latest release: the most recent stable version.
next release: the most recent unreleased version of npm that is eventually released as the latest version.
Note: The next release of npm may contain features that do not match the features ultimately released in the latest stable version of npm.
The next release of npm is the most recent unreleased version of npm that is eventually released as the latest version. You may want to update your npm client to the next release to test your packages against it before latest is released.
Note: Depending on the development cycle, npm install [email protected] -g may reinstall the latest release of npm.