diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index 6e7be142e..8cecb7ad4 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.5.0
+current_version = 1.6.0
 commit = True
 tag = True
 tag_name = {new_version}
diff --git a/scrapy/VERSION b/scrapy/VERSION
index bc80560fa..dc1e644a1 100644
--- a/scrapy/VERSION
+++ b/scrapy/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.5.0
+1.6.0