diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 4210d09d2d481e2f40ec189a22f16c8b36bbb98f..8d91a792113820c77d3861889325fe1f7062a743 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Synapse 1.53.0 (2022-02-22)
+===========================
+
+No significant changes.
+
+
 Synapse 1.53.0rc1 (2022-02-15)
 ==============================
 
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index fe79d7ed57b94e400f84d450beddc0e3c947be8c..574930c085cd6831b1b98c966c6da28d6787b119 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.53.0) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New synapse release 1.53.0.
+
+ -- Synapse Packaging team <packages@matrix.org>  Tue, 22 Feb 2022 11:32:06 +0000
+
 matrix-synapse-py3 (1.53.0~rc1) stable; urgency=medium
 
   * New synapse release 1.53.0~rc1.
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 2bf8eb2a11e46ee96c6f9559cc2a610ae751ca8f..903f2e815dd9c0889daa492c7f432a3a2c05ffb1 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-__version__ = "1.53.0rc1"
+__version__ = "1.53.0"
 
 if bool(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_TEST_PATCH_LOG_CONTEXTS", False)):
     # We import here so that we don't have to install a bunch of deps when