diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 1a47aae857..ecaaa189d0 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,18 @@
+Changes in synapse v0.16.1 (2016-06-20)
+=======================================
+
+Bug fixes:
+
+* Fix assorted bugs in ``/preview_url`` (PR #872)
+* Fix TypeError when setting unicode passwords (PR #873)
+
+
+Performance improvements:
+
+* Turn ``use_frozen_events`` off by default (PR #877)
+* Disable responding with canonical json for federation (PR #878)
+
+
 Changes in synapse v0.16.1-rc1 (2016-06-15)
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index faaa86d972..3cd79b1247 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.16.1-rc1"
+__version__ = "0.16.1"