $row['id'] .'">
                '. $phrase1 .' ('. $row['votes1'] .')</span>';
            $maincontent .= '   -   <span id="a2votes_count'. $row['id'] .'" class="vote_buttons voted">
                '. $phrase2 .' ('. $row['votes2'] .')
                </span></span><br />';

        }

        $maincontent .= '<span class="mesdetail">'. date('F j, Y \a\t g:i a ', $row['time']) .'by <a href="' . $row['user'] . '_' . $row['user'] .'-'. $row['user'] . '">'. $row['user'] .'</a>
        </span>';
        $maincontent .= '<span class="mesdetail"> in - <a href="category-'. $row['cat'] .'_'. $catlist[$row['cat']] .'">'. $catlist[$row['cat']] .'</a></span>';
        $maincontent .= "</div>";
    }
} else {
    $maincontent .= "<strong>There are no results in this category.</strong>";
}	


$layout = str_replace("[[main-content]]", $maincontent, $layout);

echo $layout;

?>