Two possibilities:
caching. make sure to run each query several times in a row.
zone reclaim mode. If this has gotten turned on turn it back off.
How to tell:
sysctl -n vm.zone_reclaim_mode
Output should be 0. If it's not, then add this to /etc/sysctl.conf:
vm.zone_reclaim_mode=0
and run: sudo sysctl -p
and see if that helps.