diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/influx_series.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/influx_series.ts
index 1c7fc7fcfb8..2d253af38c8 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/influx_series.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/influx_series.ts
@@ -171,19 +171,24 @@ export default class InfluxSeries {
       return table;
     }
 
+    // the order is:
+    // - first the first item from the value-array (this is often (always?) the timestamp)
+    // - then all the tag-values
+    // - then the rest of the value-array
+    //
+    // we have to keep this order both in table.columns and table.rows
+
     each(this.series, (series: any, seriesIndex: number) => {
       if (seriesIndex === 0) {
-        j = 0;
-        // Check that the first column is indeed 'time'
-        if (series.columns[0] === 'time') {
-          // Push this now before the tags and with the right type
-          table.columns.push({ text: 'Time', type: FieldType.time });
-          j++;
-        }
+        const firstCol = series.columns[0];
+        // Check the first column's name, if it is `time`, we
+        // mark it as having the type time
+        const firstTableCol = firstCol === 'time' ? { text: 'Time', type: FieldType.time } : { text: firstCol };
+        table.columns.push(firstTableCol);
         each(keys(series.tags), (key) => {
           table.columns.push({ text: key });
         });
-        for (; j < series.columns.length; j++) {
+        for (j = 1; j < series.columns.length; j++) {
           table.columns.push({ text: series.columns[j] });
         }
       }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/specs/influx_series.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/specs/influx_series.test.ts
index 7bc8db097ff..130385d7d31 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/specs/influx_series.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/specs/influx_series.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import produce from 'immer';
 import InfluxSeries from '../influx_series';
 
 describe('when generating timeseries from influxdb response', () => {
@@ -300,5 +301,62 @@ describe('when generating timeseries from influxdb response', () => {
         expect(annotations[0].tags[1]).toBe('backend');
       });
     });
+
+    describe('given a time-column in the json-response', () => {
+      const options = {
+        alias: '',
+        series: [
+          {
+            name: 'cpu',
+            tags: { cpu: 'cpu1' },
+            columns: ['time', 'usage_idle'],
+            values: [[1481549440372, 42]],
+          },
+        ],
+      };
+
+      it('the column-names should be correct if the time-column is not renamed', () => {
+        const series = new InfluxSeries(options);
+        const table = series.getTable();
+
+        expect(table.columns).toStrictEqual([
+          {
+            text: 'Time',
+            type: 'time',
+          },
+          {
+            text: 'cpu',
+          },
+          {
+            text: 'usage_idle',
+          },
+        ]);
+
+        expect(table.rows).toStrictEqual([[1481549440372, 'cpu1', 42]]);
+      });
+
+      it('the column-names should be correct if the time-column is renamed', () => {
+        const renamedOptions = produce(options, (draft) => {
+          // we rename the time-column to `zeit`
+          draft.series[0].columns[0] = 'zeit';
+        });
+        const series = new InfluxSeries(renamedOptions);
+        const table = series.getTable();
+
+        expect(table.columns).toStrictEqual([
+          {
+            text: 'zeit',
+          },
+          {
+            text: 'cpu',
+          },
+          {
+            text: 'usage_idle',
+          },
+        ]);
+
+        expect(table.rows).toStrictEqual([[1481549440372, 'cpu1', 42]]);
+      });
+    });
   });
 });