A LINQ extension method which eagerly finds an item or items with the lowest value in the collection.

gistfile1.cs

[Test]
public void TestEmpty()
{
    CollectionAssert.AreEqual(
        new int[0].MinsBy(i => i), 
        new int[0]);
}

[Test]
public void TestPreserveOrderAndValue()
{
    CollectionAssert.AreEqual(
        new int[] {-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,5,-3}.MinsBy(i => i/2),
        new int[] {-3, -2, -3});
}

[Test]
public void TestMinOfDefault()
{
    var ints = new[] { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

    var result = ints.MinsBy(i => i);

    CollectionAssert.AreEqual(new[] { 1 }, result);
}

[Test]
public void TestMinOfDefaultCollection()
{
    var ints = new[] { 2, 3, 4, -1, -1 };

    var result = ints.MinsBy(i => i);

    CollectionAssert.AreEqual(new[] { -1, -1 }, result);
}

/// <summary>
/// Finds an item in the collection with the lowest value. If two or more items have the same value, they are 
/// also returned.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="TItem">The source type.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TCompare">The selected value for comparison.</typeparam>
/// <param name="collection">The source collection.</param>
/// <param name="selector">A selector.</param>
/// <returns>A collection of the items with the lowest compared value from the collection.</returns>
public static IReadOnlyList<TItem> MinsBy<TItem, TCompare>(this IEnumerable<TItem> collection, Func<TItem, TCompare> selector)
{
    if (collection == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("collection");
    if (selector == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("selector");

    var minItems = new List<TItem>();
    var minImage = default(TCompare);
    var comparer = Comparer<TCompare>.Default;

    foreach (var item in collection)
    {
        var image = selector(item);
        var compareResult = minItems.Count == 0
                            ? +1
                            : comparer.Compare(minImage, image);

        if (compareResult > 0)
        {
            minImage = image;
            minItems.Clear();
        }

        if (compareResult >= 0)
        {
            minItems.Add(item);
        }
    }

    return minItems.AsReadOnly(); // Use Skip(0) for .NET < 4.5.
}