diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 576dab74f463a6233048e66da2503b62b7aae340..81333097aeb171bb050c00a62976a95bc0ef9959 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Synapse 1.53.0 (2022-02-22)
+===========================
+
+No significant changes since 1.53.0rc1.
+
+
Synapse 1.53.0rc1 (2022-02-15)
==============================
@@ -5,7 +11,7 @@ Features
--------
- Add experimental support for sending to-device messages to application services, as specified by [MSC2409](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2409). ([\#11215](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11215), [\#11966](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11966))
-- Remove account data (including client config, push rules and ignored users) upon user deactivation. ([\#11655](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11655))
+- Add a background database update to purge account data for deactivated users. ([\#11655](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11655))
- Experimental support for [MSC3666](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/3666): including bundled aggregations in server side search results. ([\#11837](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11837))
- Enable cache time-based expiry by default. The `expiry_time` config flag has been superseded by `expire_caches` and `cache_entry_ttl`. ([\#11849](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11849))
- Add a callback to allow modules to allow or forbid a 3PID (email address, phone number) from being associated to a local account. ([\#11854](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11854))
@@ -267,7 +273,7 @@ Bugfixes
Synapse 1.50.0 (2022-01-18)
===========================
-**This release contains a critical bug that may prevent clients from being able to connect.
+**This release contains a critical bug that may prevent clients from being able to connect.
As such, it is not recommended to upgrade to 1.50.0. Instead, please upgrade straight to
to 1.50.1. Further details are available in [this issue](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11763).**
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