I was getting the following error every time I tried to run the npm command.

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:626
throw err;
^

Error: Cannot find module 'semver'
Require stack:
- /usr/share/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js
- /usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:623:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:527:27)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:681:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:16:16)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js:2:14)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:774:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:785:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:641:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:556:12)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:681:19) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [
    '/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js',
    '/usr/share/npm/bin/npm-cli.js'
  ]
}

Solution:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* ~/.npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*

sudo apt-get purge nodejs npm
sudo apt autoremove

Download the latest tar.xz NodeJS file from https://nodejs.org/en/download/

tar -xf node-v#.#.#-linux-x64.tar.xz
sudo mv node-v#.#.#-linux-x64/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv node-v#.#.#-linux-x64/lib/node_modules/ /usr/local/lib/

Where #.#.# is the version you downloaded.

Verify installation using

node -v
npm -v

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