diff --git a/lib/publish.js b/lib/publish.js
index dc5508a513342..486333b7fe790 100644
--- a/lib/publish.js
+++ b/lib/publish.js
@@ -137,7 +137,12 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
   publishConfigToOpts (publishConfig) {
     // create a new object that inherits from the config stack
     // then squash the css-case into camelCase opts, like we do
-    return {...flatten(this.npm.config.list[0]), ...flatten(publishConfig)}
+    const mergedConfigs = Object.assign(
+      {},
+      ...[...this.npm.config.list].reverse(),
+      publishConfig
+    )
+    return flatten(mergedConfigs)
   }
 }
 module.exports = Publish
diff --git a/test/lib/publish.js b/test/lib/publish.js
index 79f6ac171dd4c..acc1a2ad84947 100644
--- a/test/lib/publish.js
+++ b/test/lib/publish.js
@@ -511,6 +511,7 @@ t.test('able to publish after if encountered multiple configs', t => {
   t.plan(3)
 
   const registry = 'https://some.registry'
+  const tag = 'better-tag'
   const publishConfig = { registry }
   const testDir = t.testdir({
     'package.json': JSON.stringify({
@@ -520,12 +521,12 @@ t.test('able to publish after if encountered multiple configs', t => {
     }, null, 2),
   })
 
-  const configList = [{}, { registry: `https://other.registry` }, defaults]
+  const configList = [{ tag }, { registry: `https://other.registry`, tag: 'some-tag' }, defaults]
 
   const Publish = requireInject('../../lib/publish.js', {
     libnpmpublish: {
-      publish: () => {
-        t.pass('publish called')
+      publish: (manifest, tarData, opts) => {
+        t.same(opts.defaultTag, tag, 'gets option for expected tag')
       },
     },
   })