diff --git a/beets/__init__.py b/beets/__init__.py
index 2c6069b29..036b197ef 100644
--- a/beets/__init__.py
+++ b/beets/__init__.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import confuse
 
 from .util.deprecation import deprecate_imports
 
-__version__ = "2.5.1"
+__version__ = "2.6.0"
 __author__ = "Adrian Sampson <adrian@radbox.org>"
 
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 5529bf940..cd2c2b4c3 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@ below!
 Unreleased
 ----------
 
+New features:
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+For packagers:
+
+Other changes:
+
+2.6.0 (February 01, 2026)
+-------------------------
+
 Beets now requires Python 3.10 or later since support for EOL Python 3.9 has
 been dropped.
 
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index c04e034ab..0bd4ad308 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ copyright = "2016, Adrian Sampson"
 
 master_doc = "index"
 language = "en"
-version = "2.5"
-release = "2.5.1"
+version = "2.6"
+release = "2.6.0"
 
 # -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
 # https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/configuration.html#general-configuration
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b14f442ff..aa3c9d5c7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "beets"
-version = "2.5.1"
+version = "2.6.0"
 description = "music tagger and library organizer"
 authors = ["Adrian Sampson <adrian@radbox.org>"]
 maintainers = ["Serene-Arc"]