diff --git a/lib/commands/view.js b/lib/commands/view.js
index c0d5bf552eee0..155288c96ea85 100644
--- a/lib/commands/view.js
+++ b/lib/commands/view.js
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
   }
 
   async getData (pkg, args) {
+    const json = this.npm.config.get('json')
     const opts = {
       ...this.npm.flatOptions,
       preferOnline: true,
@@ -228,7 +229,12 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
             delete versions[v].readme
           }
 
-          data.push(showFields(pckmnt, versions[v], arg))
+          data.push(showFields({
+            data: pckmnt,
+            version: versions[v],
+            fields: arg,
+            json,
+          }))
         })
       }
     })
@@ -242,11 +248,7 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
       throw er
     }
 
-    if (
-      !this.npm.config.get('json') &&
-      args.length === 1 &&
-      args[0] === ''
-    ) {
+    if (!json && args.length === 1 && args[0] === '') {
       pckmnt.version = version
     }
 
@@ -432,7 +434,7 @@ function reducer (acc, cur) {
 }
 
 // return whatever was printed
-function showFields (data, version, fields) {
+function showFields ({ data, version, fields, json }) {
   const o = {}
   ;[data, version].forEach((s) => {
     Object.keys(s).forEach((k) => {
@@ -441,7 +443,7 @@ function showFields (data, version, fields) {
   })
 
   const queryable = new Queryable(o)
-  const s = queryable.query(fields)
+  const s = queryable.query(fields, { unwrapSingleItemArrays: !json })
   const res = { [version.version]: s }
 
   if (s) {
diff --git a/lib/utils/queryable.js b/lib/utils/queryable.js
index 69621d928e8dd..372cde91e1ce0 100644
--- a/lib/utils/queryable.js
+++ b/lib/utils/queryable.js
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ const parseKeys = key => {
   return res
 }
 
-const getter = ({ data, key }) => {
+const getter = ({ data, key }, { unwrapSingleItemArrays = true } = {}) => {
   // keys are a list in which each entry represents the name of
   // a property that should be walked through the object in order to
   // return the final found value
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ const getter = ({ data, key }) => {
 
   // these are some legacy expectations from
   // the old API consumed by lib/view.js
-  if (Array.isArray(_data) && _data.length <= 1) {
+  if (unwrapSingleItemArrays && Array.isArray(_data) && _data.length <= 1) {
     _data = _data[0]
   }
 
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ class Queryable {
     this.#data = obj
   }
 
-  query (queries) {
+  query (queries, opts) {
     // this ugly interface here is meant to be a compatibility layer
     // with the legacy API lib/view.js is consuming, if at some point
     // we refactor that command then we can revisit making this nicer
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ class Queryable {
       getter({
         data: this.#data,
         key: query,
-      })
+      }, opts)
 
     if (Array.isArray(queries)) {
       let res = {}
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/view.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/view.js.test.cjs
index 3e06ecf5d054e..bf20ed4679a31 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/view.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/commands/view.js.test.cjs
@@ -300,6 +300,28 @@ dist-tags:
 published over a year from now
 `
 
+exports[`test/lib/commands/view.js TAP package with single version full json > must match snapshot 1`] = `
+{
+  "_id": "single-version",
+  "name": "single-version",
+  "dist-tags": {
+    "latest": "1.0.0"
+  },
+  "time": {
+    "1.0.0": "2024-05-07T19:41:40.177Z"
+  },
+  "versions": [
+    "1.0.0"
+  ],
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "dist": {
+    "shasum": "123",
+    "tarball": "http://hm.single-version.com/1.0.0.tgz",
+    "fileCount": 1
+  }
+}
+`
+
 exports[`test/lib/commands/view.js TAP specific field names array field - 1 element > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 claudia
 `
diff --git a/test/lib/commands/view.js b/test/lib/commands/view.js
index c50668791bbe5..2b60cf9442d19 100644
--- a/test/lib/commands/view.js
+++ b/test/lib/commands/view.js
@@ -252,6 +252,27 @@ const packument = (nv, opts) => {
         },
       },
     },
+    'single-version': {
+      _id: 'single-version',
+      name: 'single-version',
+      'dist-tags': {
+        latest: '1.0.0',
+      },
+      time: {
+        '1.0.0': yesterday,
+      },
+      versions: {
+        '1.0.0': {
+          name: 'single-version',
+          version: '1.0.0',
+          dist: {
+            shasum: '123',
+            tarball: 'http://hm.single-version.com/1.0.0.tgz',
+            fileCount: 1,
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    },
   }
   if (nv.type === 'git') {
     return mocks[nv.hosted.project]
@@ -357,6 +378,27 @@ t.test('package with --json and no versions', async t => {
   t.equal(joinedOutput(), '', 'no info to display')
 })
 
+t.test('package with single version', async t => {
+  t.test('full json', async t => {
+    const { view, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, { config: { json: true } })
+    await view.exec(['single-version'])
+    t.matchSnapshot(joinedOutput())
+  })
+
+  t.test('json and versions arg', async t => {
+    const { view, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, { config: { json: true } })
+    await view.exec(['single-version', 'versions'])
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(joinedOutput())
+    t.strictSame(parsed, ['1.0.0'], 'does not unwrap single item arrays in json')
+  })
+
+  t.test('no json and versions arg', async t => {
+    const { view, joinedOutput } = await loadMockNpm(t, { config: { json: false } })
+    await view.exec(['single-version', 'versions'])
+    t.strictSame(joinedOutput(), '1.0.0', 'unwraps single item arrays in basic mode')
+  })
+})
+
 t.test('package in cwd', async t => {
   const prefixDir = {
     'package.json': JSON.stringify({