diff --git a/lib/commands/publish.js b/lib/commands/publish.js
index c59588fefb241..8e14bbb312f5d 100644
--- a/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -115,12 +115,14 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
     // so that we send the latest and greatest thing to the registry
     // note that publishConfig might have changed as well!
     manifest = await this.#getManifest(spec, opts, true)
-
-    const isPreRelease = Boolean(semver.parse(manifest.version).prerelease.length)
+    const force = this.npm.config.get('force')
     const isDefaultTag = this.npm.config.isDefault('tag')
 
-    if (isPreRelease && isDefaultTag) {
-      throw new Error('You must specify a tag using --tag when publishing a prerelease version.')
+    if (!force) {
+      const isPreRelease = Boolean(semver.parse(manifest.version).prerelease.length)
+      if (isPreRelease && isDefaultTag) {
+        throw new Error('You must specify a tag using --tag when publishing a prerelease version.')
+      }
     }
 
     // If we are not in JSON mode then we show the user the contents of the tarball
diff --git a/test/lib/commands/publish.js b/test/lib/commands/publish.js
index 10dc9b33deda4..63ae6afd84ffc 100644
--- a/test/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/test/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -854,6 +854,28 @@ t.test('prerelease dist tag', (t) => {
     await npm.exec('publish', [])
   })
 
+  t.test('does not abort when prerelease and force', async t => {
+    const packageJson = {
+      ...pkgJson,
+      version: '1.0.0-0',
+      publishConfig: { registry: alternateRegistry },
+    }
+    const { npm, registry } = await loadNpmWithRegistry(t, {
+      config: {
+        loglevel: 'silent',
+        force: true,
+        [`${alternateRegistry.slice(6)}/:_authToken`]: 'test-other-token',
+      },
+      prefixDir: {
+        'package.json': JSON.stringify(packageJson, null, 2),
+      },
+      registry: alternateRegistry,
+      authorization: 'test-other-token',
+    })
+    registry.publish(pkg, { packageJson })
+    await npm.exec('publish', [])
+  })
+
   t.end()
 })