diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantLongTerms.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantLongTerms.java
index c88c7c8e1fec8..29a8e16d9b942 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantLongTerms.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantLongTerms.java
@@ -76,11 +76,6 @@ public Object getKey() {
             return term;
         }
 
-        @Override
-        public int compareTerm(SignificantTerms.Bucket other) {
-            return Long.compare(term, ((Number) other.getKey()).longValue());
-        }
-
         @Override
         public String getKeyAsString() {
             return format.format(term);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantStringTerms.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantStringTerms.java
index 6627a2295d562..b170171f5cfad 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantStringTerms.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantStringTerms.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.pipeline.PipelineAggregator;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
@@ -82,11 +81,6 @@ public Number getKeyAsNumber() {
             return Double.parseDouble(termBytes.utf8ToString());
         }
 
-        @Override
-        public int compareTerm(SignificantTerms.Bucket other) {
-            return termBytes.compareTo(((Bucket) other).termBytes);
-        }
-
         @Override
         public String getKeyAsString() {
             return format.format(termBytes);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantTerms.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantTerms.java
index ae09feef938f2..8c0da8b890e13 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantTerms.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/significant/SignificantTerms.java
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@ interface Bucket extends MultiBucketsAggregation.Bucket {
         long getSupersetSize();
 
         long getSubsetSize();
-
-        int compareTerm(SignificantTerms.Bucket other);
     }
 
     @Override