How NOT to Sort Blanks that aren't Blanks

Occasionally I copy data in a column to another sheet that is prepared to rank the values with the simple RANK function. Because my data can vary, sometimes BLANK cells are copied over. To ensure formatting is preserved, I always paste as value in this copy-paste. For some stupid reason, excel always sorts the blank cells (typically the bottom of the column) towards the top. I've double and triple checked when this occurs that there is absolutely no data in the blank cells, not even a space. It is the equivalent of ="", and is most certainly not =" ". Even when I ensure that sorting blanks is nto included, or attempt to sort blanks to the bottom, it always managers to somehow stupidly sort blanks to the top. Is there a reason for this?