diff --git a/lib/publish.js b/lib/publish.js
index 486333b7fe790..61716e2efdd0a 100644
--- a/lib/publish.js
+++ b/lib/publish.js
@@ -137,12 +137,7 @@ 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
-    const mergedConfigs = Object.assign(
-      {},
-      ...[...this.npm.config.list].reverse(),
-      publishConfig
-    )
-    return flatten(mergedConfigs)
+    return flatten({...flatten(this.npm.config.list[0]), ...publishConfig})
   }
 }
 module.exports = Publish
diff --git a/test/lib/publish.js b/test/lib/publish.js
index acc1a2ad84947..992a56b4d65df 100644
--- a/test/lib/publish.js
+++ b/test/lib/publish.js
@@ -521,7 +521,11 @@ t.test('able to publish after if encountered multiple configs', t => {
     }, null, 2),
   })
 
-  const configList = [{ tag }, { registry: `https://other.registry`, tag: 'some-tag' }, defaults]
+  const configList = [
+    { ...defaults, tag },
+    { ...defaults, registry: `https://other.registry`, tag: 'some-tag' },
+    defaults,
+  ]
 
   const Publish = requireInject('../../lib/publish.js', {
     libnpmpublish: {