A method and system for prioritizing critical data object recovery during restore operations. Specifically, the method and system disclosed herein entail reordering data objects, awaiting being read from backup storage and thus queued in one or more data object queues, in accordance with a nearest-critical based sequential order. The nearest-critical based sequential order may be derived through modified weight-based Euclidean distances calculated between adjacent data object pairs queued in any given data object queue. Further, the calculated modified weight-based Euclidean distances incorporate data criticality factors associated with the adjacent data object pairs. By reordering data objects in a nearest-critical based sequential order, critical data objects may be recovered first, thereby avoiding possible critical data loss should a disaster occur during restore operations.