diff --git a/llvm/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst b/llvm/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
index 3820cc446c3c..9a8135359967 100644
--- a/llvm/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
+++ b/llvm/docs/CommandGuide/lit.rst
@@ -397,6 +397,13 @@ executed, two important global variables are predefined:
  **root** The root configuration.  This is the top-most :program:`lit` configuration in
  the project.
 
+ **is_early** Whether the test suite as a whole should be given a head start
+ before other test suites run.
+
+ **early_tests** An explicit set of '/' separated test paths that should be
+ given a head start before other tests run. For example, the top five or so
+ slowest tests. See also: `--time-tests`
+
  **pipefail** Normally a test using a shell pipe fails if any of the commands
  on the pipe fail. If this is not desired, setting this variable to false
  makes the test fail only if the last command in the pipe fails.
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/lit/Test.py b/llvm/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
index 59fefbc7f089..ce87cfa8abb5 100644
--- a/llvm/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/lit/Test.py
@@ -404,4 +404,6 @@ class Test:
         This can be used for test suites with long running tests to maximize
         parallelism or where it is desirable to surface their failures early.
         """
+        if '/'.join(self.path_in_suite) in self.suite.config.early_tests:
+            return True
         return self.suite.config.is_early
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py b/llvm/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
index d40ee37636f3..fafc754c1bc1 100644
--- a/llvm/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/lit/TestingConfig.py
@@ -127,6 +127,8 @@ class TestingConfig(object):
         self.limit_to_features = set(limit_to_features)
         # Whether the suite should be tested early in a given run.
         self.is_early = bool(is_early)
+        # List of tests to run early.
+        self.early_tests = {}
         self.parallelism_group = parallelism_group
         self._recursiveExpansionLimit = None
 
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/aaa.txt b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/aaa.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b80b60b7a279
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/aaa.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# RUN: true
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/bbb.txt b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/bbb.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b80b60b7a279
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/bbb.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# RUN: true
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..db030510c249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/lit.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import lit.formats
+config.name = 'early-tests'
+config.suffixes = ['.txt']
+config.test_format = lit.formats.ShTest()
+config.test_source_root = None
+config.test_exec_root = None
+config.early_tests = { "subdir/ccc.txt" }
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/subdir/ccc.txt b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/subdir/ccc.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b80b60b7a279
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/Inputs/early-tests/subdir/ccc.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# RUN: true
diff --git a/llvm/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b2ca9ac0a97d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/utils/lit/tests/early-tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+## Check that we can run tests early.
+
+# RUN: %{lit} -j1 %{inputs}/early-tests | FileCheck %s
+
+# CHECK:     -- Testing: 3 tests, 1 workers --
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: subdir/ccc.txt
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: aaa.txt
+# CHECK-NEXT: PASS: early-tests :: bbb.txt
+# CHECK:     Passed: 3